The slacker says, “There’s a lion in the road—
a lion in the public square!”

Wisdom calls out in the street;
she raises her voice in the public squares.

Should your springs flow in the streets,
streams of water in the public squares?

Now in the street, now in the squares,
she lurks at every corner.

The leech has two daughters: “Give, Give!”
Three things are never satisfied;
four never say, “Enough!”:

Three things are beyond me;
four I can’t understand:

The earth trembles under three things;
it cannot bear up under four:

Four things on earth are small,
yet they are extremely wise:

Three things are stately in their stride,
even four are stately in their walk: