From arrogance comes strife, but among those who consult wisdom (13:10).

A hot-tempered person stirs up strife, and a patient person calms down strife (15:18).

The beginning of a quarrel is like a breakthrough of water; leave the quarrel before it flares up (17:14).

It is an honor for a man to leave a quarrel behind; but every fool is fervent (20:3).

Drive away the blasphemer, and strife will be removed, and strife and strife will cease (22:10).

Where there is no more wood, the fire is extinguished, and where there is no earpiece, the strife subsides.

Coal is for heat and wood for fire, and a quarrelsome man is for stirring up strife (26:20-21).

Do not make friends with an angry person, and do not associate with a person who is hot-tempered, lest you learn his ways and bring a noose on your soul (22:24-25).

From the above texts, it is clearly seen that the strife so familiar to the human race exposes the presence of a fool, a proud man and a blasphemer, that is, it is directly related to impiety.

Another "harmless" vice is laziness. Leaving the reader to find his own teachings about this ailment, we will limit ourselves to a small comment. At first glance, it seems that Solomon is very worried about a lazy man, because he could work and earn, but he does not work, and therefore is poor. But is this the end of the matter?

The path of the lazy is contrasted with the path of the righteous, thereby separating the former from the latter. A lazy person has an effeminate soul, devoid of courage, that is, he lives in fear. The vineyard of the lazy man (i.e., his soul) is overgrown with weeds, and the stone fence around him is destroyed. He cannot change either what is around him or what is inside. How can you not live in fear?

If we take such a vice as verbosity, we get the most convincing illustration of the Gospel sayings about defilement by those who proceed out of the mouth (Matt. 15:11) and the answer for idle words (Matt. 12:36).

Now let's turn to the virtues, choosing mercy as an example.

By mercy and righteousness sin is cleansed, and the fear of the Lord turns away from evil (16:6).