Collections on Ethics for All People

A small, symmetrical decorative woodcut vignette is centered at the top of the page, featuring stylized leaves and floral elements.

Man, when lazy toward diligence and work,
Falls upon the paths of idleness
Easily into the villain’s nest.
The shield of innocence is occupation. original: "Geschäfte." While it can mean "business," here it refers more broadly to staying busy or having a useful purpose to occupy the mind.
Withdraw from lust its power
By the sweat of your brow. original: "Im Schweiße deines Angesichts." A direct reference to the biblical decree in Genesis 3:19, framing hard work as a moral necessity.

Should its urge awaken to battle you,
Then wake yourself, to stifle it early,
Before it denies you your freedom.
To smother it at the very birth
Is easy; but hard it is to suppress
Once your heart has nourished it.

Often the urges of vice clothe themselves
In the form of permitted love,
And you do not perceive the danger.
Long acquaintance makes you more familiar; original: "freier." Literally "freer," but in this social context, it implies a dangerous lack of formal restraint or being "too comfortable" with someone.
And often a forbidden fire grows
From that which was friendship at the start.

Your feeling heart will forgive itself;
It will dread the eruption of vice,
Even as it nourishes its own urge.
You will believe yourself strong and secure,
And permit yourself small failings,
Until your virtue is dishonored.

Vocabulary: Diligence, Work, Idleness, Innocence, Lust/Sensuality, Freedom, Vice, Love, Friendship, Virtue