“THE INSTRUCTION OF PTAHHOTEP
Epilogue
Part I

If you listen to my sayings.
All your affairs will go forward;
In their truth resides their value,
Their memory goes on in the speeds of men,
Because of the worth of their precepts;
If every word is carried on.
They will not perish in this land.
If advice ıs given for the good,
The great will speak accordingly;
It is teaching a man to speak to posterity,
He who hears it becomes a master-hearer;
It is good to speak to posterity,
It will listen to it.

If a good example is set by him who leads,
He will be beneficent for ever,
His wisdom being for all time.
The wise feeds his ba with what endures,
So that it is happy with, him on earth.
The wise is known by his wisdom,
The great by his good actions;
His heart matches his tongue.
His lips are straight when he speaks;
He has eyes that see,
His ears are made to hear what will profit his son.
Acting with truth he is free of falsehood.

Useful is hearing to a son who hears;
If hearing enters the hearer,
The hearer becomes a listener.
Hearing well is speaking well.
Useful is hearing to one who hears,
Hearing is better than all else,
It creates good will.
How good for a son to grasp his father’s words,
He will reach old age through them.

He who hears is beloved of god,
He whom god hates does not hear.
The heart makes of its owner a hearer or non-hearer,
Man’s heart is his life-prosperity-health!
The hearer is one who hears what is said.
He who loves to hear is one who does what is said.
How good for a son to listen to his father.
How happy is he to whom it is said:
“The son, he pleases as a master of hearing.”
The hearer of whom this is said,
He is well-endowed
And honored by his father;
His remembrance is in the mouth of the living.
Those on earth and those who will be.

If a man’s son accepts his father's words.
No plan of his will go wrong.
Teach your son to be a hearer,
One who will be valued by the nobles;
One who guides his speech by what he was told,
One regarded as a hearer.
This son excels, his deeds stand out.
While failure follows him who hears not.
The wise wakes early to his lasting gain,
While the foot is hard pressed.”