Chapter 1

•  Therefore with an eye to the public good, I shall speak that which, when understood, will lead to an understanding of things in their proper perspective.
• A wicked wife, a false friend, a saucy servant and living in a house with a serpent in it are nothing but death.
• Save your wealth against future calamity. Do not say, "What fear has a rich man, of calamity?" When riches begin to forsake one even the accumulated stock dwindles away.
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• Do not stay for a single day where there are not these five persons: a wealthy man, a brahmin well versed in Vedic lore, a king, a river and a physician.
• Wise men should never go into a country where there are no means of earning one's livelihood, where the people have no dread of anybody, have no sense of shame, no intelligence, or a charitable disposition.   
• Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
• Do not put your trust in rivers, men who carry weapons, beasts with claws or horns, women, and members of a royal family.
• Save your wealth against future calamity. Do not say, "What fear has a rich man, of calamity?" When riches begin to forsake one even the accumulated stock dwindles away.