21. R. Jacob said, "This world is like a vestibule before the world to
come; prepare thyself in the vestibule, that thou mayest enter into
the hall." 22. He used to say, "Better is one hour of repentance and
good deeds in this world than the whole life of the world to come; and
better is one hour of blissfulness of spirit in the world to come than
the whole life of this world."

23. R. Simeon, the son of Eleazer, said, "Do not appease thy fellow in
the hour of his anger, and comfort him not in the hour when his dead
lies before him, and question him not in the hour of his vow, and rush
not to see him in the hour of his disgrace."

24. Samuel, the younger, used to say, "Rejoice not when thine enemy
falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: lest the
Lord see it and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from
him."

25. Elisha, the son of Abuyah, said, "If one learns as a child, what
is it like? Like ink written in clean paper. If one learns as an old
man, what is it like? Like ink written on used paper."

26. R. Jose, the son of Judah, of Chefar Babli said, "He who learns
from the young, to what is he like? To one who eats unripe grapes,
and drinks wine from his vat. And he who learns from the old, to what
is he like? To one who eats ripe grapes, and drinks old wine."

27. Rabbi Meir said, "Look not at the flask, but at what it contains:
there may be a new flask full of old wine, and an old flask that has
not even new wine in it."