1. O you who blame yourself and make excuses,
Yet seek to augment what is already good in your deeds,

2. For it is in one's nature, if you let it slide,
To descend into vice, into acts and laziness base.

3. In every kind of person some fibre you'll find
Of nobility or meanness or honor entwined

4. So rejoice when the noble show liking for you,
But grieve when the riffraff claim you as their own.