Pirkei Avot

• "The world stands on three things: On Torah, on works, and on kindness to others" (1:2; work here translates "avodah" in the Hebrew which can mean labor, service of God, prayer, or sacrificial offerings)
• "Your house should be open wide, and you should treat the poor as members of your household." (1:5)
• "Meet every person with graciousness." (1:15)
• "He [Yohanan ben Zakkai] said to [his disciples]: 'Go and see what is the right way that a man should seek for himself.' Rabbi Eliezer said: 'A good eye'. Rabbi Yehoshua said: 'A good friend'. Rabbi Yose [haCohen] said: 'A good neighbor'. Rabbi Shimon [ben Netanel] said: 'One who sees consequences.' Rabbi Elazar said: 'A good heart'. He [Yohanan] said to them, 'I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arach to yours, because his words include yours as well.'" (2:13)

• "What is the right path a man should choose? Whatever is honorable to himself, and honorable in the eyes of others." (2:1)
• "Let your friend's honor be as dear to you as your own." (2:15)
• "The evil eye, the evil inclination, and hatred of [God's] creatures drive a person out of the world." (2:16)
• "Let your friend's money be as dear to you as your own." (2:17)

• "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being for myself, what am 'I'? And if not now, when?" (1:14) This saying is written in simple and terse Hebrew and is attributed to the sage Hillel, who was famous for succinct expression.
• "What is the right path a man should choose? Whatever is honorable to himself, and honorable in the eyes of others." (2:1)
• "In a place where there are no worthy men, strive to be worthy." (2:5)
• "He who acquires a good name, has acquired himself something indeed." (2:8)
• "Do not regard yourself as an evil person." (2:18)

• "Do His will as if it were your own, so that He will do your will as if it were His. Nullify your own will before His so that He will nullify the will of others before you." (2:4)

• "Be amongst the students of Aaron: Love peace and pursue peace. Love people and bring them close to Torah." (1:12)
• "The more charity, the more peace" (2:8)

• "Make a fence for the Torah" (1:1)
• "Keep far from an evil neighbor, do not befriend a wicked person, and do not despair of divine retribution" (1:7)
• "Evaluate the loss of fulfilling a commandment against its reward, and the reward of committing a transgression against its loss. Consider three things, and you will not come to sin: Know what is above you: a seeing eye, a hearing ear, and all of your deeds written down in a book." (2:1)

• "Love work, and do not admire official positions, and do not become too acquainted with the governing power." (1:10)
• "One who seeks to make his name great, destroys it" (1:13)
• "Anyone who works for the community, let your work with them be for the sake of Heaven... And as for you all, I will make your reward great as though you had accomplished all the work." (2:2)
• "Be wary regarding the ruling power, because they only befriend a person for their own purposes; they appear as friends when it suits them, but they do not stand by a man in his time of need." (2:3)
• "Do not separate yourself from the community, and do not be sure of yourself until your day of death." (2:4)
• "The more flesh, the more worms. The more possessions, the more worry. The more wives, the more witchcraft. The more maidservants, the more licentiousness. The more manservants, the more theft." (2:8)
• "If you have learned much Torah, do not flatter yourself about it, because it was for this purpose you were created." (2:8)
• "Let all your deeds be for the sake of Heaven." (2:12)

• "Be careful when reciting the Shema and regarding prayer. Do not pray as though by rote, but plead for mercy and grace before God." (2:18)

• "Torah learning is best combined with an occupation, because the effort of both will keep one from sin. Torah study alone without work will in the end be nullified and lead to sin." (2:2) (See Torah im Derech Eretz.)
• "Reduce your business activities and occupy yourself with the Torah instead, and be of a humble spirit before everyone." (4:10)
• "If there is no Torah study, there is no worldly involvement (derech eretz); if there is no worldly involvement, there is no Torah study. ... If there is no flour, there is no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no flour." (3:21)

• "One who exploits the crown (of scholarship) will pass away" (1:13)

• "All my life I was raised amongst the Sages, and I never found anything better for a person than silence... one who talks too much causes sin." (1:17)
• "Do not speak (excessively) much with women. This regards a man's own wife, how much more so regarding another man's wife!" (1:5)
• "Sages, you should be careful in what you say, lest you be punished with exile and be sent to a place of evil waters, and your pupils who follow you will die, and the name of Heaven will be disgraced." (1:11)
• "Say little and do much." (1:15)
• "Do not say something that cannot be understood, thinking it will be understood later." (2:5)

• "Do not be like slaves who serve the master in order to obtain a reward. Rather, be like slaves who serve the master not to receive a reward. And let the fear of Heaven be upon you." (1:3)
• "Be as careful in observance of a minor commandment as in a major commandment, because you don't know the respective rewards for the commandments." (2:1)

• "Judge every person favorably" (1:6)
• "Do not judge your fellow until you have stood in his place." (2:4)

• "[When judging,] do not act as an advocate. When litigants stand before you, regard them [both] as guilty. And when they leave you, regard them as meritorious, provided that they have accepted your judgment." (1:8)
• "Be thorough in examining witnesses, and watch what you say, so they do not learn from you how to lie." (1:9)
• "On three things the world continues to exist: On justice, truth, and peace." (1:18)

• "If not now, when?" (1:14)
• "The main thing is not study, but doing." (1:17)
• "Do not say 'I will study when I have the time', for perhaps you will never have time." (2:5)
• "The day is short, the labor vast, the workers idle, the reward great, and the Employer is insistent." (2:20), attributed to Rabbi Tarfon
• "It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it" (2:21), attributed to Rabbi Tarfon

• "An ignoramus cannot be sin-fearing, and a boor cannot be pious. A shy person cannot learn, and an impatient person cannot teach." (2:6)
• "Do not be quick to anger." (2:15)

• "He saw a skull floating on the water, and said to it, 'Because you drowned others, they drowned you. And they will also eventually be drowned because they drowned you.'" (2:7)

The Russian-American poet and translator Yehoash published his Yiddish translation of Pirkei Avot in 1912 under the title Di Lehren fun di Foters. This translation was subsequently included in a trilingual (Hebrew-Yiddish-English) edition that was published in 1921.[9]

A Chinese translation of Pirkei Avot by Prof. Ping Zhang from Tel Aviv University was published in 1996 by CASS Press, together with footnotes and an introduction of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. The first edition, of 1500 copies, sold out immediately.[10] A revised version of Zhang's translation, with some influence from the Chinese Catholic Bible, was published in 2001 under the title "猶太聖傳·民刑卷·先賢篇" ('Jewish sacred teachings, records, and ethics articles'). It is available online.[11]