Proverbs 26:3-5

New International Reader's Version

³ A whip is for a horse, and a harness is for a donkey.
    And a beating is for the backs of foolish people.

⁴ Don’t answer a foolish person in keeping with their foolish acts.
    If you do, you yourself will be just like them.

⁵ Answer a foolish person in keeping with their foolish acts.
    If you do not, they will be wise in their own eyes.