Rabbi Yaakov says: This world is similar to an antechamber before the World to Come. Ready yourself in the antechamber so that you may enter the palace.

He used to say: One moment [spent] in repentance and good deeds in this world is better than an entire lifetime in the World to Come. And one moment of satisfaction in the World to Come is better than an entire lifetime [of pleasure] in this world.

'RShimon ben Elazar says: Do not appease your friend at the time of his anger, do not comfort him at the time that his dead lies before him, do not question him at the time of his vow, and do not attempt to see him at the time of his degradation.

Shmuel HaKatan says: “When your foe falls, be not glad, and when he stumbles, let your heart not be joyous, lest Hashem see and it be displeasing in His eyes, and He return His anger from him.”