Talmud for Pirkei Avot 3:18

רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר בֶּן חִסְמָא אוֹמֵר, קִנִּין וּפִתְחֵי נִדָּה, הֵן הֵן גּוּפֵי הֲלָכוֹת. תְּקוּפוֹת וְגִימַטְרִיאוֹת, פַּרְפְּרָאוֹת לַחָכְמָה:

R. Eliezer ben Chisma says: Kinin [bird-offerings (from "kan tzippor," a bird's nest). There are weighty halachoth pertaining to them, such as a mandatory offering being mixed up with a gift-offering; or a burnt-offering, whose services are "above," being mixed up with a sin-offering, whose services are "below"], and pithchei niddah [the halachoth of a niddah who has lost track of her menstrual time and must be vigilant to determine its onset (Sometimes she must immerse herself ninety-five times, according to the view that immersion in its prescribed time is a mitzvah)] — [kinin and pithchei niddah] are the foundation of halachoth (the oral law), [for which reward is received.] Tekufoth [the movements of the constellations] and gematrioth [the numeration of the letters] are the "seasonings" of wisdom, [like those which it is customary to eat at the end of a meal for dessert. So, these wisdoms honor their possessors in the eyes of men.]

Avot D'Rabbi Natan

Five kinds of people cannot be forgiven: One who constantly (again and again) sins; One who sins (in a righteous generation. One who sins) with the intent to repent. Anyone whose sin publicly desecrates God’s name. (A human being is incapable of grasping [God’s] likeness.) But if not for his sin, they would give him the keys, and he would know how heaven and earth were created. (He would also say: Everything is planned. Everything is revealed. Everything is knowable. He would also say: Everything is given in trust, and a net is spread out over all living things.) Repentance delays the judgment of the wicked, though their fate is already sealed. But the contentedness of the wicked ends badly. Power buries those who wield it. Repentance is suspended until Yom Kippur atones. Death (along with repentance) wipes clean. The wicked are paid, but the righteous accrue credit. The wicked are paid [in this world] – that is, the people who act as if they follow the Torah, but they have evil intentions, and there was never any good in them. The righteous accrue credit – that is, people who follow the Torah with good intentions, and there was never any bad in them. Both types receive just a little in this world, but [for the righteous,] a large remainder is accounted to them for the future. (He would also say: Everyone leaves this world naked; if only one’s leaving the world can be like one’s coming into the world!
Rabbi Meir would say: Beloved is the human being, who was created in the image of God, as it says (Genesis 9:6), “For in God’s image did God make the human.” Beloved are Israel, who are called children of the Omnipresent God, as it says (Deuteronomy 14:1), “You are children of the Eternal your God.” Beloved are Israel, for they were given a valuable tool. With it the world was created, as it says (Proverbs 4:2), “For I have given you a good thing; do not forsake My Torah.”)
Rabbi Eliezer bar Tzadok would say: What are the righteous like in this world? Like a tree that is planted in a pure place, but its branches extend out to an impure place. What do people say? Cut off that tree’s branches so that all of it will be pure, as it should be. What are the wicked like in this world? Like a tree that is planted in an impure place, but its branches extend out to a pure place. What do people say? Cut off that tree’s branches so that all of it will be impure, as it should be.

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