哲学大师的人生思考

巴尔塔沙·葛拉西安（Baltasar Gracián），17世纪西班牙哲学家、思想家、耶稣会教士。1601年出生于西班牙阿拉贡的贝尔蒙特村。1619年，进入耶稣会见习修行，此后历任军中神父、告解神父、宣教师、教授及行政人员等职。1637年，其处女作《英雄》问世，旋即引起轰动；1640年，讨论领袖素质的《政治家》出版；1643年，分析诗歌的《诗之才艺》出版；1647年，巅峰之作《智慧书》问世。

葛拉西安因其笔锋犀利、讥讽政治，被耶稣会警告，未获批准不得出版作品。1651年，寓言小说《批评家》问世。为此，他被耶稣会解除了教席，放逐至一乡下小镇，直至1658年终老于此。

葛拉西安一生坎坷，他的思想却对许多欧洲著名道德伦理学家以及德国17-18世纪的宫廷文学和19世纪的哲学产生了重要的影响。

本书汇集了300则绝妙的格言警句，论及识人观事、慎断是非、修炼自我、防范邪恶等处世智慧和谋略。自1647年问世以来，深受读者喜爱，历经几百年时光之淘洗而不衰。叔本华将其译为德文，赞誉它“绝对独一无二”；尼采则断言：“在剖析道德方面，整个欧洲没人能比葛拉西安更为慎密、更为精细。”而且，它还与《君王论》、《孙子兵法》一同被欧洲学者视为千百年来人类思想史上具有永恒价值的三大智慧奇书。

图书在版编目（CIP）数据

智慧书：中英双语典藏本／（西）葛拉西安（Gracian，B.）著．王涌芬译．—北京：中央编译出版社，2008.9

ISBN 978-7-80211-747-1

Ⅰ．智　Ⅱ．①葛　②王　Ⅲ．人生哲学–通俗读物　Ⅳ．B821-49

中国版本图书馆CIP数据核字（2008）第145002号

智慧书　中英双语典藏本

出 版 人　和　龑

策 划 人　思　乐

责任编辑　陈　琼

出版发行　中央编译出版社

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开　　本　880×1230　1/32

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目　录

Contents

译者序：历经时光淘洗而不衰的处世经典

1．万物已近极致

1．Everything is at its acme

2．品性与智慧

2．Character and intellect

3．做事时常留有悬念

3．Keep matters for a time in suspense

4．有识亦应有胆

4．Knowledge and courage

5．让别人依赖你

5．Create a feeling of dependence

6．至善至美的境界

6．A man at his highest point

7．不要比上司更耀眼

7．Avoid victories over superiors

8．不被激情左右

8．To be without passions

9．避免土生土长的缺陷

9．Avoid the faults of your nation

10．财富与名望

10．Fortune and fame

11．择师而交

11．Cultivate those who can teach you

12．自然和人工：原料与加工

12．Nature and art

13．有时三思而行，有时立下决断

13．Act sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes on first impulse

14．事物本身及做事的方法

14．The thing itself and the way it is done

15．广纳贤人

15．Keep ministering spirits

16．学识和善心

16．Knowledge and good intentions

17．变换你的行为模式

17．Vary the mode of action

18．努力和能力

18．Application and ability

19．事前不要让人期望过高

19．Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering

20．生逢其时的人

20．A man of the age

21．幸运之道

21．The art of being lucky

22．学以致用

22．A man of knowledge to the point

23．没有瑕疵

23．Be spotless

24．控制自己的幻想

24．Keep the imagination under control

25．善于领会弦外之音

25．Know how to take a hint

26．揪出他人的把柄

26．Find out each man's thumbscrew

27．求精深重于求广博

27．Prize intensity more than extent

28．超凡脱俗

28．Common in nothing

29．刚直的人

29．A man of rectitude

30．不做毁誉之事

30．Have naught to do with occupations of ill-repute

31．学会趋利避害

31．Select the lucky and avoid the unlucky

32．因善行而闻名

32．Have the reputation of being gracious

33．知道如何逃避

33．Know how to withdraw

34．了解自己的最强项

34．Know your strongest point

35．遇事斟酌，遇要事则更要斟酌

35．Think over things, most over the most important

36．进退之际，了解时运

36．In acting or refraining, weigh your luck

37．准备一些讥诮话，并善加利用

37．Keep a store of sarcasms, and know how to use them

38．急流勇退

38．Leave your luck while winning

39．了解事物成熟的时机，并善加利用

39．Recognize when things are ripe, and then enjoy them

40．获得人们的好感

40．Gain the goodwill of people

41．切勿言过其实

41．Never exaggerate

42．天生为王

42．Born to command

43．心随精英，口随大众

43．Think with the few and speak with the many

44．英雄相惜

44．Sympathy with great minds

45．狡猾可以运用，但不能滥用

45．Use, but do not abuse, cunning

46．控制你的反感情绪

46．Master your antipathies

47．避免“为荣誉而决斗”

47．Avoid "affairs of honour"

48．做一个有深度的人至关重要

48．So much depends on being a person of depth

49．明察善断

49．Observation and judgment

50．不失自尊

50．Never lose self-respect

51．选择有道

51．Know how to choose well

52．从不慌乱

52．Never be put out

53．聪明且勤奋

53．Be diligent and intelligent

54．懂得展示你的勇气

54．Know how to show your teeth

55．善于等待

55．Wait

56．随机应变

56．Have presence of mind

57．慢且稳

57．Be slow and Sure

58．恰当展现自己

58．Adapt yourself to your company

59．要有完美的收场

59．Finish off well

60．判断准确

60．A sound judgment

61．卓越之处求卓越

61．To excel in what is excellent

62．善其事必先利其器

62．Use good instruments

63．抢先为上

63．To be the first of the kind is an excellence

64．远离烦恼

64．Avoid worry

65．培养高雅的品味

65．Elevated taste

66．使结局完美

66．See that things end well

67．选择能够获得殊荣的行业

67．Choose an occupation that wins distinction

68．点拨其心智，胜于助其回忆

68．It is better to help with intelligence than with memory

69．不要冲动行事

69．Do not give way to every common impulse

70．学会拒绝

70．Know how to refuse

71．不要左右摇摆

71．Do not vacillate

72．要当机立断

72．Be resolute

73．安然退避

73．Utilize slips

74．与人为善

74．Do not be unsociable

75．选择一位英雄作为偶像

75．Choose a heroic ideal

76．不要总开玩笑

76．Do not always be jesting

77．做人须八面玲珑

77．Be all things to all men

78．做事有道

78．The art of undertaking things

79．轻松快活的个性

79．A genial disposition

80．获取信息要谨慎

80．Take care to get information

81．勇于推陈出新

81．Renew your brilliance

82．凡事无论好与坏，不要走极端

82．Drain nothing to the dregs, neither good nor ill

83．容许自己有无伤大雅之过

83．Allow yourself some venial fault

84．善用对手

84．Make use of your enemies

85．不做无所不知之人

85．Do not be a wild card

86．预防流言蜚语

86．Prevent scandal

87．文明和高雅

87．Culture and elegance

88．举止高贵大方

88．Let your behaviour be fine and noble

89．了解自己

89．Know yourself

90．长寿的秘密

90．The secret of long life

91．对做某事审慎与否有疑虑，就别着手去做

91．Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts of its prudence

92．要有超凡的智慧

92．Transcendent wisdom

93．多才多艺

93．Versatility

94．让你的才能高深莫测

94．Keep the extent of your abilities unknown

95．让人们保持对你的期望

95．Keep expectation alive

96．至高无上的辨别力

96．The highest discretion

97．赢得并维护美名

97．Obtain and preserve a reputation

98．掩饰你的意图

98．Write your intentions in cypher

99．本质与表象

99．Reality and appearance

100．做一个清醒的人，智慧的信徒，贤能的臣子

100．Be a man without illusions, a wise Christian, a philosophic courtier

101．世上的一半人嘲笑另一半人，其实他们都是蠢人

101．One half of the world laughs at the other, and fools are they all

102．天降大福需有大心胸消受

102．Be able to stomach big slices of luck

103．让每人都保有尊严

103．Let each keep up his dignity

104．明确不同工作的要求

104．Know the demands of different occupations

105．勿遭人烦

105．Don't be a bore

106．勿炫耀你的地位

106．Do not parade your position

107．勿自鸣得意

107．Show no self-satisfaction

108．与人同行是成为伟人的捷径

108．The path to greatness is along with others

109．不要吹毛求疵

109．Be not censorious

110．不要坐以待毙

110．Do not wait till you are a sinking sun

111．赢得朋友

111．Have friends

112．博取他人的好感

112．Gain good-will

113．未雨绸缪

113．In prosperity prepare for adversity

114．避免与人相争

114．Never compete

115．习惯熟人的缺点

115．Get used to the failings of your familiars

116．只和可敬之人交往

116．Only act with honourable men

117．决不谈论自己

117．Never talk about yourself

118．要赢得谦恭有礼的名声

118．Acquire the reputation of courtesy

119．避免惹人厌烦

119．Avoid becoming disliked

120．生活讲求实际

120．Live practically

121．不要小题大做

121．Do not make a business of what is no business

122．言行应有威信

122．Distinction in speech and action

123．避免矫揉造作

123．Avoid affectation

124．要被他人想念

124．Get yourself missed

125．不要成为污点记录簿

125．Do not be a black list

126．愚蠢并非做了蠢事，而在于做后不知掩饰

126．Folly consists not in committing folly, but in not hiding it when committed

127．凡事从容优雅

127．Grace in everything

128．要有高远的志向

128．Highmindedness

129．从不抱怨

129．Never complain

130．要干，且要让人看见

130．Do and be seen doing

131．慷慨大度

131．Nobility of feeling

132．修正你的判断

132．Revise your judgments

133．宁可同醉，而不独醒

133．Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone

134．加倍储存你的资源

134．Double your resources

135．不要滋长唱反调的习气

135．Do not nourish the spirit of contradiction

136．抓住事情关键

136．Post yourself in the centre of things

137．圣人自足

137．The sage should be self-sufficing

138．任其自然的艺术

138．The art of letting things alone

139．冷静面对倒霉的日子

139．Recognize unlucky days

140．一眼看到事物好的一面

140．Find the good in a thing at once

141．不要只倾听自己的声音

141．Do not listen to yourself

142．当对手先站在正确的一方时，你不能固执地站在错误的一方

142．Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your opponent has anticipated you in taking the right one

143．别为免俗而玩弄诡辩之术

143．Never become paradoxical in order to avoid the trite

144．开始于他人，受用于自己

144．Begin with another's to end with your own

145．藏好你受伤的手指

145．Do not show your wounded finger

146．透过现象看本质

146．Look into the interior of things

147．采纳他人的建议

147．Do not be inaccessible

148．掌握谈话的艺术

148．Have the art of conversation

149．懂得推罪于人

149．Know how to put off ills on others

150．推销得法

150．Know how to get your price for things

151．高瞻远瞩

151．Think beforehand

152．不与令自己黯然失色之人为伍

152．Never have a companion who casts you in the shade

153．不要去填补前人留下的巨大空缺

153．Beware of entering where there is a great gap to be filled

154．不轻易相信，也不轻易喜欢

154．Do not believe, or like, lightly

155．掌控激情的艺术

155．The art of mastering your passions

156．选择你的朋友

156．Select your friends

157．识人别出错

157．Do not make mistakes about character

158．善用朋友

158．Make use of your friends

159．忍受愚蠢

159．Put up with fools

160．说话要谨慎

160．Be careful in speaking

161．认清自身喜爱的缺点

161．Know your pet faults

162．如何战胜对手和诽谤者

162．How to triumph over rivals and detractors

163．决不因同情而卷入他人的不幸

163．Never, from sympathy with the unfortunate, involve yourself in his fate

164．投石问路

164．Throw straws in the air

165．斗争也要讲体面

165．Wage war honourably

166．分辨善言者与善行者

166．Distinguish the man of words from the man of deeds

167．知道怎样依靠自己

167．Know how to take your own part

168．不要沦为愚蠢的怪物

168．Do not indulge in the eccentricities of folly

169．多加小心，避免万一失手胜过百发百中

169．Be more careful not to miss once than to hit a hundred times

170．凡事有所保留

170．In all things keep something in reserve

171．不要滥用人情

171．Do not waste influence

172．决不与一无所有者争斗

172．Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose

173．与人相交，不要像玻璃般易碎，朋友间尤其如此

173．Do not be glass in intercourse, still less in friendship

174．不要活在匆忙中

174．Do not live in a hurry

175．做个实在的人

175．A solid man

176．自知或从知者处知

176．Have knowledge, or know those that have knowledge

177．避免与人太亲近

177．Avoid familiarities in intercourse

178．信赖你的内心

178．Trust your heart

179．缄默是才能的标志

179．Reticence is the seal of capacity

180．决不被敌人误导

180．Never be guided by what your enemy has done

181．说真话，但不要说出所有真话

181．The truth, but not the whole truth

182．凡事都要勇敢

182．A grain of boldness in everything

183．不要固执己见

183．Do not hold your views too firmly

184．不要过分拘礼

184．Do not be ceremonious

185．切莫孤注一掷赌名声

185．Never stake your credit on a single cast

186．认识缺点，不管其地位有多高

186．Recognize faults, however high placed

187．令人愉快之事，自己做；令人不快之事，让他人代劳

187．Do pleasant things yourself, unpleasant things through others

188．成为赞美之人

188．Be the bearer of praise

189．利用他人的欲望

189．Utilize another's wants

190．在万物中寻觅慰藉

190．Find consolation in all things

191．慎防巧言令色

191．Do not take payment in politeness

192．心境平和则长寿

192．Peaceful life, a long life

193．防备那些利用他人达到自己目的的人

193．Watch him that begins with another's to end with his own

194．理性看待自己和自己的事

194．Have reasonable views of yourself and of your affairs

195．学会欣赏别人

195．Know how to appreciate

196．知道你的幸运星

196．Know your ruling star

197．不要为蠢人所累

197．Do not carry fools on your back

198．懂得易地而处

198．Know how to transplant yourself

199．获得自己合适的位置，凭德行而非逾越

199．To find a proper place by merit, not by presumption

200．把一些愿望留到以后去满足

200．Leave something to wish for

201．看上去愚蠢的人都是笨蛋，看上去聪明的人也有一半是笨蛋

201．They are all fools who seem so besides half the rest

202．言语和行为共同打造完美之人

202．Words and deeds make the perfect man

203．认识你这个时代的伟人

203．Know the great men of your age

204．举轻若重，且举重若轻

204．Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy

205．懂得漠视的技巧

205．Know how to play the card of contempt

206．要明白平庸者无处不在

206．Know that there are vulgar people everywhere

207．学会控制自己

207．Be moderate

208．不要死于愚蠢

208．Do not die of the fools' disease

209．超然于世俗的愚蠢

209．Keep yourself free from common follies

210．懂得怎样对待真相

210．Know how to play the card of truth

211．天堂中一切是福，地狱中所有为苦

211．In heaven all is bliss

212．懂得保留绝招的艺术

212．Keep to yourself the final touches of your art

213．懂得如何反驳

213．Know how to contradict

214．不要把一个错误变成两个错误

214．Do not turn one blunder into two

215．提防那些掩饰自己意图的人

215．Watch him that acts on second thoughts

216．清楚地表达自己

216．Be expressive

217．没有永远的爱，也没有永远的恨

217．Neither love nor hate forever

218．行动不可出自固执，而应源于了解

218．Never act from obstinacy but from knowledge

219．不要被看成伪君子

219．Do not pass for a hypocrite

220．不能披狮皮，那就披狐皮

220．If you cannot clothe yourself in lionskin use foxpelt

221．不要动辄使自己和他人感到尴尬

221．Do not seize occasions to embarrass yourself or others

222．缄默是谨慎的表现

222．Reserve is proof of prudence

223．不要因做作或粗心而显得古怪

223．Be not eccentric

224．不看事物的反面，不管事情怎样出现

224．Never take things against the grain

225．知道你最大的缺点

225．Know your chief fault

226．乐于帮助他人

226．Take care to be obliging

227．不要成为第一印象的奴隶

227．Do not be the slave of first impressions

228．不要传播丑闻

228．Do not be a scandal-monger

229．合理规划自己的生活

229．Plan out your life wisely

230．早日睁开你的眼睛

230．Open your eyes betimes

231．不让他人看到未成之事

231．Never let things be seen half-finished

232．要接触实务

232．Have a touch of business sense

233．提供点食物，不要让人难咽

233．Let not the proffered morsel be distasteful

234．决不把名誉托付他人，除非他人以名誉作抵押

234．Never trust your honour to another, unless you have his in pledge

235．求人有术

235．Know how to ask

236．如果日后必求人且需答谢，还不如先施惠于人

236．Make an obligation beforehand of what would have to be a reward afterwards

237．决不分享上司的秘密

237．Never share the secrets of your superiors

238．知道自己缺少什么

238．Know what is wanting in yourself

239．不要打破沙锅问到底

239．Do not be captious

240．学会装傻

240．Make use of folly

241．容忍别人嘲笑，但别嘲弄他人

241．Put up with raillery, but do not practise it

242．做事要有始有终

242．Push advantages

243．不要太过善良

243．Do not be too much of a dove

244．让别人对你感恩

244．Create a feeling of obligation

245．要有独到的见解，这是才智过人的标志

245．Original and out-of-the-way views

246．除非被要求，决不提供解释

246．Never offer satisfaction unless it is demanded

247．求知应多，生活应简

247．Know a little more, live a little less

248．不要认同最新的说法

248．Do not go with the last speaker

249．人生不要本末倒置

249．Never begin life with what should end it

250．何时把他人的话反过来听

250．When to change the conversation

251．运用人道之时，就当神道不存。运用神道之时，只当人道不在

251．Use human means as if there were no divine ones, and divine as if there were no human ones

252．活着并非全为自己，也不是全为他人

252．Neither belong entirely to yourself nor entirely to others

253．不要解释太多

253．Do not explain overmuch

254．勿因恶小而轻视它

254．Never despise an evil, however small

255．行善不求大，但要常去做

255．Do good a little at a time, but often

256．时刻做好防备

256．Go armed, always

257．不要轻易断交

257．Never let matters come to a rupture

258．找人分担你的烦恼

258．Find out someone to share your troubles

259．预见伤害，并将之转化为庇护

259．Anticipate injuries and turn them into favours

260．我们不完全属于任何人，也没有任何人完全属于我们

260．We belong to none and none to us, entirely

261．不要执迷不悟

261．Do not follow up a folly

262．能够忘记

262．Be able to forget

263．许多好东西你不应一味想占有

263．Many things of taste one should not possess oneself

264．每天都不能大意

264．Have no careless days

265．为部下安排最难的任务

265．Set those under you difficult task

266．不要因为太善良而变糟

266．Do not become bad from sheer goodness

267．言语温软，举止优雅

267．Silken words, sugared manners

268．蠢人最后做的事，智者会马上做

268．The wise does at once what the fool does at last

269．利用你刚上任时人们的新鲜感

269．Make use of the novelty of your position

270．众人喜欢之物，个人不要谴责

270．Do not condemn alone that which pleases all

271．不管从事任何工作，如果你所知不多，就走最安全的路线

271．In every occupation if you know little stick to the safest path

272．出售东西，附送殷勤

272．Sell things by the tariff of courtesy

273．了解你所交往的人的性情

273．Comprehend their dispositions with whom you deal

274．要有吸引力

274．Be attractive

275．参加游戏，但应得体

275．Join in the game as far as decency permits

276．知道如何完善自己的品性

276．Know how to renew your character

277．展示你自己

277．Display yourself

278．避免抢眼而招致恶名

278．Avoid notoriety in all things

279．不要回应驳斥你的人

279．Do not contradict the contradictor

280．做个值得信赖的人

280．Be trustworthy

281．赢得智者的好感

281．Find favour with men of good sense

282．不现身，从而使自己更受敬重

282．Make use of absence to make yourself more esteemed or valued

283．拥有善于发现之天赋

283．Have the gift of discovery

284．不要多管闲事

284．Do not be importunate

285．不要死于他人之厄运

285．Never die of another's ill-luck

286．不要对所有的人和事都负责

286．Do not become responsible for all or for everyone

287．冲动之时决不行动

287．Never act in a passion

288．顺应时势

288．Live for the moment

289．要贬低一个人，莫过于表明他和任何人都没有区别

289．Nothing depreciates a man more than to show he is a man like other men

290．如能赢得人们的喜爱和尊敬，则是莫大的幸运

290．It is a piece of good fortune to combine men's love and respect

291．懂得如何揣测他人

291．Know how to test people

292．让你自身的素质超过职责的要求

292．Let your personal qualities surpass those of your office

293．做人应成熟

293．Maturity

294．观点不能有所偏颇

294．Be moderate in your views

295．若未奏效，不要邀功

295．Do not affect what you have not effected

296．高贵的品质

296．Noble qualities

297．行动总如处于监视中

297．Always act as if your acts were seen

298．可造就非凡之人的三大要素

298．Three things go to a prodigy

299．让人有饥饿感

299．Leave off hungry

300．总而言之，做一位圣徒

300．In one word, be a saint

译者序：历经时光淘洗而不衰的处世经典

一

在许多欧洲学者眼里，人类思想史上具有永恒价值的处世智慧包含于三大奇书之中：一是马基雅维里的《君主论》，二是孙武的《孙子兵法》，三就是葛拉西安的《智慧书》。《君主论》主要是为那些处心积虑想取得或保有王权的帝王而写；《孙子兵法》则主要为那些运筹于帷幄之中的将帅而写，而《智慧书》呢，却是为每一个人为人处世、安身立命而写。

如果单从处世智慧来看，《智慧书》则是三本奇书中最微妙、最具实用价值的一本。德国大哲学家叔本华曾刻意将《智慧书》译成德文，并盛赞此书“绝对的独一无二”。尼采也赞扬此书在论述道德的奥妙方面，整个欧洲也没有一本书比它更精微、更曲折多姿；他在一则札记中写道：“葛拉西安的人生经验显示出今日无人能比的智慧与颖悟。”

二

《智慧书》的作者巴尔塔沙·葛拉西安（Baltasar Gracián）是17世纪西班牙思想家、哲学家，也是一位满怀入世热忱的耶稣会教士，他的一生充满了坎坷。葛拉西安于1601年生于西班牙阿拉贡的贝尔蒙特村，1619年进入耶稣会见习修行，此后历任军中神父、告解神父、宣教师、教授及行政人员。虽未曾担任要职，但常与公职人员及贤达人士交往，善于察言观行，因而获得其格言警句之灵感。1636年，其处女作《英雄》问世，旋即引起轰动；1647年，其经典之作《智慧书》出版，掀起了更大的波澜！

葛拉西安因笔锋犀利、讥讽政治，被耶稣会警告，未获批准不得出版作品。1651年，葛拉西安开始以寓言小说形式探讨人生，以纯朴的田园生活反衬文明社会中的邪恶，讽刺巨作《批评家》问世。为此，他被耶稣会解除了教席，放逐至一乡下小镇，受人监视，直至1658年终老于此。

在随后的几百年间，葛拉西安的多部作品被人模仿，并被翻译成各种文字，风行全球，经久不衰。他的思想对伏尔泰和高乃依等在内的许多欧洲著名道德伦理学家，以及德国17—18世纪的宫廷文学、19世纪的哲学都产生过重要的影响。

三

《智慧书》是葛拉西安的巅峰之作，汇集300则妙言警句，浓缩人生处世智慧之精华，可谓则则精辟、字字珠玑，充满了无价的生活智慧和修成智慧实际可行的法门。

在书中，作者以一种令人惊异的冷峻态度，对世俗的道德进行了深刻的反思，对于真相与表象、自私与友爱、机智与傲慢等，都提出了锐利的分析和实用的建议；为世人提供了识人观事、慎断是非、修炼自我、防范邪恶等处世智慧和谋略。通过这些睿智精妙的人生格言，读者不仅可获得克服生活困境的良方，更重要的是可增强对生活的理解和洞察力。阅读此书，一方面使我们叹服作者智慧的审慎态度，另一方面又使我们产生向善的心理。

《智慧书》行文简洁，立意遣词机趣多端，处处蕴藏智慧，读者须慢嚼细咽，仔细揣摩，每次只取一二句格言流连玩味，终致有所助益。

四

本书已有七种英译本，在国外被多家出版社反复重印。马德里皇家历史学院通讯院士约瑟夫·雅各布斯（Joseph Jacobs）将其译为The Art of Worldly Wisdom。该译本文字洗练优美，最忠实地传达了原著者的思想观点，最完美地体现了原著的行文风格，在英语世界具有广泛的影响。此次推出英汉对照版，旨在兼供英语爱好者对照阅读，取一举两得之妙。

1．万物已近极致

万物已近极致，为人处世的艺术更是如此。当今若想成就一位智者，花费的工夫比造就希腊七贤(1)还要多；现在要应付一个人，所需的智谋比从前应付整整一个民族还要多。

1．Everything is at its acme

Everything is at its acme, especially the art of making one's way in the world. There is more required nowadays to make a single wise man than formerly to make Seven Sages, and more is needed nowadays to deal with a single person than was required with a whole people in former times.

(1) 指公元前6世纪希腊的Solon、Thales、Pittacus、Bias、Chilo、Periander和Cleobulus。

2．品性与智慧

品性与智慧，是组成人类才能的两个要素。要走向幸福生活，缺少哪一个都将半途而废。仅仅拥有智慧是不够的，还要有好的品性。蠢人的不幸，在于没有获得适合他的地位、职业、邻居与朋友圈子。

2．Character and intellect

Character and intellect: the two poles of our capacity; one without the other is but halfway to happiness. Intellect does not suffice, character is also needed. On the other hand, it is the fool's misfortune, to fail in obtaining the position, the employment, the neighbourhood, and the circle of friends that suit him.

3．做事时常留有悬念

做事时常留有悬念。若你的成功出人意料，则更能受到钦佩。任何事若昭然若揭，既毫无用处，又让人感到索然无味。若不急于公开自己所做之事，就会使人期待。若你地位显赫，将更能引人注目。将任何事都染上一层神秘的色彩，正是神秘引起尊崇。即便是阐明情况，也不要过于直白，就像在日常交往中不会暴露自己真实的想法一样。谨慎地保持沉默是世间智慧之精髓。公开声明的决心从不会获得高的评价，只给他人的品头论足留下口实。若所行之事恰巧以失败收场，你就会遭受双重的打击。若想引人惊奇与注意，就向那些缄默的神灵学习吧。

3．Keep matters for a time in suspense

Keep matters for a time in suspense. Admiration at their novelty heightens the value of your achievements. It is both useless and insipid to play with the cards on the table. If you do not declare yourself immediately, you arouse expectation, especially when the importance of your position makes you the object of general attention. Mix a little mystery with everything, and the very mystery arouses veneration. And when you explain, be not too explicit, just as you do not expose your inmost thoughts in ordinary intercourse. Cautious silence is the holy of holies of worldly wisdom. A resolution declared is never highly thought of; it only leaves room for criticism. And if it happens to fail, you are doubly unfortunate. Besides you imitate the Divine way when you cause men to wonder and watch.

4．有识亦应有胆

有识亦应有胆，这是成为伟人的要素。知识与勇气是不朽的，同样可使人不朽。懂得多少，便有多伟大；若你学识渊博，则无事不可为。一个人无知，正如世界没有光明。智慧与力量，就像双眼与双手。有识无胆者亦无所成。

4．Knowledge and courage

Knowledge and courage are the elements of Greatness. They give immortality, because they are immortal. Each is as much as he knows, and the wise can do anything. A man without knowledge, a world without light. Wisdom and strength, eyes and hands. Knowledge without courage is sterile.

5．让别人依赖你

让别人依赖你。神之所以为神，不在于人们装饰其雕像，而在于人们诚心诚意地崇拜他。智者宁愿他人时刻需要自己，而非感激自己。保持他人的希求是智慧的，期望别人的感激是愚蠢的；期盼让人牢记，而感激使人忘却。受人依赖，比受人恭敬更有益。人解了渴之后，往往转身离开井边；橘子一旦榨干，便会被人从金盘子中扔到垃圾筐里。当人们对你的依赖消失，良好的品行和尊敬也会随着消失。努力保持人们对你的渴求之心，且不使其得到完全满足，这是最重要的人生经验之一。此法让你变得不可或缺，甚至连王座上的君主也永远需要你。但是不要做得太过分，以免误入歧途，也不要为了一己之私而让别人陷入病入膏肓的绝境。

5．Create a feeling of dependence

Create a feeling of dependence. Not he that adorns but he that adores makes a divinity. The wise man would rather see men needing him than thanking him. To keep them on the threshold of hope is diplomatic, to trust to their gratitude boorish; hope has a good memory, gratitude a bad one. More is to be got from dependence than from courtesy. He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well, and the orange once sucked falls from the golden platter into the waste-basket. When dependence disappears, good behaviour goes with it as well as respect. Let it be one of the chief lessons of experience to keep hope alive without entirely satisfying it, by preserving it to make oneself always needed even by a patron on the throne. But let not silence be carried to excess lest you go wrong, nor let another's failing grow incurable for the sake of your own advantage.

6．至善至美的境界

至善至美的境界。我们并非天生完美之人，因此应日求渐进，做到德业兼修，直至尽善尽美，禀赋圆成，成就非凡。完美与否，如何判断？这正是大家所常说的：品味是否纯正，头脑是否清醒，判断是否成熟，意志是否坚定。有些人从来达不到至善的境界，总是有所欠缺；另外一些人则大器晚成。完美的人，言辞中透出智慧，行事谨慎小心，会使贤达之人乐于与之为伍，甚至追随。

6．A man at his highest point

A man at his highest point. We are not born perfect: every day we develop in our personality and in our calling till we reach the highest point of our completed being, to the full round of our accomplishments, of our excellences. This is known by the purity of our taste, the clearness of our thought, the maturity of our judgment, and the firmness of our will. Some never arrive at being complete, somewhat is always awanting; others ripen late. The complete man, wise in speech, prudent in act, is admitted to the familiar intimacy of discreet persons, is even sought for by them.

7．不要比上司更耀眼

不要比上司更耀眼。所有的成功都会引起嫉恨，若超过上司，更是愚蠢，甚至是致命的。优越者总是引起他人的憎恨，更别说超过位高权重之人。人要善于将自己的优势深藏不露。举个例子，姣好的面容可以用不经意的装束来遮掩。也许有人不在乎你有好的运气或是温良的秉性，但是没人会乐意——尤其是君主——你在判断力上超过他，因为优秀的判断力是王者特有的能力，你一定要僭越，便是对其不敬。身为君主，自然希望在判断力这一最高贵之特质上远胜一筹。他们可以允许旁人辅佐，却不允许有人超越；要让他们采纳建议，就要像是帮他们回想起忘掉的东西，而不是指引他们去找其久寻不得之物。天上的星辰教会了我们这种愉快的处世策略：它们是太阳之子，并且与太阳一样光亮，却从不与太阳争辉。

7．Avoid victories over superiors

Avoid victories over superiors. All victories breed hate, and that over your superior is foolish or fatal. Superiority is always detested, let alone superiority over superiority Caution can gloss over common advantages; for example, good looks may be cloaked by careless attire. There are some that will grant you precedence in good luck or good temper, but none in good sense, least of all a prince; for good sense is a royal prerogative, any claim of superiority in that is a crime against majesty. They are princes, and wish to be so in that most princely of qualities. They will allow a man to help them but not to surpass them, and will have any advice tendered them appear like a recollection of something they have forgotten rather than as a guide to something they cannot find. The stars teach us this finesse with happy tact: though they are his children and brilliant like him, they never rival the brilliancy of the sun.

8．不被激情左右

不被激情左右。这是最优秀的头脑才有的品质。这种优良品质使人免受短暂而低俗的冲动影响。没有什么驾驭能高于驾驭自身及自身之冲动——这是一种意志上的胜利。即便激情控制了你的脾气，也不要让它威胁你的地位；如果地位不低，你更需注意。这是避免丑闻的唯一坦途，也是重获荣誉的最短路径。

8．To be without passions

To be without passions. It is a privilege of the highest order of mind. Their very eminence redeems them from being affected by transient and low impulses. There is no higher rule than that over oneself, over one's impulses: there is the triumph of free will. While passion rules the character, do not let it threaten your position, especially if it is a high one. It is the only refined way of avoiding scandals; nay, it is the shortest way back to good repute.

9．避免土生土长的缺陷

避免土生土长的缺陷。水流之品质受河床土质之好坏的影响，人之品性受出生之气候优劣的影响。有些人会比别人更受故乡的恩泽，因为那里更为天清气爽。任何国家（即便是最文明的国家）都有其独特的缺陷——正是这些缺陷，让别的国家聊以自慰或是小心防范。纠正自己的缺陷，或甚至隐藏起这些缺陷，是最明智的胜利。你在同胞中鹤立鸡群，就会赢得好的声誉，出人意料的成功总是更受钦佩。其他的缺陷则源自家庭、职位、职业和所处的时代。如果所有这些缺陷都体现在一个人身上，并且未被小心约束，那定会让他成为无法忍受的怪物。

9．Avoid the faults of your nation

Avoid the faults of your nation. Water shares the good or bad qualities of the strata through which it flows, and men those of the climate in which they are born. Some owe more than others to their native land, because there is a more favourable sky in the zenith. There is not a nation even among the most civilized that has not some fault peculiar to itself which other nations blame by way of boast or as a warning. It is a triumph of cleverness to correct in oneself such national failings, or even to hide them: you get great credit for being unique among your fellows, and as it is less expected of you it is esteemed the more. There are also family failings as well as faults of position, of office or of age. If these all meet in one person and are not carefully guarded against, they make an intolerable monster.

10．财富与名望

财富与名望。一个变化无常，一个永恒持久。财富是为了今生，名望是为了来世。得利要防人嫉妒，得名要防人遗忘。人都渴求财运，有时也能达成愿望；名气则是努力挣来的。对名声的渴望源自美德。从古至今，名望总与巨人相伴，且往往会使人走向两种极端——要么成为可恶的魔鬼，要么成为卓越的天才。

10．Fortune and fame

Fortune and fame. Where the one is fickle the other is enduring. The first for life, the second afterwards; the one against envy, the other against oblivion. Fortune is desired, at times assisted; fame is earned. The desire for fame springs from man's best part. Fame was and is the sister of the giants; it always goes to extremes－horrible monsters or brilliant prodigies.

11．择师而交

择师而交。让友好的交流成为增长知识之渠道，从谈话中受到教益。这样便使朋友成为你的老师，将交流之乐趣与学习之好处融合在一起。明智的人享受交流的乐趣：发表言论赢得掌声，倾听谈话获得教益。我们通常会因私利而被他人吸引，但这也利于我们达到更高境界。贤达之人常常拜访高贵之人的处所，是将其作为良好修养的舞台，而非名利场。那里总有人因明智的处世智慧而闻名，不只是因为他们以身作则而成为杰出的智者，还因那些与之为伍的人构成了学习精妙处世哲学的儒雅社团。

11．Cultivate those who can teach you

Cultivate those who can teach you. Let friendly intercourse be a school of knowledge, and culture be taught through conversation: thus you make your friends your teachers and mingle the pleasures of conversation with the advantages of instruction. Sensible persons thus enjoy alternating pleasures: they reap applause for what they say, and gain instruction from what they hear. We are always attracted to others by our own interest, but in this case it is of a higher kind. Wise men frequent the houses of great noblemen not because they are temples of vanity, but as theatres of good breeding. There are gentlemen who have the credit of worldly wisdom, because they are not only themselves oracles of all nobleness by their example and their behaviour, but those who surround them form a well-bred academy of worldly wisdom of the best and noblest kind.

12．自然和人工：原料与加工

自然和人工：原料与加工。世上没有未经修饰的美；若无人工修饰，优点都将变得粗俗。人工技巧可弥补短处，提升长处。天生之物很少完美，因此我们必须求助人工技术。若无陶冶，最好的秉性也会变得毫无教养；若无培养，任何天赋都将折损一半。若无人为的修炼，任何人都有不够完美的一面；任何优点都需要打磨。

12．Nature and art

Nature and art: material and workmanship. There is no beauty unadorned and no excellence that would not become barbaric if it were not supported by artifice: this remedies the evil and improves the good. Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art. Without this the best of natural dispositions is uncultured, and half is lacking to any excellence if training is absent. Every one has something unpolished without artificial training, and every kind of excellence needs some polish.

13．有时三思而行，有时立下决断

有时三思而行，有时立下决断。生活就是一场与邪恶的战争。睿智的斗争伴随着意图的战略性改变——恐吓是假，声东击西。他总是隐藏自己的意图，先是老练地虚晃一枪，然后出其不意地猛击对方要害。他透露出一个意图，只是为了吸引对方的注意力，然后再伺机出奇制胜。但是，明智的人可以警惕地预料到这一招，然后隐藏起来——明智者总能看清对手希望自己了解的情况之反面，看破对方每个虚招诡计。他会放过第一次出击，等待第二个时机，甚至第三次出击的机会。当狡诈者发现自己的阴谋被人识破，就会使出更高的招数：改变策略，以改变欺诈，想要用真相本身来蒙蔽，用不欺骗来达到欺骗的目的，把欺骗建立在最大程度的坦诚上。但是，明智者更会警觉起来，发现其光明外表下暗藏的阴谋诡计，解读其每个行动的真实含义，对方外表越单纯，可能心计越狡诈。蟒蛇怪皮同(1)用阴谋诡计与阿波罗的明光相斗时的情况正是如此。

13．Act sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes on first impulse

Act sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes on first impulse. Man's life is a warfare against the malice of others. Sagacity fights with strategic changes of intention: it never does what it threatens, it aims only at escaping notice. It aims in the air with dexterity and strikes home in an unexpected direction, always seeking to conceal its game. It lets a purpose appear in order to attract the opponent's attention, but then turns round and conquers by the unexpected. But a penetrating intelligence anticipates this by watchfulness and lurks in ambush. It always understands the opposite of what the opponent wishes it to understand, and recognizes every feint of guile. It lets the first impulse pass by and waits for the second, or even the third. Sagacity now rises to higher flights on seeing its artifice foreseen, and tries to deceive by truth itself, changes its game in order to change its deceit, and cheats by not cheating, and founds deception on the greatest candour. But the opposing intelligence is on guard with increased watchfulness, and discovers the darkness concealed by the light and deciphers every move, the more subtle because more simple. In this way the guile of the Python combats the far darting rays of Apollo.

(1) 是古希腊神话中大地女神盖亚之子，代表黑暗，后被阿波罗用弓箭和火炬杀死。

14．事物本身及做事的方法

事物本身及做事的方法。只注意事物本身还不够，还需注意做事的方法。坏的方式会毁掉所有事情——哪怕你是有道理的和正义的；好的做事方式可对事情有所补益，可让“拒绝”冠冕堂皇，让真相更喜闻乐见，甚至让苍老的面孔增色一点。如何做事，至关重要。礼节可获得人们好感。良好的风度给生活增添乐趣，令人愉快的表达助你轻松地摆脱困境。

14．The thing itself and the way it is done

The thing itself and the way it is done. Substance is not enough, attention to circumstance is also required, as the scholastics say. A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice; a good one supplies everything, gilds a No, sweetens truth, and adds a touch of beauty to old age itself. The how plays a large part in affairs, a good manner steals into the affections. Fine behaviour is a joy in life, and a pleasant expression helps out of a difficulty in a remarkable way.

15．广纳贤人

广纳贤人。手握强权的人有一项特权，即网罗足智多谋之才，以摆脱无知的恐惧，助其解决难题。极少数伟人明白如何充分利用这些谋士，这比提戈涅斯(1)的粗野趣味要远胜一筹，他喜欢让被俘的君王做自己的奴仆。这是人生中最好且最新奇的驭人之术——从禀赋来说，他们可做我们的主人，却成为我们的仆人，为我所用。知无涯，而生有涯：没有知识的生活就不是真正的生活。若够聪明，你可学有所成而不费吹灰之力——只需博采众长，便可成为集大成者。之后，当你代表大家在议事厅发言时，你之前请教过多少智者，就等于有多少智者在借你的口说话，于是，你便可借他人之力获大智之名。这些贤达人士提炼最好的书籍，提供智慧的精华。如果不能让圣贤为你服务，也要与之为友。

15．Keep ministering spirits

Keep ministering spirits. It is a privilege of the mighty to surround themselves with the champions of intellect; these extricate them from every fear of ignorance, these worry out for them the moot points of every difficulty. It is a rare greatness to make use of the wise, and far exceeds the barbarous taste of Tigranes, who had a fancy for captive monarchs as his servants. It is a novel kind of supremacy, the best that life can offer, to have as servants by skill those who by nature are our masters. It is a great thing to know, little to live: no real life without knowledge. There is remarkable cleverness in studying without study, in getting much by means of many, and through them all to become wise. Afterwards you speak in the council chamber on behalf of many, and as many sages speak through your mouth as were consulted beforehand: you thus obtain the fame of an oracle by others' toil. Such ministering spirits distil the best books and serve up the quintessence of wisdom. But he that cannot have sages in service should have them for his friends.

(1) 指公元前1世纪的亚美尼亚君王，出行时喜用被俘君王做随从。

16．学识和善心

学识和善心结合起来可确保成就不断。高超的智慧与邪恶的意愿相结合，会生出变态的魔怪。邪恶的意愿将破坏所有的优点；如果再有学识助力，将使事情更加败坏。这是一种可悲的过人之处，它的最终结果就是毁灭。有学识而无明智的判断，则倍加愚蠢。

16．Knowledge and good intentions

Knowledge and good intentions together ensure continuance of success. A fine intellect wedded to a wicked will was always an unnatural monster. A wicked will envenoms all excellences: helped by knowledge it only ruins with greater subtlety. It is a miserable superiority that only results in ruin. Knowledge without sense is double folly.

17．变换你的行为模式

变换你的行为模式，不要一直用同一种方式处理问题，以分散别人的注意力，有竞争对手时，更是如此。不要总是根据第一反应做事，人们会很快记住你这种一成不变的风格，并可预想到你的下一步，挫败你的计划。一只直飞的鸟很容易被捕杀；而迂回飞翔的小鸟则不易被抓到。最好也不要按照第二种想法做事，那样人们也极易洞悉你的计划。敌人一直在观察你，你要有过人的本领，以智取胜。赌徒从不打出对手可预料到的牌，更不会打出对手想要的牌。

17．Vary the mode of action

Vary the mode of action; not always the same way, so as to distract attention, especially if there be a rival. Not always from first impulse; people will soon recognize the uniformity, and by anticipating, frustrate your designs. It is easy to kill a bird on the wing that flies straight: not so one that twists. Nor always act on second thoughts: people can discern the plan the second time. The enemy is on the watch, great skill is required to circumvent him. The gamester never plays the card the opponent expects, still less that which he wants.

18．努力和能力

努力和能力。缺少两者，就不可能出类拔萃，如果二者兼而有之，定会卓尔不群。努力的平凡者比不努力的聪明人更有所成。工作是赢得荣誉的代价。付出少价值就低。即使是身居高位，所缺的往往是实干，很少是才能。宁愿在伟大的事业上取得普通成就，也不想在低级职位上出类拔萃，这本也无可厚非；如果你本是天才，却甘于平庸，则毫无道理。天赋与后天努力都不可或缺，付出努力方可大功告成。

18．Application and ability

Application and ability. There is no attaining eminence without both, and where they unite there is the greatest eminence. Mediocrity obtains more with application than superiority without it. Work is the price which is paid for reputation. What costs little is little worth. Even for the highest posts it is only in some cases application that is wanting, rarely the talent. To prefer moderate success in great things than eminence in a humble post has the excuse of a generous mind, but not so to be content with humble mediocrity when you could shine among the highest. Thus nature and art are both needed, and application sets on them the seal.

19．事前不要让人期望过高

事前不要让人期望过高。名人常见的不幸，便是盛名之下其实难副。事实永远无法满足想象，因为理想容易树立，实现则很难。想象与希望结合，将孕育出更多与事实相距甚远的东西。无论结果多么出色，都无法满足人们的期望。当过高的期望落空，失望随之而来，人们更易心生幻灭，而非佩服。人们心中的希望能极大地扭曲真相，你要有防备这一点的能力，确保所得成果超过希望。刚开始，少许的成功足以唤起人们的好奇心，不必再去信誓旦旦承诺达到什么成功的目标。要让实际超过预计，让结果好过预想。但这个法则不适用于糟糕的事情，夸大坏的程度对之反而起到很大的帮助——对坏处的夸张失实之后会让人们欢呼，因为起初看上去具有毁灭性的事物，到最后竟然变得完全能够承受。

19．Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering

Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering. It is the usual ill-luck of all celebrities not to fulfil afterwards the expectations beforehand formed of them. The real can never equal the imagined, for it is easy to form ideals but very difficult to realize them. Imagination weds Hope and gives birth to much more than things are in themselves. However great the excellences, they never suffice to fulfil expectations, and as men find themselves disappointed with their exorbitant expectations they are more ready to be disillusionized than to admire. Hope is a great falsifier of truth; let skill guard against this by ensuring that fruition exceeds desire. A few creditable attempts at the beginning are sufficient to arouse curiosity without pledging one to the final object. It is better that reality should surpass the design and is better than was thought. This rule does not apply to the wicked things, for the same exaggeration is a great aid to them; they are defeated amid general applause, and what seemed at first extreme ruin comes to be thought quite bearable.

20．生逢其时的人

生逢其时的人。最珍稀的人总是有赖于他们所处的时代。不是每个人都能生而逢时；即便是生而逢时，也未必能把握时机。有些人本应生在更美好的年代，因为善良之人并非无往而不胜。万物都有自己的时代，就连优秀的品质也要看它是否跟得上潮流。智者的一个优势在于：智者不朽。哪怕现在不得志，今后也定会流芳百世。

20．A man of the age

A man of the age. The rarest individuals depend on their age. It is not every one that finds the age he deserves, and even when he finds it he does not always know how to utilize it. Some men have been worthy of a better century, for every species of good does not always triumph. Things have their period; even excellences are subject to fashion. The sage has one advantage: he is immortal. If this is not his century many others will be.

21．幸运之道

幸运之道。幸运自有规律：智者不会只靠运气，运气可以小心维护。有些人满足于徘徊在幸运的机会大门前，期望幸运女神将其打开。有些人做得更好，他们凭借自己的胆大心细，奋勇向前，亲近幸运女神，用美德与英勇的翅膀赢得她的喜爱，进而获益。但是，从真正的人生观来讲，美德与见识才是真正的评判官，因为世上没有幸与不幸之别，只有聪明与愚蠢之分。

21．The art of being lucky

The art of being lucky. There are rules of luck: it is not all chance with the wise; it can be assisted by care. Some content themselves with placing them selves confidently at the gate of Fortune, waiting till she opens it. Others do better, and press forward and profit by their clever boldness, reaching the goddess and winning her favour on the wings of their virtue and valor. But on a true philosophy there is no other umpire than virtue and insight, for there is no luck or ill-luck except wisdom and the reverse.

22．学以致用

学以致用。智者用高尚的品味和博雅的学识武装自己——此乃经世致用的学问，而非市井杂谈。他们具备广博的智慧妙语，懂得大量的丰功伟绩，并且深知如何在各种情况下加以运用。通常情况下，用俏皮话的方式阐释严肃的教义更有益。灵活实用的知识比七艺(1)更有帮助，不管七艺有多么雅致。

22．A man of knowledge to the point

A man of knowledge to the point. Wise men arm themselves with tasteful and elegant erudition: a practical knowledge of what is going on not of a common kind but more like an expert. They possess a copious store of wise and witty sayings, and of noble deeds, and know how to employ them on fitting occasions. More is often taught by a jest than by the most serious teaching. Pat knowledge helps some more than the seven arts, be they ever so liberal.

(1) 指中世纪欧洲大学常设的七门学科：语法、修辞、逻辑、算术、几何、音乐和天文。

23．没有瑕疵

没有瑕疵。这是完美所必要达到的境界。任何人都会有缺点，无论是身体上还是精神上。尽管很容易克服，人们却听之任之。杰出人士身上的缺陷，总会让目光敏锐的人感到遗憾——要知道，一小片乌云便足以遮掩整个太阳的光辉。在我们的名誉方面，也有类似瑕疵，居心不良者一眼就能看到，且会不断发难。最好的方法是把瑕疵当作装饰，所以恺撒曾用桂冠隐藏起自己秃头的缺陷。

23．Be spotless

Be spotless: the indispensable condition of perfection. Few live without some weak point, either physical or moral, which they pamper because they could easily cure it. The keenness of others often regrets to see a slight defect attaching itself to a whole assembly of elevated qualities, and yet a single cloud can hide the whole of the sun. There are likewise patches on our reputation which ill-will soon finds out and is continually noticing. The highest skill is to transform them into ornament. So Caesar hid his natural defects with the laurel.

24．控制自己的幻想

控制自己的幻想。有时你必须纠正幻想，有时你要促进幻想。这件事关系到我们是否幸福、是否理智。人的幻想可能横行霸道，并不满足于冷眼旁观，而会影响并统治我们的生活。幻想能带给我们欢乐，也会成为我们的负担。这取决于它将我们引向何种荒谬。它可让我们知足，也会让我们对自己不满。对某些人来说，幻想是不断的惩罚，是让愚蠢之人苦修的鞭带；对另一些人来说，幻想以快乐的错觉来承诺幸福和奇遇。它什么都能做，除非你能通过最谨慎的克制，而成为它的主人。

24．Keep the imagination under control

Keep the imagination under control; sometimes correcting, sometimes assisting it. For it is all-important for our happiness, and even sets the reason right. It can tyrannize, and is not content with looking on, but influences and even often dominates life, causing it to be happy or burdensome according to the folly to which it leads. For it makes us either contented or discontented with ourselves. Before some it continually holds up the penalties of action, and becomes the mortifying lash of these fools. To others it promises happiness and adventure with blissful delusion. It can do all this unless the most prudent self-control keeps it in subjection.

25．善于领会弦外之音

善于领会弦外之音。善谈曾是人首先要掌握的技巧，但此术已不敷用。我们必须懂得领悟暗示，尤其是用于解除自己的疑惑。若不能很好地理解别人，那就很难被别人理解。有的人就像极善揣测他人之心的术士、洞察猎物之意的山猫。恰恰是那些对我们极为重要的真相，别人只会说一半。但是，只要用心，我们就能够理解全部含义。好事宁信其无，坏事宁信其有。

25．Know how to take a hint

Know how to take a hint. It was once the art of arts to be able to discourse; now it is no longer sufficient. We must know how to take a hint, especially in disabusing ourselves. He cannot make himself understood who does not himself easily understand. But on the other hand there are pretended diviners of the heart and lynxes of the intentions. The very truths which concern us most can only be half spoken, but with attention we can grasp the whole meaning. When you hear anything favourable keep a tight rein on your credulity; if unfavourable, give it the spur.

26．揪出他人的把柄

揪出他人的把柄。这是控制他人意志的艺术。与其说需要决心，毋宁说需要技巧。你必须懂得如何着手。每一决断都有其特定的动机，并随个人品味之异而异。所有人都有崇拜情结：重名、重利，或者如多数人那样，重个人愉悦。控制人们的诀窍是：明了他们的崇拜物是什么，从而牵着他们的鼻子走。掌握某人行事的主要动机，就等于拥有了开启其欲望之门的钥匙。你所需寻找的初始动机，并非总是人性中最高尚的部分，更多时候，它常常是人性中最卑下的东西，因为世人秉性不良者比秉性良善者要多。揣测一个人的主要兴趣，以言语要求他，以诱惑促其行动，他必为你所用。

26．Find out each man's thumbscrew

Find out each man's thumbscrew. It is the art of setting their wills in action. It needs more skill than resolution. You must know where to get at any one. Every volition has a special motive which varies according to taste. All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure. Skill consists in knowing these idols in order to bring them into play. Knowing any man's mainspring of motive you have as it were the key to his will. Have resort to primary motors, which are not always the highest but more often the lowest part of his nature: there are more dispositions badly organized than well. First guess a man's ruling passion, appeal to it by a word, set it in motion by temptation, and you will infallibly give checkmate to his freedom of will.

27．求精深重于求广博

求精深重于求广博。优秀在质，而非量。最好的事物往往十分稀有——物以稀为贵。人亦如此，往往巨人也是侏儒。某些书以其形式厚重而获得人们的赞誉，似乎此书是要锻炼臂力而非智力。只有广博决不能超越平庸，那些可怜的所谓通才总是试图门门精通，却总是样样不通，这是他们的不幸。精深方可卓越。如若专精于要事，则可享誉盛名。

27．Prize intensity more than extent

Prize intensity more than extent. Excellence resides in quality not in quantity. The best is always few and rare: much lowers value. Even among men giants are commonly the real dwarfs. Some reckon books by the thickness, as if they were written to try the brawn more than the brain. Extent alone never rises above mediocrity: it is the misfortune of universal geniuses that in attempting to be at home everywhere, are so nowhere. Intensity gives eminence, and rises to the heroic in matters sublime.

28．超凡脱俗

超凡脱俗。首先在品味上，更须脱俗。当你为取悦平庸大众之所为有所不安，说明你尚且伟大而明智。庸俗大众的掌声绝对无法满足智者，但也有投俗取宠的变色龙(1)——他们特喜吞食大众之俗气，而不愿呼吸阿波罗之和煦清风。再者，见识要脱俗。不要以平庸大众的惊叹为乐，因为无知之人只会惊叹。当庸人惊叹之时，智者要谨防受其蒙蔽。

28．Common in nothing

Common in nothing. First, not in taste. O great and wise, to be ill at ease when your deeds please the mob! The excesses of popular applause never satisfy the sensible. There are such chameleons of popularity that they find enjoyment not in the sweet savors of Apollo but in the breath of the mob. Secondly, not in intelligence. Take no pleasure in the wonder of the mob, for ignorance never gets beyond wonder. While vulgar folly wonders wisdom watches for the trick.

(1) 变色龙代表虚荣，古人以为它靠吸风、饮气维生。

29．刚直的人

刚直的人坚持正义，不屈不挠，无论是暴民之冲动，抑或是暴君之淫威，都不会令其有失公允。但是，谁能成为这样一个不死鸟式的公正人物呢？追随正义的人屈指可数。确实有许多人赞美这种品德，但只希望别人去实践。有的勇于实践，却往往知难而退；危难当头，伪君子弃之若敝，政客将之改头换面。坚守正义，就不在乎其是否与友谊、权势甚至私利相冲突，所以便有被人抛弃之危险。狡猾之人巧言惑众，大谈所谓为了服从上级，或是为了国家利益。但率直忠贞之人却视其为背信弃义。他们更注重坚贞不屈，而非所谓的精明。这样的人总与真理为伴。若他们抛弃了某一群体，则是因他人背弃了真理，而非他们变化无常。

29．A man of rectitude

A man of rectitude clings to the sect of right with such tenacity of purpose that neither the passions of the mob nor the violence of the tyrant can ever cause him to transgress the bounds of right. But who shall be such a Phoenix of equity? What a scanty following has rectitude! Many praise it indeed, but－for others. Others follow it till danger threatens; then the false deny it, the politic conceal it. For it cares not if it fights with friendship, power, or even self-interest: then comes the danger of desertion. Then astute men make plausible distinctions so as not to stand in the way of their superiors or of reasons of state. But the straightforward and constant regard dissimulation as a kind of treason, and set more store on tenacity than on sagacity. Such are always to be found on the side of truth, and if they desert a party, they do not change from fickleness, but because the others have first deserted truth.

30．不做毁誉之事

不做毁誉之事，更不要追随可能带来恶名而不是荣誉的风气。社会上有不少邪门左道，明智的人远离这一切。有些人的品味是很奇怪的，明智之人鄙弃的东西他也能全盘接受。他们酷爱那些奇行怪事，这确实可能让他们家喻户晓，但往往是作为笑柄，而非赞誉。谨慎之人不会公然宣称自己有智慧，更别说去追求那些让自己或是追随者看上去可笑的东西。这种事情无须特指，人们的鄙视已足以指明。

30．Have naught to do with occupations of ill-repute

Have naught to do with occupations of ill-repute, still less with fads that bring more notoriety than repute. There are many fanciful sects, and from all the prudent man has to flee. There are men with bizarre tastes that always take to their heart all that wise men repudiate; they live in love with singularity. This may make them well known indeed, but more as objects of ridicule than of repute. A cautious man does not even make profession of his wisdom, still less of those matters that make him or his followers ridiculous. These need not be specified, for common contempt has sufficiently singled them out.

31．学会趋利避害

学会趋利避害。霉运往往是对愚蠢的惩罚，且极易传染。不要以恶小而开门，因为大恶往往会随之而来。玩牌的诀窍是：你应明白自己何时该舍弃某张牌。在过去的一局中，最大的牌也比不上现在最小的王牌。假如你举棋不定，记得结交智慧而审慎的人，他们迟早会赢。

31．Select the lucky and avoid the unlucky

Select the lucky and avoid the unlucky. Ill-luck is generally the penalty of folly, and there is no disease so contagious to those who share in it. Never open the door to a lesser evil, for other and greater ones invariably slink in after it. The greatest skill at cards is to know when to discard; the smallest of current trumps is worth more than the ace of trumps of the last game. When in doubt, follow the suit of the wise and prudent; sooner or later they will win the odd trick.

32．因善行而闻名

因善行而闻名。仁德应被位高权重之人引为无上光荣，赢得普天大众之好感是君主才有的特权。做领袖的一大好处是：较其他人更易行善。要结交朋友，就要做好事。但是，有的人却总是很暴虐，不是因为亲善很难，而是因为这种人性情乖戾，凡事他们都喜欢与神圣的仁善背道而驰。

32．Have the reputation of being gracious

Have the reputation of being gracious. It is the chief glory of the high and mighty to be gracious, a prerogative of kings to conquer universal goodwill. That is the great advantage of a commanding position－to be able to do more good than others. Those make friends who do friendly acts. On the other hand, there are some who lay themselves out for not being gracious, not on account of the difficulty, but from a bad disposition. In all things they are the opposite of Divine grace.

33．知道如何逃避

知道如何逃避。懂得如何拒绝是人生最重要的一课，其中，更重要的是懂得如何拒绝牵涉某些事与人。那些无关之事只是徒耗宝贵时光。忙于无关之事，还不如什么都不做。对一个谨慎细致的人来说，不仅不干涉他人，还要注意不被他人干涉。别完全属于他人，以免完全失去自己。对于朋友，你不能滥用其帮助，你所求之帮助不能超过他们愿意给你的。过犹不及，人际交往最忌失衡。明智地适可而止，可赢得别人的善意和尊重，用这种方法，别人才会始终对你客客气气。懂得逃避，你才能保住自己的才华，去自由选择最好的东西，而不违背追求高品位的不成文法则。

33．Know how to withdraw

Know how to withdraw. If it is a great lesson in life to know how to deny, it is a still greater to know how to deny oneself as regards both affairs and persons. There are extraneous occupations which eat away precious time. To be occupied in what does not concern you is worse than doing nothing. It is not enough for a careful man not to interfere with others, he must see that they do not interfere with him. One is not obliged to belong so much to all as not to belong at all to oneself. So with friends, their help should not be abused or more demanded from them than they themselves will grant. All excess is a failing, but above all in personal intercourse. A wise moderation in this best preserves the goodwill and esteem of all, for by this means that precious boon of courtesy is not gradually worn away. Thus you preserve your genius free to select the elect, and never sin against the unwritten laws of good taste.

34．了解自己的最强项

了解自己的最强项，充分了解自己的天赋，培养它，会有助于其他特长的发展。假如人人都知道自己的长处，那么，人人都能在某一领域有所建树。分辨出自己的天赋属于何种类型，并且加以保护。有人长于判断，有人富有勇气。大部分人都在粗暴地运用自己的天资，结果一无所获。当初只是在热情中迷失，日后醒悟过来，却为时已晚。

34．Know your strongest point

Know your strongest point－ your preeminent gift; cultivate that and you will assist the rest. Everyone would have excelled in something if he had known his strong point. Notice in what quality you surpass, and take charge of that. In some judgment excels, in others valour. Most do violence to their natural aptitude, and thus attain superiority in nothing. Time disillusionizes us too late of what first flattered the passions.

35．遇事斟酌，遇要事则更要斟酌

遇事斟酌，遇要事则更要斟酌。蠢人之所以陷入悲伤，皆因其缺乏思考。他们对事物的认识一知半解，因不知其得失，也就不肯全力以赴去做。有的人也思考，可本末倒置，漠视紧要之事，却对鸡毛蒜皮之事小题大做。有的人绝不会失去理智，因为他们根本没有理智。我们要详察一些事情，且铭记于心。智者思索每一件事情，却有所分别，他们尤其注重极艰深之事，总觉得自己很可能思虑不周。如此一来，其所虑之事必为其所知。

35．Think over things, most over the most important

Think over things, most over the most important. All fools come to grief from want of thought. They never see even the half of things, and as they do not observe their own loss or gain, still less do they apply any diligence to them. Some make much of what imports little and little of much, always weighing in the wrong scale. Many never lose their common sense, because they have none to lose. There are matters which should be observed with the closest attention of the mind, and thenceforth kept in its lowest depths. The wise man thinks over everything, but with a difference, most profoundly where there is some profound difficulty, and thinks that perhaps there is more in it than he thinks. Thus his comprehension extends as far as his apprehension.

36．进退之际，了解时运

进退之际，了解时运。把握自己的时运比了解自己的脾气秉性更为重要。如果人到四十才向希波克拉底(1)要健康，无疑是愚蠢的；如果这时才知道向塞涅卡(2)要智慧，就更愚蠢了。懂得在等待好运的同时如何引导运气，需要有高超的技巧。有的事只要等待好运便能完成，因为运气是有周期的且能提供机会——尽管它没有规律，难以捉摸。如果受到幸运女神的青睐，你就应大胆向前，因为幸运女神喜欢勇敢的人。作为女性，她也喜欢年轻人。假使你时运不济，你就应撤退，以免一失再失。

36．In acting or refraining, weigh your luck

In acting or refraining, weigh your luck. More depends on that than on noticing your temperament. If he is a fool who at forty applies to Hippocrates for health, still more is he one who then first applies to Seneca for wisdom. It is a great piece of skill to know how to guide your luck even while waiting for it. For something is to be done with it by waiting so as to use it at the proper moment, since it has periods and offers opportunities, though one cannot calculate its path, its steps are so irregular. When you find Fortune favourable, stride boldly forward, for she favours the bold and, being a woman, the young. But if you have bad luck, keep retired so as not to redouble the influence of your unlucky star.

(1) 古希腊名医，西方医学奠基人。

(2) 古罗马政治家、哲学家、演说家、作家，晚期斯多葛派哲学的主要代表人物。

37．准备一些讥诮话，并善加利用

准备一些讥诮话，并善加利用。人际交往中，此点最奥妙。有的讥诮话常常用来探测别人的情绪，它往往是刺探人心的最敏锐的试金石。有的话恶毒、粗野，因深染妒忌之气或激情之毒，它猛一出现可立马摧毁所有的好感和尊重。就是被这种话稍稍刺激，许多人和尊长或下属再不亲密——他们原本亲密无间，众人的暗讽和一些人的恶意都不能动摇他们的关系。有的讥诮话可以起到好的作用，巩固和提高人的名望。不管怎样，他人越有奸计，我们越要加倍小心，敏锐且有预见性地把它化解掉。知晓他人的恶意，本身就是一种防备——能够被预见的一击常常打不中目标。

37．Keep a store of sarcasms, and know how to use them

Keep a store of sarcasms, and know how to use them. This is the point of greatest tact in human intercourse. Such sarcasms are often thrown out to test men's moods, and by their means one often obtains the most subtle and penetrating touchstone of the heart. Other sarcasms are malicious, insolent, poisoned by envy or envenomed by passion, unexpected flashes which destroy at once all favour and esteem. Struck by the slightest word of this kind, many fall away from the closest intimacy with superiors or inferiors which could not be the slightest shaken by a whole conspiracy of popular insinuation or private malevolence. Other sarcasms, on the other hand, work favourably, confirming and assisting one's reputation. But the greater the skill with which they are launched, the greater the caution with which they should be received and the foresight with which they should he foreseen. For here a knowledge of the evil is in itself a means of defence, and a shot foreseen always misses its mark.

38．急流勇退

急流勇退。所有的高级玩家均长于此道。适时的撤退正如巧妙的进攻。一旦功德圆满，即便还有更多盛名，也要急流勇退。络绎不绝的好运总是十分可疑。断续的好运似乎更安全一些，对于那些喜欢品尝忧喜参半之味的人来说，似乎也更甜美。当好运来得太多太快时，危险也越大，且可能一塌糊涂。有时，幸运女神的青睐虽然很强烈，但是却很短暂。背一个人太久了，她很快就会厌倦的。

38．Leave your luck while winning

Leave your luck while winning. All the best players do it. A fine retreat is as good as a gallant attack. Bring your exploits under cover when there are enough, or even when there are many of them. Luck long lasting was ever suspicious; interrupted seems safer, and is even sweeter to the taste for a little infusion of bitter-sweet. The higher the heap of luck, the greater the risk of a slip, and down comes all. Fortune pays you sometimes for the intensity of her favours by the shortness of their duration. She soon tires of carrying anyone long on her shoulders.

39．了解事物成熟的时机，并善加利用

了解事物成熟的时机，并善加利用。万物都有其成熟之时——在此之前它们不断完善，然后逐渐衰退。至于人工之物，则很少能够达到完美的顶点而无需改进。那些高品位的人的特权，就是在事物达到完美之时充分享受它。并非人人都能分辨出这一时刻；即便能够辨别，也未必知道如何享用。智慧的果实也有成熟之时，要善察其时，以便利用它的使用价值和交换价值。

39．Recognize when things are ripe, and then enjoy them

Recognize when things are ripe, and then enjoy them. The works of nature all reach a certain point of maturity; up to that they improve, after that they degenerate. Few works of art reach such a point that they cannot be improved. It is an especial privilege of good taste to enjoy everything at its ripest. Not all can do this, nor do all who can know this. There is a ripening point too for fruits of intellect; it is well to know this both for their value in use and for their value in exchange.

40．获得人们的好感

获得人们的好感。获得人们普遍的赞美的确了不起，得到大众的爱戴则更了不起。这既靠天资，也靠后天的努力——前者是基础，后者建立在前者之上。虽然天资被认为是必需的，但是光靠它是不够的。你应该赢得美名，之后要赢得好感就比较容易。要让人们产生好感，你须有善行——既说善话，又更要做善事。如欲被爱，则须先爱人。亲切周到是大人物精明的法宝。先立功德而后立言，先建功而后立传——赢得立言人的好感将使你英名永传。

40．Gain the goodwill of people

Gain the goodwill of people. It is much to gain universal admiration; more, universal love. Something depends on natural disposition, more on practice: the first founds, the second then builds on that foundation. Brilliant parts are not sufficient, though they are presupposed; win good opinion and it is easy to win goodwill. Kindly acts are required to produce kindly feelings, doing good with both hands, good words and better deeds, loving so as to be loved. Courtesy is the politic witchery of great personages. First lay hand on deeds and then on pens; words follow swords; goodwill to be won among writers is eternal.

41．切勿言过其实

切勿言过其实。细心谨慎的一个重要目的，就是说话不过分使用“最”字，以免违背事实，或是让人对你的判断力产生怀疑。言过其实糟蹋你的判断力，显得你学识浅薄，品位低劣。赞美之辞引来人们的好奇心，好奇心又滋生欲望。待之后人们发现你是在夸大其词时，期望落空，就会有种被欺骗的感觉，于是滋生报复之心，将赞美者和被赞美者一起贬低下去。因此，谨小慎微之人在评价事物时总是很谨慎，宁可言之不足，也不夸大其词。非凡的事物是很少见的，因此，你要节制你的评价。夸大其词近乎说谎，会危及自身声誉，让人对你的品味产生怀疑；更糟糕的是，让人怀疑你的见识。

41．Never exaggerate

Never exaggerate. It is an important object of attention not to talk in superlatives, so as neither to offend against truth nor to give a mean idea of one's understanding. Exaggeration is a prodigality of the judgment which shows the narrowness of one's knowledge or one's taste. Praise arouses lively curiosity, begets desire, and if afterwards the value does not correspond to the price, as generally happens, expectation revolts against the deception, and revenges itself by under-estimating the thing recommended and the person recommending. A prudent man goes more cautiously to work, and prefers to err by understatement than by overstatement. Extraordinary things are rare, therefore moderate your valuation. Exaggeration is a branch of lying, and you lose by it the credit of good taste, which is much, and of good sense, which is more.

42．天生为王

天生为王。这是一种神秘的特异力量，不是来源于技巧，而来自于天生的支配力。人们会不明就里地臣服于此人脚下，拜服于这种权威的神秘力量。这种天生的王者有君王的资质，有如雄狮般的特殊才能。他们使人敬畏、甘心臣服。假如他们还有其他品质，那么他们天生就要成为国家的风云人物。他的一个手势所造成的影响，远胜于别人的长篇大论。

42．Born to command

Born to command. It is a secret force of superiority not to have to get on by artful trickery but by an inborn power of rule. All submit to it without knowing why, recognizing the secret vigour of connatural authority. Such magisterial spirits are kings by merit and lions by innate privilege. By the esteem which they inspire, they hold the hearts and minds of the rest. If their other qualities permit, such men are born to be the prime motors of the state. They perform more by a gesture than others by a long harangue.

43．心随精英，口随大众

心随精英，口随大众。逆流而上难以纠正错误，并且危机四伏——只有苏格拉底(1)才敢这么做。与他人唱反调，他人会视为侮辱，因为这相当于你在谴责其判断力。你谴责了某种看法，也就谴责了赞成这种看法的人，因此，你会招致双倍的厌恶。真理属于少数人，谬误恶劣却普遍。你不能根据人们在公众之前所言去判断其是否明智。智者在那里说的话都不是发自内心，只是迎合大众趣味而已，他内心也许对此深恶痛绝。谨慎之人应避免被人反驳，也应尽量不反驳别人——虽然他们老早便已作出评判，却不急于发表。人的思想生而自由，不容亦不应遭到贸然侵犯。智者因此保持缄默，如果他愿意敞开胸怀，也只是在隐蔽之处，在一小部分合适的人面前。

43．Think with the few and speak with the many

Think with the few and speak with the many. By swimming against the stream it is impossible to remove error, easy to fall into danger: only a Socrates can undertake it. To dissent from others' views is regarded as an insult, because it is their condemnation. Disgust is doubled on account of the thing blamed and of the person who praised it. Truth is for the few, error is both common and vulgar. The wise man is not known by what he says on the public square, for there he speaks not with his own voice but with that of common folly, however much his inmost thoughts may gainsay it. The prudent avoid being contradicted as much as contradicting: though they have their censure ready they are not ready to publish it. Thought is free, force cannot and should not be used to it. The wise man therefore retires into silence, and if he allows himself to come out of it, he does so in the shade and before few and fit persons.

(1) 古希腊哲学家、演说家，柏拉图的老师。以“渎神违教”之罪被控入狱，被判死刑，服毒而亡。

44．英雄相惜

英雄相惜。与其他英雄惺惺相惜是英雄的特质。可以说，这种特质是人间奇迹，因为它神秘而于人有益。心灵之间有天生的亲缘关系，心灵结合的效果是这样神奇，使得无知俗人将其归结为魔力。产生敬重，进而产生善意，有时，还能产生友爱。它无需言语而使人信服，无须付出而赢得众多。感情上的共鸣分为主动和被动两种，皆能带来相同的幸福。越如此，越令人崇敬。认识、区别并利用这种天赋，是一门伟大的艺术。无论多努力，都无法取代这种造化的眷顾。

44．Sympathy with great minds

Sympathy with great minds. It is an heroic quality to agree with heroes. It is like a miracle of nature for mystery and for use. There is a natural kinship of hearts and minds: its effects are such that vulgar ignorance scents witchcraft. Esteem established, goodwill follows, which at times reaches affection. It persuades without words and obtains without earning. This sympathy is sometimes active, sometimes passive, both alike felicific: the more so, the more sublime. It is a great art to recognize, to distinguish and to utilize this gift. No amount of energy suffices without that favor of nature.

45．狡猾可以运用，但不能滥用

狡猾可以运用，但不能滥用。狡猾，不应成为你的嗜好，更不应该用于自夸。所有的计谋都须隐藏，最该隐藏的就是狡猾，人们最痛恨它。世上常有欺骗，因此你须多加留意。但是，你又不能将防人之心示于人，因为它会引起怀疑，招致麻烦，唤醒他人的报复之心，给你带来不可预知的灾难。做事之前考虑再三是十分有益的，没有比这更能证明你有智慧。能否运筹帷幄，决胜千里，全在于手段是否周全。

45．Use, but do not abuse, cunning

Use, but do not abuse, cunning. One ought not to delight in it, still less to boast of it. Everything artificial should be concealed, most of all cunning, which is hated. Deceit is much in use; therefore our caution has to be redoubled, but not so as to show itself, for it arouses distrust, causes much annoy, awakens revenge, and gives rise to more ills than you would imagine. To go to work with caution is of great advantage in action, and there is no greater proof of wisdom. The greatest skill in any deed consists in the sure mastery with which it is executed.

46．控制你的反感情绪

控制你的反感情绪。我们总是任凭自己本能地厌恶一些人，即便我们尚未了解他们的情况。有时，这种发自内心的卑劣的厌恶会指向杰出人士。要有意识地去克制这种憎恶感——厌恶杰出人物是最可耻的，就像赞同大人物能让我们崇高一样，厌恶伟人也贬低了我们自己。

46．Master your antipathies

Master your antipathies. We often allow ourselves to take dislikes, and that before we know anything of a person. At times this innate yet vulgar aversion attaches itself to eminent people. Good sense masters this feeling, for there is nothing more discreditable than to dislike those better than ourselves. As sympathy with great men ennobles us, so dislike to them degrades us.

47．避免“为荣誉而决斗”

避免“为荣誉而决斗”，这是审慎行事的最主要的一点。那些雄才大略之人总是远离极端，以确保不偏不倚。从一个极端到另一个极端，有很长的一段路，谨慎之人经常采取中庸之道，所以能够从容应对。避免招惹是非比招惹是非后再全身而退要容易一些。危险考验我们的判断力，最好避开，而不是征服。有时，一个事端能够引发更大的事端，以致可能带来耻辱。因自身秉性或种族关系，有的人容易陷入事端之中。而那些理智行事的人，对这类事总会思虑再三。征服危险并非强者，善于避险才是真正的勇士。当有傻瓜准备冒险时，你就要找借口，避免成为第二个傻瓜。

47．Avoid "affairs of honour"

Avoid "affairs of honour"－one of the chiefest aims of prudence. In men of great ability the extremes are kept far asunder, so that there is a long distance between them, and they always keep in the middle of their caution, so that they take time to break through it. It is easier to avoid such affairs than to come well out of them. They test our judgment; it is better to avoid them than to conquer in them. One affair of honour leads to another, and may lead to an affair of dishonour. There are men so constituted by nature or by nation that they easily enter upon such obligations. But for him who walks by the light of reason, such a matter requires long thinking over. There is more valour needed not to take up the affair than to conquer in it. When there is one fool ready for the occasion, one may excuse oneself from being the second.

48．做一个有深度的人至关重要

做一个有深度的人至关重要。一个人的内涵至少与外表一样重要。有人只是空有一具好皮囊，就像一间房子，因资金不足而只装饰了表面，门廊像宫殿，而里屋却如茅草房。深入到他们的头脑之中，你将一无所获。尽管他们会来打扰你，在最初的寒暄过后，他们就无话可说了。与人初次见面，他们的寒暄敏捷如西西里的骏马，不过随即便陷入沉默。因为，没有思想的源泉，言语会很快枯竭。浅薄之人可能会被这种人蒙蔽，但是，明智之人能够一眼看透，知道他们的内心空无一物，除了一些可作笑柄的材料。

48．So much depends on being a person of depth

So much depends on being a person of depth. The interior must be at least as much as the exterior. There are natures all frontage, like houses that for want of means have the portico of a palace leading to the rooms of a cottage. It is no use boring into such persons, although they bore you, for conversation flags after the first salutation. They prance through the first compliments like Sicilian stallions, but silence soon succeeds, for the flow of words soon ceases where there is no spring of thoughts. Others may be taken in by them because they themselves have but a view of the surface, but not the prudent, who look within them and find nothing there except material for scorn.

49．明察善断

明察善断。一个明察善断的人可以驾驭事物，而不被事物驾驭。他能迅速探知事物最本质的东西，他还善于相面。无论是谁，只要他看一眼，就能判断是什么样的人，并断定其本性。通过有限的观察，他能探知隐藏最深的秘密。他洞察敏锐，领会精微，推理明确，可以发现、留意、掌握和了解一切事物。

49．Observation and judgment

Observation and judgment. A man with these rules things, not they him. He sounds at once the profoundest depths; he is a phrenologist by means of physiognomy. On seeing a person he understands him and judges of his inmost nature. From a few observations he deciphers what is most hidden. Keen observation, subtile insight, judicious inference: with these he discovers, notices, grasps, and comprehends everything.

50．不失自尊

不失自尊，也不要太过随便。要让自身的正义感成为令你正直的真正标准，使你对自己的审查比外界的一切制裁更为严格。任何不体面之事都别做，并非害怕外界的权威，而是因为自尊。注重这一点，就不需要塞涅卡所谓的“假想监督者”(1)了。

50．Never lose self-respect

Never lose self-respect, or be too familiar with oneself. Let your own right feeling be the true standard of your rectitude, and owe more to the strictness of your own self-judgment than to all external sanctions. Leave off anything unseemly more from regard for your own self-respect than from fear of external authority. Pay regard to that and there is no need of Seneca's imaginary tutor.

(1) 指良心，出自塞涅卡《道德书简》。

51．选择有道

选择有道。生活中的许多事都要看你是否有选择能力。只靠智慧或学习能力是不够的，你需要有良好的品味和正确的判断力。若想成为精英，必须精于选择。这就需要你做到两件事：有能力选择和能够作出最佳选择。许多人头脑聪敏，有敏锐的判断力，且博学多闻，可是面临选择时仍是不知所措。他们总是挑选最糟糕的东西，好像要故意犯错。所以，懂得如何选择是最伟大的天赋之一。

51．Know how to choose well

Know how to choose well. Most of life depends thereon. It needs good taste and correct judgment, for which neither intellect nor study suffices. To be choice, you must choose, and for this two things are needed: to be able to choose at all, and then to choose the best. There are many men of fecund and subtle mind, of keen judgment, of much learning, and of great observation who yet are at a loss when they come to choose. They always take the worst as if they had tried to go wrong. Thus this is one of the greatest gifts from above.

52．从不慌乱

从不慌乱。绝不让自己窘迫是审慎之人的一大目标。这也是一个有着一颗高贵的心的真正的人的标志，因为只有胸怀宽阔的人才不易情绪失衡。激情乃是内心的玩笑，任何过度的激情都会削弱我们的谨慎。假如你任其流露，将有损你的名声。因此，让我们主宰自己，无论是一帆风顺还是举步维艰，都不因任何事情失去自控而损害名声。相反，要表现得泰然自若而增进我们的名声。

52．Never be put out

Never be put out. It is a great aim of prudence never to be embarrassed. It is the sign of a real man. of a noble heart, for magnanimity is not easily put off ballance. The passions are the humors of the soul, and every excess in them weakens prudence. If they overflow through the mouth, the reputation will be in danger. Let us therefore be so much and so great a master over ourselves that neither in the most fortunate nor in the most adverse circumstances can anything cause our reputation injury by disturbing our self-possession, but rather enhance it by showing his superiority.

53．聪明且勤奋

聪明且勤奋。勤奋可加快实现你反复考虑过的计划。蠢人常因匆忙而失败，他们无法掌握要领，行事缺乏准备。而智者则不然，他们常因拖延而失败，他们深谋远虑，再三斟酌，这种耽搁往往让他们无法及时作出正确判断。但是，做事敏捷就是好运之母。讲求效率，事不隔夜，可成就良多。“忙里偷闲，缓中带急”，确是金玉良言。

53．Be diligent and intelligent

Be diligent and intelligent. Diligence promptly executes what intelligence slowly excogitates. Hurry is the failing of fools: they know not the crucial point and set to work without preparation. On the other hand, the wise more often fail from procrastination: foresight begets deliberation, and delay often nullifies prompt judgment. Celerity is the mother of good fortune. He has done much who leaves nothing over till tomorrow. "Make haste slowly" is a royal motto.

54．懂得展示你的勇气

懂得展示你的勇气。即便是兔子也敢拔死狮的鬃毛。勇气不是开玩笑的。只要为之屈服一次，就会有第二次，无止境地屈服下去。最终达到目的所承受的麻烦不会比最初少。精神上的勇气总是胜过体力上的蛮勇。勇气应该像利剑一般，待命于谨慎之鞘中，伺机而出。同时，它也是你保护自身重要部位的盾牌。精神上的软弱比身体上的虚弱更把人贬低。很多人资质非凡，就因为没有这种刚毅的心，从而死气沉沉地枉过一生，在萎靡中死去。奇妙的大自然自有其绝妙的安排：在蜜蜂身上结合了甘甜的蜂蜜和尖锐的毒刺。

54．Know how to show your teeth

Know how to show your teeth. Even hares can pull the mane of a dead lion. There is no joke about courage. Give way to the first and you must yield to the second, and so on till the last, and to gain your point at last costs as much trouble as would have gained much more at first. Moral courage exceeds physical; it should be like a sword kept ready for use in the scabbard of caution. It Is the shield of great place; moral cowardice lowers one more than physical. Many have had eminent qualities, yet, for want of a stout heart, they passed inanimate lives and found a tomb in their own sloth. Wise Nature has thoughtfully combined in the bee the sweetness of its honey with the sharpness of its sting.

55．善于等待

善于等待。善于等待的人从不慌张，从不受控于自身情绪，有着一颗有耐心的高贵之心。人若想去管别人，首先要管好自己。在到达机会的核心之前，你得经过其外围。明智的犹疑使目标更有趣味，使手段更加成熟。时间老人的拐杖比赫克乐斯(1)的铁杖还好使。上帝惩戒人，用时间而非鞭子。正如一句伟大的箴言(2)所说：“给我时间，我能够以一敌二。”命运总是把头等奖颁给善于等待之人。

55．Wait

Wait. It's a sign of a noble heart dowered with patience, never to be in a hurry, never to be in a passion. First be master over yourself if you would be master over others. You must pass through the circumference of time before arriving at the centre of opportunity. A wise reserve seasons the aims and matures the means. Time's crutch effects more than the iron club of Hercules. God Himself chastenes not with a rod but with time. He spoke a great word who said, "Time and I against any two." Fortune rewards waiting with the first prize.

(1) 希腊神话中的大力士，宙斯之子。

(2) 指西班牙国王查理一世（1516—1556），兼神圣罗马皇帝查理五世（1519—1556）所说的话。

56．随机应变

随机应变。随机应变源于头脑的敏捷与果断。有了这种活力与警觉，便不怕危险或灾难。有些人虽思虑良多，可做什么事最后都出差错；而有些人事先并无打算，却能达到自己的目的。确实有这样一种怪才，越是在紧急的情况下，越能发挥自己的能力。怪就怪在，他们随手所做之事都能成功，经过深思熟虑的事情反而都遭到失败。他们要么在当时就做好了事情，要么就永远做不好，对他们来说，不存在第二次机会。敏捷能够赢来赞赏，因为这证明了你有一种非凡的能力：判断精准，行为审慎。

56．Have presence of mind

Have presence of mind. This is the child of a happy promptitude of spirit. Owing to this vivacity and wide awakeness there is no fear of danger or mischance. Many reflect much only to go wrong in the end; others attain their aim without thinking of it beforehand. There are paradoxical characters who work best in an emergency. They are like monsters who succeed in all they do offhand, but fail in everything they think over. A thing occurs to them at once or never: for them there is no court of appeal. Celerity wins applause because it proves remarkable capacity: subtlety of judgment, prudence in action.

57．慢且稳

慢且稳。做事妥帖，就相当于做得快。如只想速决，则可能速败。凡永恒之事，必有持续之力才能达成。只有卓尔不群才有价值，只有真正的成功才能长久，只有深邃的智慧才能令你声名不朽。价值高，则成本高，金属亦然，最贵重的，分量也最重。

57．Be slow and Sure

Be slow and Sure. Early enough if well. Quickly done can be quickly undone. To last an eternity requires an eternity of preparation. Only excellence counts; only achievement endures. Profound intelligence is the only foundation for immortality. Worth much costs much. The precious metals are the heaviest.

58．恰当展现自己

恰当展现自己。无须在每个人面前都显示你的才能。不要使出不必要的力气。不要浪费脑力，更不要浪费体力。老练的养鹰人只放够用的鹰去捕猎。如你今天展现太多，明天则不再有可展示之物。你总要留些新奇的东西，让人眼前一亮。每天展现新鲜之物，人们则会对你始终抱有期待，无法探知你才能的深浅。

58．Adapt yourself to your company

Adapt yourself to your company. There is no need to show your ability before everyone. Employ no more force than is necessary. Let there be no unnecessary expenditure either of knowledge or of power. The skilful falconer only flies enough birds to serve for the chase. If there is too much display today there will be nothing to show tomorrow. Always have some novelty with which to dazzle. To show something fresh each day keeps expectation alive and conceals the limits of capacity.

59．要有完美的收场

要有完美的收场。在造访命运之屋时，假如你从快乐之门进入，肯定会从悲伤之门离开，反之亦然。因此，做事时，你必须考虑如何收场。追求功德圆满的退场，胜过轰轰烈烈的开场。倒霉之人常常有极其幸运的开端，但结局却很悲惨。重要的不是一上场时大家的掌声——他们几乎对谁都如此——而是退场时大家对你的依恋。在人生的舞台上，很少有人被认为值得重新再来。幸运女神几乎不会送人到门口——她总是对初到之人热情似火，对将去之人冷若寒冰。

59．Finish off well

Finish off well. In the house of Fortune, if you enter by the gate of pleasure you must leave by that of sorrow and vice versa. You ought therefore to think of the finish, and attach more importance to a graceful exit than to applause on entrance. It is the common lot of the unlucky to have a very fortunate outset and a very tragic end. The important point is not the vulgar applause on entrance－that comes to nearly all-but the general feeling at exit. Few in life are felt to deserve an encore. Fortune rarely accompanies any one to the door: warmly as she may welcome the coming, she speeds but coldly the parting guest.

60．判断准确

判断准确。有些人天生聪慧，凭借这一天生的优势，在学习之初，他们就已成功了一半。年纪愈长，经验日丰，他们的判断力也会变得十分敏捷和准确。他们厌恶一切可能偏离审慎的奇想怪念，尤其是国家大事，因为国家大事十分重要，讲求万无一失。这种人可以站在国家的舵轮旁边，或者是领航员，或者是舵手。

60．A sound judgment

A sound judgment. Some are born wise, and with this natural advantage enter upon their studies, with a moiety already mastered. With age and experience their reason ripens, and thus they attain a sound judgment. They abhor everything whimsical as leading prudence astray, especially in matters of state, where certainty is so necessary, owing to the importance of the affairs involved. Such men deserve to stand by the helm of state either as pilots or as men at the wheel.

61．卓越之处求卓越

卓越之处求卓越。在各种优秀的特质中，这是最为珍稀的。伟人必然有其优异之处，平庸之人从来不能赢得人们的喝彩。在不平凡的岗位上出类拔萃，可使你别于俗世的庸才，而进入精英的行列。在微贱的岗位上就算做得出色，也是一件很微不足道的事情——越是容易成功，便越算不得荣耀。在崇高的事业上追求卓越可使你具有王者气质，将使众人赞叹不已，并赢得好感。

61．To excel in what is excellent

To excel in what is excellent. It is a great rarity among excellences. You cannot have a great man without something preeminent. Mediocrities never win applause. Eminence in some distinguished post distinguishes one from the vulgar mob and ranks us with the elect. To be distinguished in a small post is to be great in little: the more comfort, the less glory. The highest eminence in great affairs has the royal characteristic of exciting admiration and winning goodwill.

62．善其事必先利其器

善其事必先利其器。一些人以使用低劣的工具来证明其技高一筹。这是一种危险的自满，若遭遇重大挫折，实是咎由自取。臣子的优秀绝不会使君王的伟大有所减损。所有丰功伟业都归于领袖，就像他们也要承担所有责难一样。名誉女神只与领袖打交道，她从不说“这人有良臣，那人有劣将”，她只是说“这人高明，那人低劣”。因此，你需要仔细地挑选并考察助手，因为你要依赖他们以成就不朽的盛名。

62．Use good instruments

Use good instruments. Some would have the subtlety of their wits proven by the poorness of their instruments. It is a dangerous satisfaction, and deserves a fatal punishment. The excellence of a minister never diminished the greatness of his lord. All the glory of exploits reverts to the principal actor; also all the blame. Fame only does business with principals. She does not say, "This had good, that had bad servants," but, "This was a good artist, that a bad one." Let your assistants be selected and tested therefore, for you have to trust to them for an immortality of fame.

63．抢先为上

抢先为上，若还能表现优异，则是好上加好。在棋手水平旗鼓相当的情况下，谁先走第一步，谁就占有很大的优势。许多人如能抢占先机，原本可以独占鳌头。领先之人才是名望的继承人，后来者只能作为次子，分到一点残羹冷炙。不管后来者如何费尽心机，总有鹦鹉学舌之嫌。杰出的天才总会小心谨慎，采用技巧另辟蹊径，以求卓越。因其事业之新，得以名垂青史。某些人却宁为鸡头，而不为凤尾。

63．To be the first of the kind is an excellence

To be the first of the kind is an excellence, and to be eminent in it as well, a double one. To have the first move is a great advantage when the players are equal. Many a man would have been a veritable Phonix if he had been the first of the sort. Those who come first are the heirs of Fame; the others get only a younger brother's allowance: whatever they do, they cannot persuade the world they are anything more than parrots. The skill of prodigies may find a new path to eminence, and prudence accompanies them all the way. By the novelty of their enterprises sages write their names in the golden book of heroes. Some prefer to be first in things of minor import than second in greater exploits.

64．远离烦恼

远离烦恼。这种谨慎会有好的回报，它能让你避免许多纷扰，带来舒适与幸福。不要告诉别人坏消息，自己也不要接受这种消息，除非它对自己有益。有的人的耳朵已经被甜蜜的恭维话塞满了；有的人则听多了苦涩的谣言；还有的人，如果哪天没有烦恼便坐立不安，就像米斯利达提斯(1)那种人，每天都要吃点毒药。为了赢得他人的好感而使自己郁闷终生，也不是生活的法则，不管你与他多么亲密。别人帮你出谋划策，但却不担负任何责任，你不要为了赢得他的欢心而错失自己的机会。并且，只要帮助别人便意味着为难自己，要记住：最好不让他现在得到满足，以免你以后白白忍受痛苦。

64．Avoid worry

Avoid worry. Such prudence brings its own reward. It escapes much, and is thus the midwife of comfort and so of happiness. Neither give nor take bad news unless it can help. Some men's ears are stuffed with the sweets of flattery; others with the bitters of scandal, while some cannot live without a daily annoyance no more than Mithridates could without poison. It is no rule of life to prepare for yourself lifelong trouble in order to give a temporary enjoyment to another, however near and dear. You never ought to spoil your own chances to please another who advises and keeps out of the affair, and in all cases where to oblige another involves disobliging yourself, it is a standing rule that it is better he should suffer now than you afterwards and in vain.

(1) 本都国王，传说他常服用少量毒药使身体产生抗毒能力，以防被毒死。

65．培养高雅的品味

培养高雅的品味。和聪明才智一样，高雅的品味是能够培养的。透彻的领悟能力可刺激你的胃口，增加你的快乐。判断一个人的精神是否高贵，可看其品味是否高雅——只有伟大的事物才能满足伟大的心灵。嘴巴越大，能吞下的东西才越多；那些高尚的事业只有崇高之人能为之。在鉴赏大家面前，即便是最勇敢的人也会胆战心惊，最完美的人也会丧失信心。一流的事物是罕见的，因此，不要轻易欣赏。品味可通过人际交往而传授。能与品味最高雅的人结交，将是一大幸运。但是，千万不要宣称自己对什么都不满意，这是极其愚蠢的。若出于装腔作势，那就比出自不切实际的幻想更让人讨厌。有人会期望上帝另造一个世界，另造其他理想的事物，以满足他们不可思议的幻想。

65．Elevated taste

Elevated taste. You can train it like the intellect. Full knowledge whets desire and increases enjoyment. You may know a noble spirit by the elevation of his taste: it must be a great thing that can satisfy a great mind. Big bites for big mouths, lofty things for lofty spirits. Before their judgment the bravest tremble, the most perfect lose confidence. Things of the first importance are few; let appreciation be rare. Taste can be imparted by intercourse: great good luck to associate with the highest taste. But do not profess to be dissatisfied with everything: it is the extreme of folly, and more odious if from affectation than if from Quixotry. Some would have God create another world and other ideals to satisfy their fantastic imagination.

66．使结局完美

使结局完美。有些人注重行事是否合乎规范，而非是否成功。但是，对世人而言，最终失败的结局是耻辱的，它抵消了人们对你之前遵循规矩的所有认可。获胜之人无须解释。世人只注重结果，而非你所用方法的细节。如果你可以达到预期的目标，荣誉就不会减损。无论你采用的手段如何令人不满，只要有好的结局，那么一切将被镀金。因此，有些时候，逾越规则正是生活的规则——如果只有不拘泥于手段才能成功的话。

66．See that things end well

See that things end well. Some regard more the rigour of the game than the winning of it, but to the world the discredit of the final failure does away with any recognition of the previous care. The victor need not explain. The world does not notice the details of the measures employed, but only the good or ill result. You lose nothing if you gain your end. A good end gilds everything, however unsatisfactory the means. Thus at times it is part of the art of life to transgress the rules of the art, if you cannot end well otherwise.

67．选择能够获得殊荣的行业

选择能够获得殊荣的行业。大部分事情都要靠他人是否满意来决定其好坏。如美丽的花朵需要春风助力才有生机一样，你的卓越需要别人的尊重：有些职业为众人尊敬；也有些职业尽管更为重要，却没有名誉。前者有目共睹，人人向往；后者罕见而更为珍贵，更有价值，可惜始终默默无闻，虽可敬，却无人喝彩。君主之中，有战功之人最受赞颂，阿拉恭(1)诸王正是凭此为人称颂为“勇士”、“征服者”、“伟人”。能人应该选择有名且有用的显赫职业——众心所向，才能永垂不朽。

67．Choose an occupation that wins distinction

Choose an occupation that wins distinction. Most things depend on the satisfaction of others. Esteem is to excellence what the zephyr is to flowers: the breath of life. There are some callings which gain universal esteem, while others more important are without credit. The former, pursued before the eyes of all, obtain the universal favour; the others, though they are rarer and more valuable, remain obscure and unperceived, honoured but not applauded. Among princes conquerors are the most celebrated, and therefore the kings of Aragon earned such applause as warriors, conquerors, and great men. An able man will prefer occupations of distinction which all men know of and utilize, and he thus becomes immortalized by universal suffrage.

(1) 指位于西班牙东北部的一个古国。

68．点拨其心智，胜于助其回忆

点拨其心智，胜于助其回忆。前者需要思考，后者只需回忆。许多人不能在恰当的时候做恰当的事，只是因为他们一时未能想起来。在这种情况下，朋友的提醒可让他们看清事物的利弊。能审时度势、提供当下所需是人的一大天赋——缺少了它，许多事就无法继续。如果你有见事之明，就应为他人指点迷津。如果你没有，就请他人帮助你。前者你要慎重，后者你要急切。为人引路时须谨慎行事，点到即可。如果事关当事人的利益，而你已提醒他小心，则更需讲究这个技巧。一开始，你只需让他有所领悟；如果还不够，就应提供更多的信息。假使对方不以为然，你就应运用技巧让他赞同。很多事情没有结果，只是因为没有尝试罢了。

68．It is better to help with intelligence than with memory

It is better to help with intelligence than with memory. The latter needs only recollection, the former requires thought. Many persons omit what is appropriate to the moment because it does not occur to them; a friend's advice on such occasions may enable them to see the advantages. It is one of the greatest gifts of mind to be able to offer what is needed at the moment: for want of that many things fail to be performed. Share the light of your intelligence, when you have any, and ask for it when you have it not, the first cautiously, the last anxiously. Give no more than a hint: this finesse is especially needful when it touches the interest of him whose attention you awaken. You should give but a taste at first, and then pass on to more when that is not sufficient. If he thinks of No, go cleverly in search of Yes. Most things are not obtained simply because they are not attempted.

69．不要冲动行事

不要冲动行事。从不为他人印象所左右的人是了不起的。自我反省可以提升智慧。了解自身秉性，并加以注意，甚至有意识地反其道而行，平衡修养与天性。提升自我始于认识自我。有的人性情怪异、变幻莫测，这样或那样的情绪摆布他们，代替了他们真正的意愿。他们的心智因这种不和谐而分裂，于是做事总是自相矛盾。这种放浪的性格会破坏他们的意志，打击他们的判断力，并使他们的欲望与理智背道而驰。

69．Do not give way to every common impulse

Do not give way to every common impulse. He is a great man who never allows himself to be influenced by the impressions of others. Self-reflection is the school of wisdom. To know one's disposition and to allow for it, even going to the other extreme so as to find a balance between nature and art. Self-knowledge is the beginning of self-improvement. There are some whose humors are so monstrous that they are always under the influence of one or other of them, and put them in place of their real inclinations. They are torn asunder by such disharmony and get involved in contradictory obligations. Such excesses not only destroy firmness of will; all power of judgment gets lost, desire and knowledge pulling in opposite directions.

70．学会拒绝

学会拒绝。与人相处，有求必应是不切实际的。懂得如何拒绝，与懂得如何承诺同样重要，特别是对居于高位的人来说，更是如此。任何事都取决于你如何去做。有些人的拒绝比另一些人的承诺更让人感激。因为镀了金的“不”比干巴的“是”更得人心。有很多人总把“不”字挂在嘴边，事事令人厌恶。他们总是先拒绝，虽然后来也可能让步，却无法获得任何好处，因为他们一开始就让人失望。拒绝别人不要直截了当，要让别人渐渐地接受被拒绝的事实。绝不彻底回绝什么事——如果是那样，别人就再也不会依赖你。因此，要留一些希望，让你的拒绝更柔和。既然没有好处，就要用好言好语来补偿。“是”和“不”说起来很快，但说之前却是颇费脑筋。

70．Know how to refuse

Know how to refuse. One ought not to give way in everything nor to everybody. To know how to refuse is therefore as important as to know how to consent. This is especially the case with men of position. All depends on the how. Some men's No is thought more of than the Yes of others: for a gilded No is more satisfactory than a dry Yes. There are some who always have No on their lips, whereby they make everything distasteful. No always comes first with them, and when sometimes they give way after all, it does them no good on account of the unpleasing herald. Your refusal need not be point-blank: let the disappointment come by degrees. Nor let the refusal be final: that would destroy dependence; let some spice of hope remain to soften the rejection. Let politeness compensate and fine words supply the place of deeds. Yes and No are soon said, but give much to think over.

71．不要左右摇摆

不要左右摇摆。不要让你的言行因性情或做作而反常。能者常因保持最好的状态而获得人们的信任。如果他有所改变，那也是因为他有恰当的理由和周全的考虑。行为反复无常十分有害。有些人天天都不一样——他们的才智无定数，他们的意志更多变，于是运气也无常。昨天的白变成了今天的黑，昨天的“是”到今天变成“不”。他们自毁名誉，也损害了别人对自己的信任。

71．Do not vacillate

Do not vacillate. Do not let your actions be abnormal either from disposition or affectation. An able man is always the same in his best qualities; he gets the credit of trustworthiness. If he changes, he does so for good reason or good consideration. In matters of conduct change is hateful. There are some who are different every day; their intelligence varies, still more their will, and with this their fortune. Yesterday's white is today's black: today's No was yesterday's Yes. They always give the lie to their own credit and destroy their credit with others.

72．要当机立断

要当机立断。相比计划执行得不好，拟定计划时的犹豫不决更有害。被阻挡的河流比流动的河流更危险。有些人总是迟疑不决，需要他人指点。其实，这并非由于事情复杂（其实他们判断得很明确），而是因为他们没有行动力。找出问题所在需要技巧，而找到解决之道则更需技巧。另一些人决不会陷入困境，因为他们有着清晰的判断能力和坚定的个性，他们适合最高的事业。智慧告诉他们从何着手，毅力告诉他们怎样成功。他们很快就能办好任何事情：只要做完一件事，他们就已为下一件事做好了准备。如果有好的时运，他们定会成功。

72．Be resolute

Be resolute. Bad execution of your designs does less harm than irresolution in forming them. Streams do less harm flowing than when dammed up. There are some men so infirm of purpose that they always require direction from others, and this not on account of any perplexity, for they judge clearly, but from sheer incapacity for action. It needs some skill to find out difficulties, but more to find a way out of them. There are others who are never in straits, their clear judgment and determined character fit them for the highest callings: their intelligence tells them where to insert the thin end of the wedge, their resolution how to drive it home. They soon get through anything: as soon as they have done with one sphere of action, they are ready for another. Affianced to Fortune, they make themselves sure of success.

73．安然退避

安然退避。这是聪明人走出困境的法宝。机智地运用一句巧言，他们就能从最错综复杂的迷宫中脱身。用一句空话或一个微笑，他们可摆脱严肃的争论。大部分伟人都擅长此道。当你必须拒绝某件事时，转换话题通常是最礼貌的方式。有时候，装作不理解就是最高明的理解。

73．Utilize slips

Utilize slips. That is how smart people get out of difficulties. They extricate themselves from the most intricate labyrinth by some witty application of a bright remark. They get out of a serious contention by an airy nothing or by raising a smile. Most of the great leaders are well grounded in this art. When you have to refuse, it is often the polite way to talk of something else. Sometimes it proves the highest understanding not to understand.

74．与人为善

与人为善。最野蛮的动物生活在人口最多的地方。那些没有自知之明的人难以让人接近，他们的头衔改变他们的态度。想获得别人的善意，却对别人恶意相待，这自然行不通。这些人不过是一群不合群的、傲慢无礼的怪物——看他们那副德性！不幸的仆人不得不与其说话时，就如同要与老虎搏斗一般，再三忍耐、胆战心惊。为了谋求高位，他们肯定曾低三下四地四处拍马屁；一旦大权在握，就想让所有人都感到不快，以雪旧耻。他的职位本来是要求他们和蔼可亲，但是因为傲气或坏脾气，他们让人难以亲近。用文明的方式来惩罚这种人，就是要对他们视而不见，不与他们交流，从而剥夺他们提高自身的机会。

74．Do not be unsociable

Do not be unsociable. The truest wild beasts live in the most populous places. To be inaccessible is the fault of those who distrust themselves, whose honours change their manners. It is no way of earning people's goodwill by being ill-tempered with them. It is a sight to see one of those unsociable monsters who make a point of being proudly impertinent. Their dependants, who have the misfortune to be obliged to speak with them, enter as if prepared for a fight with a tiger armed with patience and with fear. To obtain their post these persons must have ingratiated themselves with everyone, but having once obtained it they seek to indemnify themselves by disobliging all. It is a condition of their position that they should be accessible to all, yet, from pride or spleen, they are so to none. It is a civil way to punish such men by letting them alone, and depriving them of opportunities of improvement by granting them no opportunity of intercourse.

75．选择一位英雄作为偶像

选择一位英雄作为偶像，你要赶超他，而非一味模仿他。世上有很多种杰出人物，他们是荣耀的活教材。人们应该在自己的领域中挑选一位顶级人物作为自己效法的对象。不是为了亦步亦趋地追随，而是为了激励自己做得更好。亚历山大曾在阿基里斯墓前痛哭流涕，不是为这位英雄已逝而哭(1)，而是为了自己尚未能像阿基里斯一样闻名于世而泣。世上最令人雄心勃发的，莫过于他人的盛名在心中吹起的号声。它可以加剧一个人的妒忌，也可助长一个人的大志。

75．Choose a heroic ideal

Choose a heroic ideal; but rather to emulate than to imitate. There are exemplars of greatness, living texts of honour. Let everyone have before his mind the chief of his calling not so much to follow him as to spur himself on. Alexander wept not on account of Achilles dead and buried, but over himself, because his fame had not yet spread throughout the world. Nothing arouses ambition so much in the heart as the trumpet-clang of another's fame. The same thing that sharpens envy, nourishes a generous spirit.

(1) 阿基里斯为荷马史诗《伊利亚特》中的英雄。据说亚历山大曾在阿基里斯墓前哭泣，因嫉妒其名垂千古。

76．不要总开玩笑

不要总开玩笑。智慧体现在严肃的事情中，且比耍小聪明更易获得人们的赞赏。总是准备调侃的人绝不会准备做严肃的事。爱开玩笑之人如同爱说谎之人一样——人们从不信任他们，总认为前者是在开玩笑，后者是在说谎。人们永远不知道那些爱开玩笑的人什么时候能运用其判断力说正经的话，这相当于是在说他没有判断力。无休止的玩笑很快便失去其应有的趣味。很多人以其诙谐风趣而闻名，却因此失去明判善断的赞誉。偶尔开开玩笑是可以的，但是大部分时间应该严肃起来。

76．Do not always be jesting

Do not always be jesting. Wisdom is shown in serious matters, and is more appreciated than mere wit. He that is always ready for jests is never ready for serious things. Jokers resemble liars in that men never believe either, always expecting a lie in one, a joke in the other. One never knows when you speak with judgment, which is the same as if you had none. A continual jest soon loses all zest. Many get the repute of being witty, but thereby lose the credit of being sensible. Jest has its little hour, seriousness should have all the rest.

77．做人须八面玲珑

做人须八面玲珑。要做一个言行谨慎的普罗特斯(1)。与学者交往，应显示自己的学识；在圣人面前，要显得圣洁。这是博取他人支持的秘诀，因为获得众人的好感就能赢得普遍的支持。留意人们的心情，调整自己，亲切或者严肃，视情况而定。效仿他们，并尽量巧妙地掩饰你的变化。如你有求他人，这一个技巧就不可缺少。但是，这一处世技巧对人的聪明程度要求很高，只有博闻强识、灵活智巧的人才能运用自如。

77．Be all things to all men

Be all things to all men－a discreet Proteus, learned with the learned, saintly with the sainted. It is the great art to gain everyone's suffrages; their goodwill gains general agreement. Notice men's moods and adapt yourself to each, genial or serious as the case may be. Follow their lead, glossing over the changes as cunningly as possible. This is an indispensable art for dependent persons. But this savoir faire calls for great cleverness. He only will find no difficulty who has a universal genius in his knowledge and universal ingenuity in his wit.

(1) 是希腊神话中的海神，他能任意改变自己的外形。

78．做事有道

做事有道。蠢人仓促行事，因为愚蠢总是鲁莽。他们头脑简单，疏于防范，这也使他们在失败后不感到羞耻。但是，审慎之人做事则十分谨慎，小心探查前路是否有危险。小心谨慎可避免每次因鲁莽而陷入危险，尽管有时候时运可助人一臂之力。如果不知前路深浅，小心慢行才是。即便有所防范，明智之人依然小心谨慎，慎重前行。如今，人际交往中有许多不可预知的陷阱，走每一步都投石问路，是很有必要的。

78．The art of undertaking things

The art of undertaking things. Fools rush in through the door; for folly is always bold. The same simplicity which robs them of all attention to precautions deprives them of all sense of shame at failure. But prudence enters with more deliberation. Its forerunners are caution and care; they advance and discover whether you can also advance without danger. Every rush forward is freed from danger by caution, while fortune sometimes helps in such cases. Step cautiously where you suspect depth. Sagacity goes cautiously forward while precaution covers the ground. Nowadays there are unsuspected depths in human intercourse, you must therefore cast the lead at every step.

79．轻松快活的个性

轻松快活的个性。如果适度，快活的个性会是一项才能，而非缺点。些许快乐可以调剂一切。大人物有时也会娱乐，这让他们赢得人们的喜爱。但是，在这种情况下，他们应一直保持尊严，不失礼。有的人则用玩笑作为迅速脱离困境的方法——因为有些事应该一笑而过，尽管别人郑重其事。这是一种平易随和的表现，如同磁铁一般吸引众人。

79．A genial disposition

A genial disposition. If with moderation it is an accomplishment, not a defect. A grain of gaiety seasons all. The greatest men join in the fun at times, and it makes them liked by all. But they should always on such occasions preserve their dignity, nor go beyond the bounds of decorum. Others, again, get themselves out of difficulty quickly by a joke. For there are things you must take in fun, though others perhaps mean them in earnest. You show a sense of placability, which acts as a magnet on all hearts.

80．获取信息要谨慎

获取信息要谨慎。生活中，我们亲眼所见之事为少数，要知晓其余的事，都得依靠他人提供信息。但是，耳闻多为谎言，而非真相。通常情况下，真相常由眼见得知，很少依靠耳闻。真相绝少来得纯粹，尤其是那些来自远方的，其中往往融入传播者的情绪。这些情绪改变了真相的色彩，使之可喜或可恶。这种“真相”总是带着人们的倾向，所以，当它来自那些高声颂扬之人时，我们要多多留心。当它来自责备者之时，我们更要留心。注意说话者的意图，提前了解他的立场，要用深思来防范虚假和夸张。

80．Take care to get information

Take care to get information. We live by information, not by sight. We exist by faith in others. The ear is the sidedoor of truth but the frontdoor of lies. The truth is generally seen, rarely heard; seldom she comes in elemental purity, especially from afar; there is always some admixture of the moods of those through whom she has passed. The passions tinge her with their colours wherever they touch her, sometimes favourably, sometimes the reverse. She always brings out the disposition, therefore receive her with caution from him that praises, with more caution from him that blames. Pay attention to the intention of the speaker; you should know beforehand on what footing he comes. Let reflection assay falsity and exaggeration.

81．勇于推陈出新

勇于推陈出新。这是凤凰般的人物才有的特权。才能总会变旧，盛名转眼成空。习以为常磨损了钦佩，初来乍到的平庸之才常使老旧的能人暗淡无光。所以，你应该在勇气、才能、运气等所有方面进行更新。你要展示令人惊叹的新奇之处，如同太阳每天重新升起，同时，还要改变光芒的背景，这样，你的离去在昔日成功的舞台上引人怀念，而你的新才能在新的舞台上将迎来人们的喝彩。

81．Renew your brilliance

Renew your brilliance. It is the privilege of the Phonix. Ability is wont to grow old, and with it fame. The staleness of custom weakens admiration, and a mediocrity that's new often eclipses the highest excellence grown old. Try therefore to be born again in valour, in genius, in fortune, in all. Display startling novelties, rise afresh like the sun every day. Change too the scene on which you shine, so that your loss may be felt in the old scenes of your triumph, while the novelty of your powers wins you applause in the new.

82．凡事无论好与坏，不要走极端

凡事无论好与坏，不要走极端。一位圣人(1)将所有的美德归结为中庸之道。极端正确则走向错误。榨干橘子的汁液，橘子就会变得苦涩。享乐也不能过于极端。思虑过细使人迟钝，过度挤奶，得到的恐怕只能是血。

82．Drain nothing to the dregs, neither good nor ill

Drain nothing to the dregs, neither good nor ill. A sage once reduced all virtue to the golden mean. Push right to the extreme and it becomes wrong; press all the juice from an orange and it becomes bitter. Even in enjoyment never go to extremes. Thought too subtle is dull. If you milk a cow too much you draw blood, not milk.

(1) 指希腊七贤之一的克莱俄布卢。

83．容许自己有无伤大雅之过

容许自己有无伤大雅之过。有时，此类不经意的疏忽，反而显示了你最优秀的才智。嫉妒常常表现为对人的排斥，越是斯文有礼就越是恶毒。嫉妒把每个完美都当成是错误，那是因为完美本身并没有错误，因为绝对完美，嫉妒心才对之谴责。嫉妒心就像神话中的百眼巨人阿格斯(1)，所有的眼睛都用来寻瑕摘疵，以安慰自己。指责如同闪电一般，专挑那些最高的东西袭击。让荷马(2)也偶有败笔吧，甚至还可让他貌似缺乏勇气或智慧，但不要缺乏谨慎，以使他人的恶意消除，或者至少阻止恶意的毒液蔓延。这样，你便可像斗牛士一样，把披风留给嫉妒的牛角去顶撞，而你不朽的名声则得以保全。

83．Allow yourself some venial fault

Allow yourself some venial fault. Some such carelessness is often the greatest recommendation of talent. For envy exercises ostracism, most envenomed when most polite. Envy counts it to perfection as a failing that it has no faults; for being perfect in all it condemns it in all. It becomes an Argus, all eyes for imperfection, only for its own consolation. Blame is like the lightning; it hits the highest. Let Homer nod now and then and affect some negligence in valour or in intellect-not in prudence-so as to disarm malevolence, or at least to prevent its bursting with its own venom. You thus leave your cloak on the horns of Envy in order to save your immortality.

(1) 希腊神话中的阿格斯，有一百只眼睛遍布全身，即便在睡着的时候，也有两只眼睛始终警惕地睁着。

(2) 荷马：希腊史诗《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》的作者。贺拉斯在《诗艺》中说：“高明如荷马有时也瞌睡”，是指荷马这样的大诗人也有败笔之就。

84．善用对手

善用对手。处事如同操刀——抓刀刃会伤手，抓刀柄则可防身。对付敌人更需奉行这一原则。明智之人在对手身上发现的用处比蠢人在朋友身上发现的用处还要多。恶意常常可以激励我们克服本来不愿面对的重重困难，大多数人成就其伟业，都应归功于自己的对手。比憎恶更危险的是谄媚，别人的谄媚掩盖了你的缺点，而别人的憎恶则促使你消除瑕疵。智者把别人的恶意视为一面比善意更真实的镜子，以减少或改正有关缺陷。每个人与对手或敌人比邻而居时，都会变得十分小心。

84．Make use of your enemies

Make use of your enemies. You should learn to seize things not by the blade, which cuts, but by the handle, which saves you from harm: especially is this the rule with the doings of your enemies. A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. Their ill-will often levels mountains of difficulties which one would otherwise not face. Many have had their greatness made for them by their enemies. Flattery is more dangerous than hatred, because it covers the stains which the other causes to be wiped out. The wise will turn ill-will into a mirror more faithful than that of kindness, and remove or improve the faults referred to. Caution thrives well when rivalry and ill-will are next-door neighbours.

85．不做无所不知之人

不做无所不知之人。好的东西因其经常被派上用场而总会被滥用，这是它的苦衷。当所有人都妄图得到它时，这些人也就容易对它产生愤怒。百无用处不是好事，对每人都有用也非善事。走到这一步的人是因为得到而最终失去。人们原本是求他，最后终于讨厌他。这些无所不知者将磨损掉所有优秀特质，失去最初少数人的敬重，沦为平庸。治疗这种极端状况的灵丹妙药就是把握好散发光芒的尺度。如果你愿意，完全可以在你的优异之处追求完美，但在展现之时要适可而止。火把燃烧得越旺，消耗便越多，也就更难持久。炫耀得越少，所得敬重则越多。

85．Do not be a wild card

Do not be a wild card. It is a fault of excellence that being so much in use it is liable to abuse. Because all covet it, all are vexed by it. It is a great misfortune to be of use to nobody; scarcely less to be of use to everybody. People who reach this stage lose by gaining, and at last bore those who desired them before. These wild cards wear away all kinds of excellence: losing the earlier esteem of the few, they obtain discredit among the vulgar. The remedy against this extreme is to moderate your brilliance. Be extraordinary in your excellence, if you like, but be ordinary in your display of it. The more light a torch gives, the more it burns away and the nearer it is to going out. Show yourself less and you will be rewarded by being esteemed more.

86．预防流言蜚语

预防流言蜚语。乌合之众是多头怪兽。他们长着多双伺机制造恶意的眼睛，一个滥施诽谤的舌头。一旦有一桩丑闻被传播，你清白的名声就会被玷污。如果流言再给你一个浑名绰号，你的声誉便危机四伏。一般而言，流言蜚语源于你身上的某些突出弱点或可笑缺陷。有时，这是个别嫉妒我们的人故意捏造出来的，以引发众人的猜忌。要毁掉他人的声誉，出自卑劣口舌的嘲讽比直接的控诉还要容易。恶名易得，因邪恶容易让人相信却难以消除。因此明智之人应避免这类灾祸，保持警惕防止那些卑劣的流言。预防可比纠正容易得多。

86．Prevent scandal

Prevent scandal. Many heads go to make the mob, and in each of them are eyes for malice to use and a tongue for detraction to wag. If a single ill report spread, it casts a blemish on your fair fame, and if it clings to you with a nickname, your reputation is in danger. Generally it is some salient defect or ridiculous trait that gives rise to the rumours. At times these are malicious additions of private envy to general distrust. For there are wicked tongues that ruin a great reputation more easily by a witty sneer than by a direct accusation. It is easy to get into bad reputation, because it is easy to believe evil of anyone: it is not easy to clear yourself. The wise accordingly avoid these mischances, guarding against vulgar scandal with sedulous vigilance. It is far easier to prevent than to rectify.

87．文明和高雅

文明和高雅。人类生来野蛮，文化使人类高于动物。因此，是文化造就了人；人越文明，便越伟大。正因如此，古希腊人将世界上的其他人称为野蛮之人。无知就是未开化——最能教化人类的莫如知识。但是，若不高雅，即便有知识，也显得粗鄙。我们的才智，我们的欲求，特别是言谈，都要显得高雅才行。有些人天生就秀外慧中，他们的思想、言谈、衣着（如同灵魂的果皮）和才干（如同灵魂的果实）都显得高雅；相反，有的人粗俗不堪，极度缺乏教养，令人无法忍受，这使得他们的一切（甚至包括最优秀的品质）都失去了光芒。

87．Culture and elegance

Culture and elegance. Man is born a barbarian, and only raises himself above the beast by culture. Culture therefore makes the man; the more a man, the higher. Thanks to it, Greece could call the rest of the world barbarians. Ignorance is very raw; nothing contributes so much to culture as knowledge. But even knowledge is coarse If without elegance. Not alone must our intelligence be elegant, but our desires, and above all our conversation. Some men are naturally elegant in internal and external qualities, in their thoughts, in their words, in their dress, which is the rind of the soul, and in their talents, which is its fruit. There are others, on the other hand, so gauche that everything about them, even their very excellences, is tarnished by an intolerable and barbaric want of neatness.

88．举止高贵大方

举止高贵大方。大人物从不拘于小节。谈话时他不刺探各个细节，特别是谈论不太愉快的话题时。知道事物全貌很重要，但不必知道所有细节。当事情令人不快，你要表现得如绅士般宽容大度，展现出豪侠气概。忽略一些东西是管理工作的一大要点。亲朋好友，尤其是你的对手身上的很多事情，你都要学会视而不见。多余的东西让人厌烦，尤其是在事情本身就让人厌烦的时候。对不快之事始终耿耿于怀，是一种偏执狂。一般而言，人们都是根据本心与看法来做事的。

88．Let your behaviour be fine and noble

Let your behaviour be fine and noble. A great man ought not to be little in his behaviour. He ought never to pry too minutely into things, least of all in unpleasant matters. For though it is important to know all, it is not necessary to know all about all. One ought to act in such cases with the generosity of a gentleman, with conduct worthy of a gallant man. To overlook forms a large part of the work of ruling. Most things must be left unnoticed among relatives and friends, and even among enemies. All superfluity is annoying, especially in things that annoy. To keep hovering around the object or your annoyance is a kind of mania. Generally speaking, every man behaves according to his heart and his understanding.

89．了解自己

了解自己。要了解自己的天赋、才智、判断和倾向。不了解自己的人无法掌控自己。世上有可以照脸的镜子，却没有照出心灵的镜子。那么，就用认真的自省来代替吧！当你忽略外部形象时，就会不断提升、完善内在形象。学会估量你的才智与做事能力，检验自己的勇气，以便加以运用。稳固你的根基，保持头脑清醒，以应对一切事情。

89．Know yourself

Know yourself－in talents and capacity, in judgment and inclination. You cannot master yourself unless you know yourself. There are mirrors for the face but none for the mind. Let careful thought about yourself serve as a substitute. When the outer image is forgotten, keep the inner one to improve and perfect. Learn the force of your intellect and capacity for affairs, test the force of your courage in order to apply it, and keep your foundations secure and your head clear for everything.

90．长寿的秘密

长寿的秘密。要好好生活。有两样东西能提早结束生命：愚蠢和堕落。有的人丧生是因为不懂如何保命。有的人是因为不想求生而死亡。正如美德是人自身的奖赏一样，邪恶也是其自身的惩罚。行为放荡之人，生命将加倍的短暂；而行善之人则得以永生。精神的强健传递给肉体，美好的生命不但充实有意义，而且还将得以延长。

90．The secret of long life

The secret of long life. Lead a good life. Two things bring life speedily to an end: folly and immorality. Some lose their life because they have not the intelligence to keep it, others because they have not the will. Just as virtue is its own reward, so is vice its own punishment. He who lives a fast life runs through life in a doubly quick. A virtuous life never dies. The firmness of the soul is communicated to the body, and a good life is long not only in intention but also in extension.

91．对做某事审慎与否有疑虑，就别着手去做

对做某事审慎与否有疑虑，就别着手去做。行事之人只担心失败，旁观者却已确认失败，尤其当旁观者为你的对手时。如果你的判断在当初冲动的情绪中已摇摆不定，那么待稍后冷静思考后，你会责备自己，那样做无比愚蠢。如果你对行事是否慎重还有所怀疑时就开始行动，那将是十分危险的，最好把它放到一边去。明智之人不会依赖“可能”，他们始终在高度的理智控制下前进。当一件事在萌芽之时就遭到了判断力的质疑，那么，它怎么能成功呢？经内心法庭一致通过的决议还常常没有好结局，我们又怎么能指望怀有疑感的理智和摇摆不定的判断所办的事情呢？

91．Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts of its prudence

Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts of its prudence. A suspicion of failure in the mind of the doer is proof positive of it in that of the onlooker, especially if he is a rival. If in the heat of action your judgment feels scruples, it will afterwards in cool reflection be condemned as a piece of folly. Action is dangerous where prudence is in doubt: better leave such things alone. Wisdom does not trust to probabilities; it always marches in the midday light of reason. How can an enterprise succeed which the judgment condemns as soon as conceived? And if resolutions passed nem. con. by inner court often turn out unfortunately, what can we expect of those undertaken by a doubting reason and a vacillating judgment?

92．要有超凡的智慧

要有超凡的智慧。在任何事情上都要如此。一盎司的智慧比一磅的小聪明更有价值，这是言行举止的首要的、最高的准则。职位越高，职责就越多，就越应遵循这一准则。这是唯一稳妥的办法，尽管它未必能够赢得很多掌声。因智慧扬名天下是最大的成名。但是，如果能让智者满意，就已足够，他们的判断便是你真正成功的试金石。

92．Transcendent wisdom

Transcendent wisdom. I mean in everything. The first and highest rule of all deed and speech, the more necessary to be followed the higher and more numerous our posts, is: an ounce of wisdom is worth more than tons of cleverness. It is the only sure way, though it may not gain so much applause. The reputation of wisdom is the last triumph of fame. It is enough if you satisfy the wise, for their judgment is the touchstone of true success.

93．多才多艺

多才多艺。拥有很多优异才能的一个人，抵得上许多人。他把生活的乐趣传递给朋友圈里的人，从而丰富别人的生活。众多优异才能给生活增添了快乐。从一切美好的事物中受益是一门伟大的艺术。既然自然让人类浓缩了它的精华，发展至最高层次，那么就让艺术培养人的品味、训练人的才智，在他们身上创造出真正丰富多彩的微观宇宙吧。

93．Versatility

Versatility. A man of many excellences equals many men. By imparting his own enjoyment of life to his circle he enriches their life. Variety in excellences is the delight of life. It is a great art to profit by all that is good, and since Nature has made man in his highest development an abstract of herself, so let Art create in him a true microcosm by training his taste and intellect.

94．让你的才能高深莫测

让你的才能高深莫测。如果明智之人想赢得人们的尊敬，就不让人彻底了解他的学识和能力。他让你知道他，可是不让你了解他。智者一定不让任何人知道他才华的极限，以免别人对他失望。他绝不会让人有机会彻底探知他的根底。无论他的才能有多大，人们觉得他的能力高深莫测，也比知道他的根底产生更多的崇拜。

94．Keep the extent of your abilities unknown

Keep the extent of your abilities unknown. The wise man does not allow his knowledge and abilities to be sounded to the bottom, if he desires to be honoured by all. He allows you to know them but not to comprehend them. No one must know the extent of his abilities, lest he be disappointed. No one ever has an opportunity of fathoming him entirely. For guesses and doubts about the extent of his talents arouse more veneration than accurate knowledge of them, be they ever so great.

95．让人们保持对你的期望

让人们保持对你的期望。要不断激发它，让人们对你的期望越来越多，让他们因你的辉煌业绩而盼望你有更辉煌的业绩。不要把你的运气孤注一掷，要节制你的力量，以保持别人对你的期望不消退——这需要高超技巧。

95．Keep expectation alive

Keep expectation alive. Keep stirring it up. Let much promise more, and great deeds herald greater. Do not rest your whole fortune on a single cast of the die. It requires great skill to moderate your forces so as to keep expectation from being dissipated.

96．至高无上的辨别力

至高无上的辨别力。它是理智的宝座，是审慎的基石。有了它，你只需付出少许便能获得成功。它是上帝赐予人类的礼物，应该当作人生居于首位的、最优秀的素质而来求取，它是我们的甲胄之要件。它如此重要，没有它，我们就是有缺陷的人——而别的素质不过是多点少点的问题。生活中的一切行为都有赖于它作决定，都需要它的帮助。因为无论做什么事都需要智力。辨别力天生便倾向于最理性的路线，且融合了对最确切事物的喜爱。

96．The highest discretion

The highest discretion. It is the throne of reason, the foundation of prudence: by its means success is gained at little cost. It is a gift from above, and should be prayed for as the first and best quality. It is the main piece of the panoply, and so important that its absence makes a man imperfect, whereas with other qualities it is merely a question of more or less. All the actions of life depend on its application; all require its assistance, for everything needs intelligence. Discretion consists in a natural tendency to the most rational course, combined with a liking for the surest.

97．赢得并维护美名

赢得并维护美名。我们对荣誉，只有使用权，而无所有权。美名来之不易，它只青睐非凡之人，而这种人是十分罕见的，庸人则俯拾皆是。美名一旦拥有，便容易保持。获得好名声要承担许多义务，但也给你更多恩惠。如果美名出自显赫的权力或高尚的行为，则自有其威严，令人崇拜。美名只有根基深固，才能永恒。

97．Obtain and preserve a reputation

Obtain and preserve a reputation. It is the usufruct of fame. It is expensive to obtain a reputation, for it only attaches to distinguished abilities, which are as rare as mediocrities are common. Once obtained, it is easily preserved. It confers many an obligation, but it does more. When it is owing to elevated powers or lofty spheres of action, it rises to a kind of veneration and yields a sort of majesty. But it is only a well-founded reputation that lasts permanently.

98．掩饰你的意图

掩饰你的意图。激情是灵魂之门。最实用的知识在于掩饰它们。亮牌的人有输牌的风险。你应该保持警惕，当他人想窥探你的内心时，用墨鱼喷墨的策略去战胜他的好奇心。你甚至不能让人知道到你的喜好，以免别人利用你的喜好，与之作对，或者对它献媚。

98．Write your intentions in cypher

Write your intentions in cypher. The passions are the gates of the soul. The most practical knowledge consists in disguising them. He that plays with cards exposed runs a risk of losing the stakes. The reserve of caution should combat the curiosity of inquirers: adopt the policy of the cuttlefish. Do not even let your tastes be known, lest others utilize them either by running counter to them or by flattering them.

99．本质与表象

本质与表象。人们评判一件事物，是根据它看上去如何，而非它实际如何。很少人能透过现象看本质，大部分人只停留于表面。本身正确是不够的——如果这种正确看上去既错误又邪恶。

99．Reality and appearance

Reality and appearance. Things pass for what they seem, not for what they are. Few see inside; many take to the outside. It is not enough to be right, if right seem false and ill.

100．做一个清醒的人，智慧的信徒，贤能的臣子

做一个清醒的人，智慧的信徒，贤能的臣子。要完全做到这些，而不是看上去做到了，更不要装作做到了。现在，哲学已经不被人尊崇，但它仍然是智者关注的对象。思考的艺术已失去往日的名声。塞涅卡(1)将之引入罗马，在宫廷曾十分风行，但现在却不被人接受。识破欺骗一直被看作虑事周全之头脑的真正养料，也是品德高尚之灵魂的真正乐事。

100．Be a man without illusions, a wise Christian, a philosophic courtier

Be A man without illusions, a wise Christian, a philosophic courtier. Be all these, not merely seem to be them, still less affect to be them. Philosophy is nowadays discredited, but yet it was always the chiefest concern of the wise. The art of thinking has lost all its former repute. Seneca introduced it at Rome: it went to court for some time, but now it is considered out of place there. And yet the discovery of deceit was always thought the true nourishment of a thoughtful mind, the true delight of a virtuous soul.

(1) 见箴言第36条注(2)。

101．世上的一半人嘲笑另一半人，其实他们都是蠢人

世上的一半人嘲笑另一半人，其实他们都是蠢人。任何事都有可能是好事或坏事，关键在于表决的人。同样的东西有人追求也有人厌恶。想要按照自己的观点去左右事情的人，愚蠢得令人难以忍受。某人某物是否优异不取决于一人的好恶。世上有这么多的人，这么多的口味，各不相同。任何缺点都有人喜欢。如无法取悦于人，你不必沮丧——自会有别人欣赏。我们也不应被别人的赞赏冲昏头脑，因为会有其他人对此谴责。真正的赞扬是声名显赫之人的认同，是该领域中专家的认可。你应该保持独立，无论是面对任何一种观点、任何一种时尚、任何一个世纪。

101．One half of the world laughs at the other, and fools are they all

One half of the world laughs at the other, and fools are they all. Everything is good or everything is bad according to the votes they gain. What one pursues another persecutes. He is an insufferable ass that would regulate everything according to his ideas. Excellences do not depend on a single man's pleasure. So many men, so many tastes, all different. There is no defect which is not affected by some, nor need we lose heart if things do not please some, for others will appreciate them. Nor need their applause turn our head, for there will surely be others to condemn. The real test of praise is the approbation of famous men and of experts in the matter. You should aim to be independent of any one vote, of any one fashion, of any one century.

102．天降大福需有大心胸消受

天降大福需有大心胸消受。对智者而言，大胃口并非微不足道——有雄才之人，组成其才能的部分必然很大。对于能消化更大运气的人来说，大的运气不会让他们感到难过。吃下同样的东西，有的人感到过饱，有的人还觉得饥饿。许多人的困扰似乎在于消化不良——其实是因为他们的容量不够大。他们天生不适合身居高位，即便后天训练，也无能为力。他们行为无常，由虚名而生的心神不宁让他们眩晕，于是他们在高位上忐忑不安——他们不适合高位，因为在他们身上运气找不到合适的位置。所以，有才能的人应表现得他可以胜任更大的事业，千万别流露出任何胸无大志的迹象。

102．Be able to stomach big slices of luck

Be able to stomach big slices of luck. In the body of wisdom not the least important organ is a big stomach, for great capacity implies great parts. Big bits of luck do not embarrass one who can digest still bigger ones. What is a surfeit for one may be hunger for another. Many are troubled as it were with weak digestion, owing to their small capacity being neither born nor trained for great employment. Their actions turn sour, and the humors that arise from their undeserved honours turn their head and they incur great risks in high place: they do not find their proper place, for luck finds no proper place in them. A man of talent therefore should show that he has more room for even greater enterprises, and above all avoid showing signs of a little heart.

103．让每人都保有尊严

让每人都保有尊严。虽然不是每个人都能当国王，但是，要让每个人的行为都向国王看齐，让他们的举止在所及范围内，适当高贵。行为端庄，思想高尚，在任何情况下都具有王者风范——虽无国王的权力，却有国王的品质。真正的王者风范在于绝对的正直，他不必嫉妒其他伟人，因其自身就是伟人的楷模。特别是那些在国王身边的人，更应该追求真正的高贵，还要习染真正的王者品质，而非空有排场——不是沾染缺点，而是习得真正的王者尊严。

103．Let each keep up his dignity

Let each keep up his dignity. Let each deed of a man in its degree, though he is not a king, is worthy of a prince, and let his action be princely within due limits. Sublime in action, lofty in thought, in all things like a king, at least in merit if not in might. For true kingship lies in spotless rectitude, and he need not envy greatness who can serve as a model of it. Especially should those near the throne aim at true superiority, and prefer to share the true qualities of royalty rather than take parts in its mere ceremonies, yet without affecting its imperfections but sharing in its true dignity.

104．明确不同工作的要求

明确不同工作的要求。不同工作要求的素质不一样。这需要你有足够的注意力和敏锐的洞察力，才能知道某个工作需要什么素质。有些工作要求人有勇气，有的工作则要求人机智。那些只要求人诚实正直的职业是最容易做的；那些需要人机智有才干的职业是最难做的——因为前者只需有好人品，后者即便用上你所有的关注和热情也许还不够。管人不易，尤其是管理愚蠢和疯狂的人，就更加不易——管理那些一无是处的人，你要有双倍的见识。一项工作如让人一心一意投入，时间、程序都固定，是很难让人接受的。好一点的工作应该是能让人按照自己的想法去做，既重要又不单调——变化能让人清醒。最受尊重的工作是不依赖别人的或是独立性很强的。最糟糕的工作是那些在现在和未来都让我们十分忧虑的工作。

104．Know the demands of different occupations

Know the demands of different occupations. It requires varied qualities, and to know which is needed taxes attention and calls for masterly discernment. Some demand courage, others tact. Those that merely require rectitude are the easiest, the most difficult those requiring cleverness. For the former all that is necessary is character; for the latter all one's attention and zeal may not suffice. It is a troublesome business to rule men, still more fools or blockheads: double sense is needed with those who have none. It is intolerable when an office engrosses a man with fixed hours and a settled routine. Those are better that leave a man free to follow his own devices, combining variety with importance, for the change refreshes the mind. The most in repute are those that have least or most distant dependence on others; the worst is that which worries us both here and hereafter.

105．勿遭人烦

勿遭人烦。若你只重复一个话题，纠缠在某件事上，就容易让人厌烦。话语简洁令人愉悦，且更容易成事。简洁虽显得有点草率，但却让人感到亲切。好事简洁，则好上加好。抓住事物的本质，比混杂一堆细节更有效。健谈之人处理事物常常缺才少智，这为人所共知。有些人不能增添光彩，却爱做绊脚石，挡在每个人的路上。明智之人应避免招人讨厌，尤其是别让大人物厌烦——大人物日理万机，打扰这种人比打扰其他人更糟糕。说话高明即说话简洁。

105．Don't be a bore

Don't be a bore. The man of one business or of one topic is apt to be tiresome. Brevity flatters and does better business; it gains by courtesy what it loses by curtness. Good things, when short, are twice as good. The quintessence of the matter is more effective than a whole farrago of details. It is a well-known truth that talkative folk rarely have much sense whether in dealing with the matter itself or its formal treatment. There are people who serve more for stumbling-stones than centrepieces, useless lumber in everyone's way. The wise avoid being bores, especially to the great, who are fully occupied: it is worse to disturb one of them than all the rest. Well said is soon said.

106．勿炫耀你的地位

勿炫耀你的地位。吹嘘自己尊贵比吹嘘自己有魅力更令人讨厌。动不动就摆出大人物的姿态让人讨厌——肯定会遭到许多妒忌。你越想获得他人的尊敬，就越得不到，因为值不值得尊敬取决于别人的看法。你不能白白得到它，你只能从别人那里赢得它。重要的职位要求你有足够的威信——若没有威信，你就不能尽职。所以，你要保持足够的尊严，以履行你的职责。要试图让别人尊敬你，而不是强迫别人尊敬你。有些人一味强调自己职位的尊严，反而显得他们不配——这个职位对他们来说过高了。如果你想被尊重，就让别人尊重你的才能，而非任何偶然所得。即便是国王，也愿意以其资质而非地位赢得荣耀。

106．Do not parade your position

Do not parade your position. To outshine in dignity is more offensive than in personal attractions. To pose as a personage is to be hated: envy is surely enough. The more you seek esteem the less you obtain it, for it depends on the opinion of others. You cannot take it, but must earn and receive it from others. Great positions require an amount of authority sufficient to make them efficient: without it they cannot be adequately filled. Preserve therefore enough dignity to carry on the duties of the office. Do not enforce respect, but try and create it. Those who insist on the dignity of their office, show they have not deserved it, and that it is too much for them. If you wish to be valued, be valued for your talents, not for anything adventitious. Even kings prefer to be honoured for their personal qualifications rather than for their station.

107．勿自鸣得意

勿自鸣得意。你不能总是不满意自己，这是怯懦的表现；也不要骄傲自大，那是愚蠢的表现。自满大多源自无知，如果它不损害名声的话，它能让人有一种傻瓜一样的快乐感（并非一无是处）。有的人因为达不到别人的完美，所以一味苟安于自己的平庸。有怀疑是明智的，甚至是有用的，无论是为了躲避祸患，还是为了在祸患来时得到慰藉——因为祸患不会让已经提防它的人感到惊讶。荷马(1)偶尔也打盹，亚历山大(2)也是从高位上跌落后才清醒过来。世事有赖形势。在某种情况下，环境可助人取得胜利，而在另一种条件下，却可能使人遭受失败。在所有不可救药的愚蠢当中，总有凭空而来的自满在生长、开花、结果。

107．Show no self-satisfaction

Show no self-satisfaction. You must neither be discontented with yourself－and that were poor-spirited－nor self-satisfied－and that is folly. Self-satisfaction arises mostly from ignorance: it would be a happy ignorance not without its advantages if it did not injure our credit. Because a man cannot achieve the superlative perfections of others, he contents himself with any mediocre talent of his own. Distrust is wise, and even useful, either to evade mishaps or to afford consolation when they come, for a misfortune cannot surprise a man who has already feared it. Even Homer nods at times, and Alexander fell from his lofty state and out of his illusions. Things depend on many circumstances: what constitutes triumph in one set may cause a defeat in another. In the midst of all incorrigible folly remains the same with empty self-satisfaction, blossoming, flowering, and running all to seed.

(1) 见箴言第83条注(2)。

(2) 亚历山大大帝（前356—前323）：古马其顿国王，著名的征服者。20岁即位，先巩固了在希腊的霸权，后大举东征，在西起巴尔干半岛与尼罗河、东至印度河的广袤领域建立帝国。公元前326年—前323年东征中多处负伤，最后病死，随即帝国迅速瓦解。

108．与人同行是成为伟人的捷径

与人同行是成为伟人的捷径。交流大有好处：人们可以分享彼此的风格与品味，在不知不觉间，我们的判断力甚至才干都有所增长。让毛躁之人与优柔寡断之人交往，同样，其他气质之人亦应如此。这样，无需苦心费力便能实现中庸。与人调和是一大艺术。相生相反，世界因之美丽，并不停地运转——这种对立既可让物质世界和谐，更能让精神世界融洽。以此原则选择朋友或雇佣仆人，可通融两个极端，找到更有效的中庸之道。

108．The path to greatness is along with others

The path to greatness is along with others. Intercourse works well: manners and taste are shared, good sense and even talent grow insensibly. Let the impatient man then make a comrade of the sluggish, and so with the other temperaments, so that without any forcing the golden mean is obtained. It is a great art to agree with others. The alternation of contraries beautifies and sustains the world: if it can cause harmony in the physical world, still more can it do so in the moral. Adopt this policy in the choice of friends and defendants; by joining extremes the more effective middle way is found.

109．不要吹毛求疵

不要吹毛求疵。有人天性阴郁，认为所有的事情都有问题。这并非他们动机不纯，是其天性使然。他们对谁都加以责备——有时是责其所为，有时是责其即将所为。这是一种比残忍更令人厌恶的天性，真是让人厌烦。他们的指责十分过分，总是鸡蛋里挑骨头，让人无法忍受。他们常把天堂变成地狱——狂怒之时，他们事事走极端。而天性高贵的人则相反，他们总是宽容别人的过失，坚信别人都是出自善意，或者只是一时不慎才做错了事。

109．Be not censorious

Be not censorious. There are men of gloomy character who regard everything as faulty, not from any evil motive but because it is their nature to. They condemn all: these for what they have done, those for what they will do. This indicates a nature worse than cruel, vile indeed. They accuse with such exaggeration that they make out of motes beams wherewith to force out the eyes. They are always taskmasters who could turn a paradise into a prison; if passion intervenes they drive matters to the extreme. A noble nature, on the contrary, always knows how to find an excuse for failings, if not in the intention, at least from oversight.

110．不要坐以待毙

不要坐以待毙。在被抛弃之前，自己先舍弃，这是智者的格言。你应以胜利收场，要像太阳那样，在最耀眼之时隐身于云朵之后，以免让人看到落日西沉，且猜测：它是落了还是未落？一旦有可能发生不幸，就应明智地退出，以免当灾祸降临才被迫后退。不要等到人们对你冷眼相待并把你送入坟墓——那时你就没了尊严，只剩感慨。聪明的驯马师懂得何时把马放回牧场，以免马跑到中途颓然倒毙，被人耻笑。美人应及早砸碎镜子，而不要等到人老珠黄。

110．Do not wait till you are a sinking sun

Do not wait till you are a sinking sun. It is a maxim of the wise to leave things before things leave them. One should be able to snatch a triumph at the end, just as the sun even at its brightest often retires behind a cloud so as not to be seen sinking, and to leave in doubt whether he has sunk or no. Wisely withdraw from the chance of mishaps, lest you have to do so from the reality. Do not wait till they turn you the cold shoulder and carry you to the grave, alive in feeling but dead in esteem. Wise trainers put racehorses to grass before they arouse derision by falling on the course. A beauty should break her mirror early, lest she do so later with open eyes.

111．赢得朋友

赢得朋友。朋友是第二个自己。朋友对朋友都善良而明智：在朋友之间，所有的事情都顺遂如意。一个人如何，要看别人想让他如何。如果别人想要你好，你就要赢得他们的心，这样他们才会夸奖你。知恩图报最具魔力——赢得别人好感之上策，是采取友好的行动。我们所拥有最多的、最好的都是有赖于别人的。我们不是与朋友为伍，就是与敌人为伴。因此，你应该每天都结交一些希望你好的人——即便不是朋友；经过考验之后，他们之中的某些人会成为你的心腹密友。

111．Have friends

Have friends. A friend is a second self. Every friend is good and wise for his friend: between them everything turns to good. Everyone is as others wish him; in order that they may wish him well, he must win their hearts and so their tongues. There is no magic like a good turn, and the way to gain friendly feelings is to do friendly acts. The most and best of us depend on others; we have to live either among friends or among enemies. Seek someone every day to be a well-wisher if not a friend; by and by after trial some of these will become intimate.

112．博取他人的好感

博取他人的好感。即便是高高在上的造物主，在预想和推进最伟大的事情上，也如此行事。获得别人的好感，就能获得别人的好评。有些人对自己的能力过分自信，就此忽略了魅力的作用。智者对此十分清楚，如果没有别人的帮助，跋涉之路将尤为漫长。人们的好感可以推进甚至提供一切：可以认为你有天分，甚至提供资质，比如勇气、真诚、知识，甚至审慎。它不会看到你有何缺点，因为它不去搜寻你的缺点。好感通常来自共性，要么是实质性的，如性格、种族、家庭、国家或职业；要么是非实质性的，如能力、职责、名声或品德。保持别人的好感很容易，但是赢得他人好感很难。但是，你必须寻求它，并在找到之后懂得怎样加以利用。

112．Gain good-will

Gain good-will. For thus the first and highest cause foresees and furthers the greatest objects. By gaining their good-will you gain men's good opinion. Some trust so much to merit that they neglect grace, but wise men know that Service Road without a lift from favour is a long way indeed. Good-will facilitates and supplies everything: it supposes gifts or even supplies them, such as courage, zeal, knowledge, or even discretion; whereas defects it will not see because it does not search for them. It arises from some common interest, either material, as disposition, nationality, family, fatherland, occupation; or formal, which is of a higher kind of communion, in capacity, obligation, reputation, or merit. The whole difficulty is to gain good-will; to keep it is easy. It has, however, to be sought for, and, when found, to be utilized.

113．未雨绸缪

未雨绸缪。在夏天筹集过冬用品是很明智的选择，而且，这容易做到。红运当头时，很容易得到他人的帮助，这时朋友也多。为更多不走运的日子做准备总是没错的——当人霉星罩顶时，一切帮助都将变得昂贵，并且没人帮你。拥有一些朋友，拥有一些对你心存感激的人，不要等到他们身价渐涨的那一天。品德低下的人没有朋友——他们走运时，不认别人为朋友；倒霉时，别人也不认他们。

113．In prosperity prepare for adversity

In prosperity prepare for adversity. It is both wiser and easier to collect winter stores in summer. In prosperity favours are cheap and friends are many. It is well therefore to keep them for more unlucky days, for adversity costs dear and has no helpers. Retain a store of friendly and obliged persons; the day may come when their price will go up. Low minds never have friends: in luck they will not recognize them; in misfortune they will not be recognized by them.

114．避免与人相争

避免与人相争。任何相争都会损害名誉。对手会伺机遮盖我们的光芒，以达到比我们更耀眼的目的。几乎没有人能打一场光彩的战争。在你谦恭之时，你的缺点与过失也许会被掩盖。在敌对之时，则会被揭露。许多人在树敌之前都有很好的名声，但是争斗让逝去的谣言再度复活，让早被掩埋的丑闻曝光。竞争从贬损开始，什么手段都能使得出。当谩骂无法奏效（许多情况都是这样），对方就以此报复，至少也要扫去陈年落灰，将我们所有不光彩的事情全都抖搂出来。亲善之人往往平和，拥有名誉和尊严的人也往往是亲善之人。

114．Never compete

Never compete. Every competition damages the credit: our rivals seize occasion to obscure us so as to outshine us. Few wage honourable war. Rivalry discloses faults which courtesy would hide. Many have lived in good repute while they had no rivals. The heat of conflict gives life, or even new life, to dead scandals, and digs up long-buried skeletons. Competition begins with belittling, and seeks aid wherever it can, not only where it ought. And when the weapons of abuse do not effect their purpose, as often or mostly happens, our opponents use them for revenge, and use them at least for beating away the dust of oblivion from anything to our discredit. Men of good-will are always at peace; men of good repute and dignity are men of good-will.

115．习惯熟人的缺点

习惯熟人的缺点，正如你习惯一张丑陋的面孔。如果他们依赖你，或者你有求于他们，那么这样做就很有必要。有些人可恶，相处很难，但我们又不能不与之相处。因此，聪明的人干脆习惯他，正如见惯了丑陋的面孔一样，这样就不必强迫自己在迫不得已的情况下突然这样做。熟人的缺点，在开始的时候会令人反感，但是慢慢地，就不会那么令人讨厌——对于讨厌之人，有头脑之人要么防备，要么迁就。

115．Get used to the failings of your familiars

Get used to the failings of your familiars, as you do to ugly faces. It is indispensable if they depend on us, or we on them. There are wretched characters with whom one cannot live, nor yet without them. Therefore clever folk get used to them, as to ugly faces, so that they are not obliged to do so suddenly under the pressure of necessity. At first they arouse disgust, but gradually they lose this influence, and reflection provides for disgust or puts up with it.

116．只和可敬之人交往

只和可敬之人交往。你能信任他们，他们也会信任你。他们的名声是其行为的最好保证，哪怕是有误会，也不会例外，因为他们总是言如其心、行如其人。所以，宁可与高尚之人争高下，也别与卑鄙之人争输赢。和堕落之人打交道很难，因为他们没有东西可做正直的抵押——和他们不可能建立真正的友情，和他们签订的协议也没有约束力（无论这种协议看上去多么严格），因为他们没有荣誉感。不要和没有荣誉感的人产生任何关系——荣誉无法约束他们，因此也不能要求他们有德行，因为荣誉是人格的宝座。

116．Only act with honourable men

Only act with honourable men. You can trust them and they you. Their honour is the best surety of their behaviour even in misunderstandings, for they always act according to what they are. Hence it is better to have a dispute with honourable people than to have a victory over dishonourable ones. You cannot treat with the ruined, for they have no hostages for rectitude. With them there is no true friendship, and their agreements are not binding, however stringent they may appear, because they have no feeling of honour. Never have anything to do with such men, for if honour does not restrain them, virtue will not, since honour is the throne of rectitude.

117．决不谈论自己

决不谈论自己。当你谈论自己时，要么是为了虚荣而夸奖自己，要么是因为自卑而责怪自己。这样对言者来说不适合；对听者来说，也不会感到愉悦。这点在日常谈话中需避免，在正式文件中更需避免，在公共演讲中则最需避免——这种时候，哪怕出现一点点愚蠢都是不明智的。当面谈论某人也很不得体，因为这样很可能让你陷入两个极端：被人认为是在谄媚，或是责难。

117．Never talk about yourself

Never talk about yourself. To do so you must either praise yourself, which is vain, or blame yourself, which is little-minded: it is unseemly for the speaker and unpleasant for the listener. And if you should avoid this in ordinary conversation, how much more in official matters, and above all, in public speaking, where every appearance of unwisdom really is unwise. The same want of tact lies in speaking of a man in his presence, owing to the danger of going to one of two extremes: flattery or censure.

118．要赢得谦恭有礼的名声

要赢得谦恭有礼的名声，这样你就足以招人喜欢。礼仪是文化的主要组成部分，就像是一种巫术——有“礼”走遍天下，无“礼”寸步难行。一人不懂礼貌，如因骄傲自大则可恶；如因缺乏教养则可鄙。礼多人不怪，只要对不同的人区别对待就行（否则就是不公）。对手之间如果也能以礼相待，则说明你这个人英勇无畏。以礼相待无须付出太多，却受益多多：敬人者人恒敬之。礼貌和恭敬的好处就在于：既能有惠于人，却又于己无碍。

118．Acquire the reputation of courtesy

Acquire the reputation of courtesy; for it is enough to make you liked. Politeness is the main ingredient of culture－a kind of witchery that wins the regard of all as surely as discourtesy gains their disfavour and opposition; if this latter springs from pride, it is abominable; if from bad breeding, it is despicable. Better too much courtesy than too little, provided it be not the same for all, which degenerates into injustice. Between opponents it is especially due as a proof of valour. It costs little and helps much: everyone is honoured who gives honour. Politeness and honour have this advantage, that they remain with him who displays them to others.

119．避免惹人厌烦

避免惹人厌烦。无论何时招人烦都不对——别人的厌烦常常不请自来。许多人总是毫无道理地憎恶别人。我们来不及取悦他们，因为他们的憎恶总会提前而至。他们生性恶劣，宁可损人还不利己。有些人想方设法与人交恶，因为他们总在制造不悦，或本身就心情不悦。他们一旦有了憎恶之心，就不易消除，正如恶名难除一样。明智之人被人敬畏，恶毒之人遭人憎恨，傲慢之人被人鄙视，滑稽之人被人轻视，古怪之人遭人排斥。因此，想要受人重视，就得先重视他人；想获得敬重，就先敬重别人。

119．Avoid becoming disliked

Avoid becoming disliked. There is no occasion to seek dislike: it comes without seeking quickly enough. There are many who hate of their own accord without knowing the why or the how. Their ill-will outruns our readiness to please. Their ill-nature is more prone to do others harm than their cupidity is eager to gain advantage for themselves. Some manage to be on bad terms with all, because they always either produce or experience vexation of spirit. Once hate has taken root it is, like bad repute, difficult to eradicate. Wise men are feared, the malevolent are abhorred, the arrogant are regarded with disdain, buffoons with contempt, eccentrics with neglect. Therefore pay respect that you may be respected, and know that to be esteemed you must show esteem.

120．生活讲求实际

生活讲求实际。知识也要与时俱进。在某些领域你显得落伍，也要明智地装作一无所知。思想和品味随时日而改变。不要让自己的思维方式落伍，要让自己的品味跟上潮流。在任何领域，品味都是由大多数人主导；你必须暂时追随着它，好将它引入更高层次。不管是思想的外衣还是身体的包装，都要与时代相适应，哪怕过去的似乎更好。但对于“善”字，这一规则并不适合，因为在任何时代，人们都需要它。现在，善良已被忽视，好像已经过时。说真话、重承诺，似乎属于美好的过去，其实它们仍然受人欢迎。不过，当今世上即便仍有这种美德、这种好人存在，也不再时髦，没人会效仿。美德罕见、邪恶当道，我们处于一个多么可悲的时代啊！如果你还算明智，就算不能按意愿生活，也要按才能生活。与其挂念命运拒绝赐予的东西，不如珍惜命运已经赐予的一切。

120．Live practically

Live practically. Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not it is wise to affect ignorance. Thought and taste change with the times. Do not be old-fashioned in your ways of thinking, and let your taste be in the modern style. In everything the taste of the many carries the votes; for the time being one must follow it in the hope of leading it to higher things. In the adornment of the body as of the mind adapt yourself to the present, even though the past appear better. But this rule does not apply to kindness, for goodness is for all time. It is neglected nowadays and seems out of date. Truth-speaking, keeping your word, and so too good people, seem to come from the good old times, yet they are liked for all that, but in such a way that even when they all exist they are not in the fashion and are not imitated. What a misfortune for our age that it regards virtue as a stranger and vice as a matter of course! If you are wise, live as you can, if you cannot live as you would. Think more highly of what fate has given you than of what it has denied.

121．不要小题大做

不要小题大做。有的人对任何事都喜欢搬弄是非，而有的则对任何事都喜欢大题小做。他们总是开口必言所谓大事，时时煞有介事，事事争议不休或弄得神秘莫测。如果可以避免，对麻烦的事情千万不要太过认真。把应抛掷脑后的事放在心上就十分愚蠢。许多事情看似重大，其实顺其自然就会变得无足轻重。区区小事如果小题大做，后果就会很严重。问题刚出现容易摆脱，若拖拉就难说了。药物本身往往会引起疾病。顺其自然是人生一大要则。

121．Do not make a business of what is no business

Do not make a business of what is no business. As some make gossip out of everything, so others business. They always talk big, take everything in earnest, and turn it into a dispute or a secret. Troublesome things must not be taken too seriously if they can be avoided. It is preposterous to take to heart that which you should throw over your shoulders. Much that would be something has become nothing by being left alone, and what was nothing has become of consequence by being made much of. At the outset things can be easily settled, but not afterwards. Often the remedy causes the disease. It is by no means the least of life's rules: to let things alone.

122．言行应有威信

言行应有威信。如果做到这点则可在许多地方获得一定的地位，且能提前赢得人们的敬重。言谈、神色，甚至步伐，处处都显示出威信的力量。征服人心是伟大的胜利。它并非来自任何愚蠢的自以为是或者夸夸其谈，而是来自恰当的威严——只有才智过人、品德高尚之人才拥有这种气质。

122．Distinction in speech and action

Distinction in speech and action. By this you gain a position in many places and carry esteem beforehand. It shows itself in everything, in talk, in look, even in gait. It is a great victory to conquer men's hearts. It does not arise from any foolish presumption or pompous talk, but in a becoming tone of authority born of superior talent combined with true merit.

123．避免矫揉造作

避免矫揉造作。越是才华横溢之人，越不会矫揉造作，任何东西只要矫饰，就会变得庸俗。它不但让别人厌烦，亦使自己烦恼。他们因处处小心而受尽折磨，沦为谨小慎微的牺牲品。若装腔作势，就算高才也会大打折扣，因为那样会让他们显得傲慢做作而不自然，自然的东西总比不自然的东西更让人心生愉悦。在世人看来，刻意显示美德的人其实根本没有美德。你越是在某件事上努力，越应隐藏自己付出的东西，这样才能很自然地显出你是天性使然。当然，你也不要为了避免矫饰而装作不矫饰，那样反而显得造作。明智之人从不表现出知道自己的长处——只有你不注意自己的优点，别人才会注意到你的优点。除自己之外，别人都认为完美的人倍加伟大——通过两条相反的途径，他赢得了世人的赞誉。

123．Avoid affectation

Avoid affectation. The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a vulgar flavour to all. It is wearisome to others and troublesome to the one affected, for he becomes a martyr to care and tortures himself with attention. The most eminent merits lose most by it, for they appear proud and artificial instead of being the product of nature, and the natural is always more pleasing than the artificial. One always feels sure that the man who affects a virtue has it not. The more pains you take with a thing, the more should you conceal them, so that it may appear to arise spontaneously from your own natural character. Do not, however, in avoiding affectation fall into it by affecting to be unaffected. The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others' attention to them. He is twice great who has all the perfections in the opinion of all except of himself; he attains applause by two opposite paths.

124．要被他人想念

要被他人想念。赢得众人欢心的人十分罕见。若能赢得智者的青睐，便是三生有幸。人走茶凉是普遍规律，但要获得善意的回报，也不是没有办法。最稳妥的方法就是：在工作中、在才能上出类拔萃，若还是和蔼可亲之人，那样人们会说是工作需要你，而非你需要那份工作。有的人能给自己的工作带来荣耀，还有的人凭借自己的工作而为自身带来荣耀。如果你的继任者不能胜任工作而显得你工作不错，这绝不是什么荣耀。因为这并不代表人们怀念前任，仅说明他们希望继任滚蛋。

124．Get yourself missed

Get yourself missed. Few reach such favour with the many; if with the wise it is the height of happiness. When one has finished one's work, coldness is the general rule. But there are ways of earning this reward of goodwill. The sure way is to excel in your office and talents: add to this agreeable manner and you reach the point where you become necessary to your office, not your office to you. Some do honour to their post, with others it is the other way. It is no great gain if a poor successor makes the predecessor seem good, for this does not imply that the one is missed, but that the other is wished away.

125．不要成为污点记录簿

不要成为污点记录簿。关注别人的恶名，说明自己没有好名声。有些人惯于用别人的污点来掩盖自己的污点，以开脱自己，或者求得安慰——这只是愚蠢之人的自我安慰罢了。这种人构成了整个城镇谣言的暗沟，他们呼出的气味臭不可闻。一个人越是挖这种污垢，便越是溅得满身臭泥。人无完人。除非你默默无闻，缺点才会鲜为人知。当心成为别人污点的记录员——那种人令人讨厌，没有头脑。

125．Do not be a black list

Do not be a black list. It is a sign of having a tarnished name to concern oneself with the ill-fame of others. Some wish to hide their own stains with those of others, or at least wash them away; or they seek consolation therein-it is the consolation of fools. They must have bad breath who form the sewers of scandal for the whole town. The more one grubs about in such matters, the more one befouls oneself. There are few without stain somewhere or other, but it is of little known people that the failings are little known. Be careful then to avoid being a registrar of faults. That is to be an abominable thing, a man that lives without a heart.

126．愚蠢并非做了蠢事，而在于做后不知掩饰

愚蠢并非做了蠢事，而在于做后不知掩饰。不要暴露你的欲望，要隐藏你的缺点。人人都难免犯错，区别在于智者试图隐藏自己的错误，愚人却会肆意张扬他们的错误。与其说名声取决于人做出的成绩，不如说取决于人所隐藏的过错。假如你不能保证自己一尘不染，就一定要审慎而行。大人物的过错，如日食月食，每个人都能看见。不要将自己的过失全部透露给朋友，如果可以的话，也要向自己隐瞒。另一处世法宝也同样有用：学会忘记。

126．Folly consists not in committing folly, but in not hiding it when committed

Folly consists not in committing folly, but in not hiding it when committed. You should keep your desires sealed up, still more your defects. All go wrong sometimes, but the wise try to hide the errors, but fools boast of them. Reputation depends more on what is hidden than on what is done; if a man does not live chastely, he must live cautiously. The errors of great men are like the eclipses of the greater lights. Even in friendship it is rare to expose one's failings to one's friend. Nay, one should conceal them from oneself if one can. But here one can help with that other great rule of life: learn to forget.

127．凡事从容优雅

凡事从容优雅。这种优雅是才智的生命，言辞的活力，行为的灵魂，光彩的精华。完美之物为自然增光添彩，而优雅将完美本身装点得更加灿烂夺目。优雅甚至还可以体现在思想中。它主要是出自先天而非后天培养——后天的训练甚至根本没有作用。它不只是悠闲，它自由轻松，战胜困难，对人之完美能起画龙点睛之作用。如果不优雅，美会失其生气，雅会变得俗气。优雅胜过勇敢、明断、谨慎，甚至威严。它既可以帮你迅速成功，也可使你轻易摆脱困境。

127．Grace in everything

Grace in everything. It is the life of talents, the breath of speech, the soul of action, and the ornament of ornament. Perfections are the adornment of our nature, but this is the adornment of perfection itself. It shows itself even in the thoughts. It is most a gift of nature and owes least to education: it even triumphs over training. It is more than ease, approaches the free and easy, gets over embarrassment, and adds the finishing touch to perfection. Without it beauty is lifeless, graciousness ungraceful: it surpasses valour, discretion, prudence, even majesty itself. It is a short way to accomplishment and an easy escape from embarrassment.

128．要有高远的志向

要有高远的志向。这是成为高贵人士的必备要素之一。它能激励人们追求各种崇高的目标，它提升品味，净化心灵，振奋精神，陶冶情操，让人更受尊敬。远大的志向可以滋养拥有它的人，有时甚至能挽救厄运——命运只会通过打击人来培养人。即便不能付诸行动，雄心壮志也能在人的意志上得以体现，豪爽、慷慨及其他英雄品质皆出于此。

128．Highmindedness

Highmindedness. This is one of the principal qualifications for a gentleman, for it spurs him on to all kinds of nobility. It improves the taste, ennobles the heart, elevates the mind, refines the feelings, and intensifies dignity. It raises him in whom it is found, and at times remedies the bad turns of Fortune, which only raises by striking. It can find full scope in the will when it cannot be exercised in act. Magnanimity, generosity, and all heroic qualities recognize in it their source.

129．从不抱怨

从不抱怨。抱怨往往会损害名誉。最好做一个依靠自己、反对抱怨的模范，而非被同情的对象。抱怨可使聆听抱怨之人效仿我们所怨之人；抱怨一次被欺侮就将为别人下一次欺侮我们提供借口。本想得到他人的帮助或建议，却只得到漠视和轻蔑。称赞某人给你的恩惠则更加高明——听的人就会觉得有必要效仿那个人。诉说不在场的人给我们的恩惠，就等于在要求听者给我们同样的恩惠。这样，后者就会接着前者给我们恩惠。所以，明智之人是从来不会宣扬自己的失败或者缺点的，他们只是宣扬别人对他的照顾，以维持友谊，遏制敌意。

129．Never complain

Never complain. To complain always brings discredit. Better be a model of self-reliance opposed to the passion of others than an object of their compassion. For complaining opens the way for the hearer to what we are complaining of, and to disclose one insult forms an excuse for another. By complaining of past offences we give occasion for future ones, and in seeking aid or counsel we only obtain indifference or contempt. It is much more politic to praise one man's favours, so that others may feel obliged to follow suit. To recount the favours we owe the absent is to demand similar ones from the present, and thus we sell our credit with the one to the other. The shrewd will therefore never publish to the world his failures or his defects, but only those marks of consideration which serve to keep friendship alive and enmity silent.

130．要干，且要让人看见

要干，且要让人看见。评判事物，人们往往不是根据它的本质，而是根据它的表象。不仅要能干，也要懂得如何表现自己，这样才能事半功倍。人们没看见的东西就会当它从来不存在。甚至于如果正确的事看起来不正确，也得不到正确的评价。相比那些被表面现象欺骗的人，能够洞察事物本质的人少之又少。当欺诈盛行于世，人们多从外表来判断事物，许多事物也并非它所表现出来的那样。不过，话又说回来，外表完美确是其内在完美的最好推荐书。

130．Do and be seen doing

Do and be seen doing. Things do not pass for what they are but for what they seem. To be of use and to know how to show yourself of use, is to be twice as useful. What is not seen is as if it did not exist. Even the Right does not receive proper consideration if it does not seem right. The observant are far fewer in number than those who are deceived by appearances. Deceit rules the roast, and things are judged by their jackets, and many things are other than they seem. A good exterior is the best recommendation of the inner perfection.

131．慷慨大度

慷慨大度。这是一种非凡的灵魂，是一种崇尚的精神。它能够催生侠义的行为，为人的整个个性增添一种优美的气质。这种气质并不常见，因为它要求人有极其宽大的胸怀。它首先表现在对敌人不吝赞美之词，甚至在行动上对敌人更好。这种人当有机会报复时，最为光彩夺目——他不仅放弃了复仇，还善加利用，在大获全胜后表现出出人意料的宽宏大量。这便是高超的权谋之术——不，这是驭人之术的极致。他不以胜者自居，因为他从不装模作样，他成功却不居功。

131．Nobility of feeling

Nobility of feeling. There is a certain distinction of the soul, a highmindedness prompting to gallant acts, that gives an air of grace to the whole character. It is not found often, for it presupposes great magnanimity. Its chief characteristic is to speak well of an enemy, and to act even better towards him. It shines brightest when a chance comes of revenge: not alone does it let the occasion pass, but it improves it by using a complete victory in order to display unexpected generosity. It is a fine stroke of policy, nay, the very acme of statecraft. It makes no pretence to victory, for it pretends to nothing, and while obtaining its deserts it conceals its merits.

132．修正你的判断

修正你的判断。反复思量，行事才比较可靠。尤其是在行动线路还不明确之时，你更要花时间核准或修正你的决定。这能为你加固和确证自己的判断提供新的根据。如果是送给别人礼物，考虑周全要比迅速送出更让人珍视：获得梦寐以求之物，就是最高奖赏。如果不得不拒绝某事，就要费时决定在何时以何种方式让“不”更合乎情理，以免伤人。毕竟，最初的热望消逝之后，热血也不再沸腾，这时再遭到拒绝，所产生的反感就不会那么强烈。尤其是在别人急着要求你答复的时候，最好拖延一下——这通常是分散他人注意力的假动作。

132．Revise your judgments

Revise your judgments. To appeal to an inner Court of Revision makes things safe. Especially when the course of action is not clear, you gain time either to confirm or improve your decision. It affords new grounds for strengthening or corroborating your judgment. And if it is a matter of giving, the gift is the more valued from its being evidently well considered than for being promptly bestowed: long expected is highest prized. And if you have to deny, you gain time to decide how and when to mature the No that it may be made palatable. Besides, after the first heat of desire is passed the repulse of refusal is felt less keenly in cold blood. But especially when men press for a reply it is best to defer it, for as often as not that is only a feint to disarm attention.

133．宁可同醉，而不独醒

宁可同醉，而不独醒。政治家如是说。如果众人都疯狂，你也不会比其他人更严重。独自清醒在人看来，反而是愚蠢的。随大流是十分重要的。大智若愚。我们必须与世人共存，而大部分人是十分愚蠢的。“想离群索居，你要么如神，要么似兽。”但是，我要修改这条格言，并宣称：宁可一起明智，也不独自愚蠢。有些人特立独行，只是在追逐空幻之物。

133．Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone

Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone. So say politicians. If all are so, one is no worse off than the rest, whereas solitary wisdom passes for folly. So important is it to sail with the stream. The greatest wisdom often consists in ignorance, or the pretence of it. One has to live with others, and others are mostly ignorant. "To live entirely alone one must be very like a god or quite like a wild beast," but I would turn the aphorism by saying: better be wise with the many than a fool all alone. There are some too who seek to be original by seeking chimeras.

134．加倍储存你的资源

加倍储存你的资源。如此这般，你的生活将丰富一倍。不要寄希望于一种事物或者一处资源，无论它多么珍贵。每种东西都应该加倍储藏，尤其是成功、恩赐、自尊之源泉。月有阴晴圆缺，世事变化无常，依靠我们薄弱意志生存的事物更是如此。所以，智者应小心防范这种无常，加倍储存好的有用的资源，这是生活的首要法则。正如大自然都让我们最重要和最易暴露于危险之中的四肢成双成对一样，我们也要用人的智慧来经营自己赖以成功的资源。

134．Double your resources

Double your resources. You thereby double your life. One must not depend on one thing or trust to only one resource, however preeminent. Everything should be kept double, especially the causes of success, of favour, or of esteem. The moon's mutability transcends everything and gives a limit to all existence, especially of things dependent on human will, the most brittle of all things. To guard against this inconstancy should be the sage's care, and for this the chief rule of life is to keep a double store of good and useful qualities. Thus as Nature gives us in duplicate the most important of our limbs and those most exposed to risk, so Art should deal with the qualities on which we depend for success.

135．不要滋长唱反调的习气

不要滋长唱反调的习气。总是反驳别人只能证明你愚蠢或乖僻。你应小心避免这种行为。凡事你都表示异议，也许能证明你聪明，但是这种争论总会使你被视为傻瓜。这类人能把最愉快的闲聊变成一场战争，且以这种方式与亲朋好友为敌，甚至比对待陌生人更过分。美食中的沙子尤其硌牙，娱乐中的驳斥也非常败兴。将野蛮与温顺相搭配，真是既愚蠢又残忍。

135．Do not nourish the spirit of contradiction

Do not nourish the spirit of contradiction. It only proves you foolish or peevish, and prudence should guard against this strenuously. To find difficulties in everything may prove you clever, but such wrangling writes you down a fool. Such folk make a mimic war out of the most pleasant conversation, and in this way act as enemies towards their associates rather than towards those with whom they do not consort. Grit grates most in delicacies, and so does contradiction in amusement. They are both foolish and cruel who yoke together the wild beast and the tame.

136．抓住事情关键

抓住事情关键。这样你才能触摸了整个事件的脉搏。许多人会陷入对细枝末节的无用的讨论中，或者迷失在讨厌的啰啰嗦嗦的灌木丛中，却没有认清手头真正要做的是什么。他们反复地检查一个细节甚至超过一百次，让自己和他人都感到十分厌倦，却还是根本没抓住事情的关键。这是因为他们思绪混乱而理不清头绪。他们把时间和耐心都浪费在他们不该管的事情上，结果却没有工夫处理那些真正重要的事。

136．Post yourself in the centre of things

Post yourself in the centre of things. So you feel the pulse of affairs. Many lose their way either in the ramifications of useless discussion or in the brushwood of wearisome verbosity without ever realizing the real matter at hand. They go over a single point a hundred times, wearying themselves and others, and yet never touch the all-important centre of affairs. This comes from a confusion of mind from which they cannot extricate themselves. They waste time and patience on matters they should leave alone, and cannot spare them afterwards for what they have left alone.

137．圣人自足

圣人自足。曾有一圣人(1)，其随身所负即为其所有。如果一位博古通今的朋友(2)能够代表罗马和其他世界，那么，就让人成为他自己的这种朋友，那样，他就能独自生存。假如其他人的聪明、品味尚不及你，你还需要谁呢？依靠自己就足够——这是最大的快乐，像上帝一样自在。能够独自生存的人绝不是野蛮人，反而像一位圣人，更像一位神仙。

137．The sage should be self-sufficing

The sage should be self-sufficing. He that was all in all to himself carried all with him when he carried himself. If a universal friend can represent to us Rome and the rest of the world, let a man be his own universal friend, and then he is in a position to live alone. Whom could such a man want if there is no clearer intellect or finer taste than his own? He would then depend on himself alone, which is the highest happiness and like the Supreme Being. He that can live alone resembles the brute beast in nothing, the sage in much and God in everything.

(1) 指古希腊麦格拉的哲学家斯提朋，他在一场火灾中失去了妻儿和全部财产。他从废墟中站起来说：“我的财富还在身上。”

(2) 指古罗马军事家、执政官老加图（前234—前149）。

138．任其自然的艺术

任其自然的艺术。风浪越大，你越应顺其自然，公事与私事都要如此。生活中时常会有飓风，情感中常有暴雨，这时，明智的做法是退入一个安全的港湾，静待风浪消退。治疗常让疾病恶化，在这种情况下，你要顺应自然和天道。聪明的医生懂得什么时候不开药，有时，不治疗反而更见功夫。想要止住愚昧大众的吼声，最好的方法就是袖手旁观，待其平息。现在的让步，是为了不久后的征服。井水一搅就浑，不会因为我们折腾它而澄清，如不去动它，它自然会清。对付混乱的最好方法就是任其自然，这样它们自会平息。

138．The art of letting things alone

The art of letting things alone. The more so the wilder the waves of public or of private life. There are hurricanes in human affairs, tempests of passion, when it is wise to retire to a harbour and ride at anchor. Remedies often make diseases worse: in such cases one has to leave them to their natural course and the moral suasion of time. It takes a wise doctor to know when not to prescribe, and at times the greater skill consists in not applying remedies. The proper way to still the storms of the vulgar is to hold your hand and let them calm down of themselves. To give way now is to conquer by and by. A fountain gets muddy with but little stirring up, and does not get clear by our meddling with it but by our leaving it alone. The best remedy for disturbances is to let them run their course, for so they quiet down.

139．冷静面对倒霉的日子

冷静面对倒霉的日子。运气不好的时候总是有的，这时，凡事都不会顺利；即便换件事做，运气也不会好。看你今日运气如何，试两次就够了。一切都在变化，心智亦然，没有人能始终明智，甚至写出一封好信也需有好运。只有在某个时刻，完美才会出现，美丽也非时刻存在。有时聪明也会失算——不是算得太多，就是算得太少。如果想要有好结果，就必须选择恰当的时机。这就是为什么有的人万事不顺，有的人事事皆顺且不费吹灰之力的原因。他们发现万事俱备，思维敏捷，精神抖擞，吉星高挂。要善用这样的日子，片刻都不要虚掷。智者不会从一件事的顺利与否来判断这一天是否顺利，因为这事可能只是侥幸比较顺利，也可能是稍稍不顺而已。

139．Recognize unlucky days

Recognize unlucky days. They exist: nothing goes well on them; even though the game may be changed the ill-luck remains. Two tries should be enough to tell if one is in luck today or not. Everything is in process of change, even the mind, and no one is always wise: chance has something to say, even how to write a good letter. All perfection turns on the time; even beauty has its hours. Even wisdom fails at times by doing too much or too little. To turn out well a thing must be done on its own day. This is why with some people everything turns out ill, with others all goes well, even with less trouble. They find everything ready, their wit prompt, their presiding genius favourable, their lucky star in the ascendant. At such times one must seize the occasion and not throw away the slightest chance. But a shrewd person will not decide on the day's luck by a single piece of good or bad fortune, for the one may be only a lucky chance and the other only a slight annoyance.

140．一眼看到事物好的一面

一眼看到事物好的一面。这是品味高雅之人的长处。蜜蜂为蜂巢采集花蜜，毒蛇为造毒寻找苦味。品味也是这样——有人追求好的，有人追求劣的。万物自有其用处，作为精神食粮的书籍更是如此。但是，许多人看不到事物的一千个优点，却偏偏抓住一个缺点不放，且把它挑出来横加指责，就像专捡他人心灵垃圾的人。他们喜欢记录别人的各种缺点，这只会降低他们的品位，而不是给他们的智慧增光。他们生活痛苦，因为以苦味养生，靠垃圾增肥。那些快乐的人，有些就有很好的品味，在一千个缺憾中，他们也能发现偶遇的一丝美丽。

140．Find the good in a thing at once

Find the good in a thing at once. It is the advantage of good taste. The bee goes to the honey for her comb, the serpent to the gall for its venom. So with taste: some seek the good, others the ill. There is nothing that has no good in it, especially in books, as giving food for thought. But many have such a scent that amid a thousand excellences they fix upon a single defect, and single it out for blame as if they were scavengers of men's minds and hearts. So they draw up a balance sheet of defects which does more credit to their bad taste than to their intelligence. They lead a sad life, nourishing themselves on bitters and battening on garbage. They have the luckier taste who midst a thousand defects seize upon a single beauty they may have hit upon by chance.

141．不要只倾听自己的声音

不要只倾听自己的声音。如果你不能愉悦他人，愉悦自己也无用处。人若自满，必受惩罚，也即遭人蔑视。把注意力放在自己身上，还不如放在别人身上。说话的时候只听自己的声音，不会有好的结果。如果说自言自语是疯狂，那么，在别人面前只听自己说则是双倍的愚蠢。有的大人物在讲话时反复说“正如我刚才所说”或者问“是不是”，这是一个缺点，会让听众迷惑。每说一句话都在期待他人的赞同和恭维，这让智者的耐心不堪重荷。浮华虚夸之人也是如此，他们说话也需借用高跷才能蹒跚而行。因此，他们每说一个字，都要那些愚蠢的“好啊”来支持。

141．Do not listen to yourself

Do not listen to yourself. It is no use pleasing yourself if you do not please others, and as a rule general contempt is the punishment for self-satisfaction. The attention you pay to yourself you probably owe to others. To speak and at the same time listen to yourself cannot turn out well. If to talk to oneself when alone is madness, it must be doubly unwise to listen to oneself in the presence of others. It is a weakness of the great to talk with a recurrent "as I was saying" and "eh?" which bewilders their hearers. At every sentence they look for applause or flattery, taxing the patience of the wise. So too the pompous speak with an echo, and as their talk can only totter on with the aid of stilts, at every word they need the support of a stupid "Bravo!"

142．当对手先站在正确的一方时，你不能固执地站在错误的一方

当对手先站在正确的一方时，你不能倔强地站在错误的一方。否则，你会不战而败，含辱而退。武器不好就不能取胜。对手抢先夺取较为有利的一方，是他的狡猾；若你跟着固守在最糟糕的一方，就很愚蠢了。行动上表现出的倔强比言语上表现出的执拗更危险，因为行动比言语冒更多风险。倔强的人好反驳而失理，好争吵而无益，这是他们常犯的错误。明智之人从不冲动，他们信奉正途，不管是自己早就发现，抑或是后来才加以修正。如你的对手是个蠢蛋，在此情况下，他就会转身踏上相反的错误道路。那么，要把敌人赶出好路，你只需自己占领就行——敌人的愚蠢会让他抛弃正确的路线，令其因倔强而招致惩罚。

142．Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your opponent has anticipated you in taking the right one

Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your opponent has anticipated you in taking the right one. You begin the fight already beaten and must soon take to flight in disgrace. With bad weapons one can never win. It was astute in the opponent to seize the better side first, it would be folly to come lagging after with the worst. Such obstinacy is more dangerous in actions than in words, for action encounters more risk than talk. It is the common failing of the obstinate that they lose the true by contradicting it, and the useful by quarrelling with it. The sage never places himself on the side of passion, but espouses the cause of right, either discovering it first or improving it later. If the enemy is a fool, he will in such a case turn round to follow the opposite and worse way. Thus the only way to drive him from the better course is to take it yourself, for his folly will cause him to desert it, and his obstinacy be punished for so doing.

143．别为免俗而玩弄诡辩之术

别为免俗而玩弄诡辩之术。落俗和诡辩这两个极端都有损我们的名誉。任何不合理之事都近乎愚蠢。诡辩即欺骗：它先因新奇刺激而赢得掌声，之后当欺骗被预知，当其虚妄无实显而易见，就会名誉扫地。诡辩是一种花招，用在政治上可以毁灭国家。不能或者不敢以德成就伟业之人转而走向诡辩的歧途，让愚人惊羡，却让智者警觉。诡辩表明判断错乱。它要不是完全建立在虚假之上，就肯定存在于不确定之中，使人生之要事面临危险。

143．Never become paradoxical in order to avoid the trite

Never become paradoxical in order to avoid the trite. Both extremes damage our reputation. Every undertaking which differs from the reasonable approaches foolishness. The paradox is a cheat: it wins applause at first by its novelty and piquancy, but afterwards it becomes discredited when the deceit is foreseen and its emptiness becomes apparent. It is a species of jugglery, and in political matters it would be the ruin of states. Those who cannot or dare not reach great deeds on the direct road of excellence go round by way of Paradox, admired by fools but making wise men true prophets. It argues an unbalanced judgment, and if it is not altogether based on the false, it is certainly founded on the uncertain, and risks the weightier matters of life.

144．开始于他人，受用于自己

开始于他人，受用于自己。这是一个可使你得偿所愿的计策。即使是非世俗之事，基督教的牧师也强调这条神圣的诡计。这种掩饰重要至极，因为可以把显而易见的好处当作诱饵去控制他人意志。看起来他的事已准备就绪，实际上是为你自己的事开路。如果没有掩护，决不能前进，尤其是在危险地带。与此类似，和那些一开始总是说“不”的人交往，避免受挫的方法就是巧妙地提出你的想法，让他不觉得同意有何难处。此建议也属于有关三思而行的准则（箴言13），它涵盖了最精妙的人生处世技巧。

144．Begin with another's to end with your own

Begin with another's to end with your own. It is a politic means to your end. Even in heavenly matters Christian teachers lay stress on this holy cunning. It is a weighty piece of dissimulation, for the foreseen advantages serve as a lure to influence the other's will. His affair seems to be in train when it is really only leading the way for your own. One should never advance unless under cover, especially where the ground is dangerous. Likewise with persons who always say No at first, it is useful to ward off this blow, because the difficulty of conceding much more does not occur to them when your version is presented to them. This advice belongs to the rule about second thoughts, which covers the most subtle manoeuvres of life.

145．藏好你受伤的手指

藏好你受伤的手指，以免它到处碰伤；也不要抱怨它，恶人总是瞄准你易伤的弱处。恼怒没有任何作用——成为他人的话柄只会让你更加愤怒。他人的恶意总是在寻找你的痛处，刺激它，放飞镖试探你的脾气，想方设法刺痛你伤口的嫩肉。聪明人从不说自己受了打击，也不说任何个人或家族的不幸。有时，命运也喜欢伤害我们身上的软肋，它总是挤压我们皮开肉绽之处。因此，那些让我们痛苦或快乐的东西，你都应深藏不露——如果你喜欢前者再也不出现，后者持续下去。

145．Do not show your wounded finger

Do not show your wounded finger, for everything will knock up against it; nor complain about it, for malice always aims where weakness can be injured. It is no use to be vexed: being the butt of the talk will only vex you the more. Ill-will searches for wounds to irritate, aims darts to try the temper, and tries a thousand ways to sting to the quick. The wise never own to being hit, or disclose any evil, whether personal or hereditary. For even Fate sometimes likes to wound us where we are most tender. It always mortifies wounded flesh. Never therefore disclose the source of mortification or of joy, if you wish the one to cease, the other to endure.

146．透过现象看本质

透过现象看本质。事物的本质往往与其表象有所不同，无知者见到的只是外壳而已。你让他看到内核，他才会醒悟。谎言总是捷足先登，傻瓜总被牵着鼻子走，因其愚蠢得不可救药。真相总是伴着时间缓缓来迟。因此，审慎之人常会留一只耳朵聆听真相，他们共同的自然之母已睿智地赐予每人一双耳朵。欺诈是浅薄的，因此肤浅之人才容易相信它。“谨慎”隐居于幽深之处，只有贤士和智者才去拜访。

146．Look into the interior of things

Look into the interior of things. Things are generally other than they seem, and ignorance that never looks beneath the rind becomes disabused when you show the kernel. Lies always come first, dragging fools along by their irreparable vulgarity. Truth always lags last, limping along on the arm of Time. The wise therefore reserve for truth one of their ears, which the common mother has wisely given in duplicate. Deceit is very superficial, and the superficial therefore easily fall into it. Prudence lives retired within its recesses, visited only by sages and wise men.

147．采纳他人的建议

采纳他人的建议。无人能完美到任何时候都不需要忠告。拒绝倾听别人意见的人是不可救药的蠢驴。即便是最超凡脱俗的智者也会找个地方倾听友好的忠告。君主也要学着倚靠他人。有的人无可挽救，因为他们拒人千里，所以，他们彻底失败是因无人敢伸出援手。身居高位之人应打开友谊之门，事实证明，这是一扇有用之门。朋友可以自由进言，甚至可以责备你，也不觉难堪。我们相信朋友的忠诚，对他满意，因此赋予他这一权力。我们不会随便予人尊重与信任，可在小心起见的内心深处，我们需要一位能推心置腹之人作为忠实的镜子，从而纠正自己的错误——我们必须为此感恩。

147．Do not be inaccessible

Do not be inaccessible. None is so perfect that he does not need at times the advice of others. He is an incorrigible ass who will never listen to anyone. Even the most surpassing intellect should find a place for friendly counsel. Sovereignty itself must learn to lean. There are some that are incorrigible simply because they are inaccessible: they fall to ruin because none dares to extricate them. The highest should have the door open for friendship; it may prove the gate of help. A friend must be free to advise, and even to upbraid, without feeling embarrassed. Our satisfaction in him and our trust in his steadfast faith give him that power. One need not pay respect or give credit to everyone, but in the innermost of his precaution a man must have a true mirror of a confidant to whom he owes the correction of his errors, and has to thank for it.

148．掌握谈话的艺术

掌握谈话的艺术。人的真实个性能够在谈话之中得以体现。谈话是人类生活中最平常的事，但没有任何事比它更须小心谨慎。人之得失尽在于此。书信是深思于心而诉诸笔端的交谈，写信尚需审慎而行，而需立即展现才智的实际交谈，岂不更需要谨慎？那些深谙交际之术的行家里手能感受到他人之灵魂在舌尖跳动，因而先贤(1)说：“说话吧，这样我才能了解你。”有人认为谈话的艺术就是没有艺术，谈话如同穿衣，只需整洁，不需修饰。若是朋友间的交谈，这当然没错；但在与长辈交谈时，就应得体，以顾及交谈对象的体面。说话应适合别人的心声，才为合适。不要苛责他人的言辞，否则你将被视为学究；也不要做思想的税务员，否则人们会就此躲避你，至少不会再轻易地表露他们的想法。在交谈中，谨慎比雄辩更为重要。

148．Have the art of conversation

Have the art of conversation. That is where the real personality shows itself. No act in life requires more attention, though it is the commonest thing in life. You must either lose or gain by it. If it needs care to write a letter which is but a deliberate and written conversation, how much more the ordinary kind in which there is occasion for a prompt display of intelligence? Experts feel the pulse of the soul in the tongue, wherefore the sage said, "Speak, that I may know you." Some hold that the art of conversation is to be without art－that it should be neat, not gaudy, like the garments. This holds good for talk between friends. But when held with persons to whom one would show respect, it should be more dignified to answer to the dignity of the person addressed. To be appropriate it should adapt itself to the mind and tone of the interlocutor. And do not be a critic of words, or you will be taken for a pedant; nor a taxgatherer of ideas, or men will avoid you, or at least sell their thoughts dear. In conversation discretion is more important than eloquence.

(1) 指苏格拉底，见箴言第43条注(1)。

149．懂得推罪于人

懂得推罪于人。拥有抵制他人恶意伤害的盾牌，是领导者的重要驭人之道。让别人去承担不满者的责难、嫌恶者的惩罚，这并非幸灾乐祸者所想象的无能的倚靠手段，而是更高超的处世策略。事事如意不可能，皆大欢喜亦不可能。所以，即便是以我们的自尊为代价，也要找一个替罪羊，让他成为不幸事件的活靶。

149．Know how to put off ills on others

Know how to put off ills on others. To have a shield against ill-will is a great piece of skill in a ruler. It is not the resort of incapacity, as ill-wishers imagine, but is due to the higher policy of having some one to receive the censure of the disaffected and the punishment of universal detestation. Everything cannot turn out well, nor can everyone be satisfied: it is well therefore, even at the cost of our pride, to have such a scapegoat, such a target for unlucky undertakings.

150．推销得法

推销得法。仅有内在的价值是不够的，不是每个人都能探究事物之核心，或深入其内在。大部分人是喜欢随波逐流：因为看见别人走，所以他们也跟着走。宣传某物需要一大技巧：有时，你可以美言称之而引人向往，有时，你可以美名冠之而提升其价值——只要不矫饰；还可以宣称货卖懂行人，这也可以起到诱导的作用，因为人人都认为自己是内行。即便不是，那种希望自己是行家的渴望，也会激起他的购买欲。绝对不要宣扬货物易得、平常，那样只会使其贬值，而非畅销。人人都追求不寻常的东西，独特之物更能刺激人的口味和心智。

150．Know how to get your price for things

Know how to get your price for things. Their intrinsic value is not sufficient; for all do not bite at the kernel or look into the interior. Most go with the crowd, and go because they see others go. It is a great stroke of art to bring things into repute; at times by praising them, for praise arouses desire, at times by giving them a striking name, which is very useful for putting things at a premium, provided it is done without affectation. Again, it is generally an inducement to profess to supply only connoisseurs, for all think themselves such, and if not, the sense of want arouses the desire. Never call things easy or common: that makes them depreciated rather than made accessible. All rush after the unusual, which is more appetizing both for the taste and for the intelligence.

151．高瞻远瞩

高瞻远瞩。今日要考虑明日的事，甚至要考虑日后许多天的事。高瞻远瞩是在麻烦到来之时早作决断。富有远见可避免厄运，小心谨慎可以避险。不要等深陷泥潭才想起运用智慧，深思熟虑能帮我们克服最大的困难。枕头是个无声的女巫，早作打算、高枕无忧，比事到临头辗转难眠要好。有些人先行动，后思考，他们考虑得多的是行动的借口，而非行动的结果；还有的人无论在事前还是事后，从不思考。人生就是一个不断思考如何避免偏离正路的过程，深思熟虑和先见之明让人得以确定正确的人生道路。

151．Think beforehand

Think beforehand. Today for tomorrow, and even for many days hence. The greatest foresight consists in determining beforehand the time of trouble. For the provident there are no mischances and for the careful no narrow escapes. We must not put off thought till we are up to the chin in mire. Mature reflection can get over the most formidable difficulty. The pillow is a silent Sibyl, and it is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards. Many act first and then think afterwards－that is, they think less of consequences than of excuses; others think neither before nor after. The whole of life should be one course of thought how not to miss the right path. Rumination and foresight enable one to determine the line of life.

152．不与令自己黯然失色之人为伍

不与令自己黯然失色之人为伍。他越让你黯然失色，你越不该与他为伍。他的品质越出众，他的名声也就越出众。他总是拉第一小提琴，你老是位居其后。即便你获得些许报酬，也不过是他剩下的残茶剩饭而已。明月独挂天空能与群星争辉；可太阳一出，它便黯然失色，甚至消失不见。所以，不要与令你黯然失色者为伴，而要与能令你增色的人为伍。马歇尔(1)诗中有位聪明的法普拉，就是因此而显得光彩照人的，因为她那些女仆都丑陋而又邋遢。但是，一个人不要以荣誉为代价以示对他人的尊敬，也不要被狐朋狗友拖入险境。创业之时，应与才俊交往；成功之后，应与凡人为伴。

152．Never have a companion who casts you in the shade

Never have a companion who casts you in the shade. The more he does so, the less desirable a companion he is. The more he excels in quality the more in repute: he will always play first fiddle and you second. If you get any consideration, it is only his leavings. The moon shines bright alone among the stars; when the sun rises she becomes either invisible or imperceptible. Never join one that eclipses you, but rather one who sets you in a brighter light. By this means the cunning Fabula in Martial was able to appear beautiful and brilliant, owing to the ugliness and disorder of her companions. But one should as little imperil oneself by an evil companion as pay honour to another at the cost of one's own credit. When you are on the way to fortune associate with the eminent; when arrived, with the mediocre.

(1) 西班牙裔古罗马讽刺诗人。

153．不要去填补前人留下的巨大空缺

不要去填补前人留下的巨大空缺。若你要做，你要确定可以超越你的前任。可是仅仅与其平分秋色，就需双倍的成就。让接任者怀念我们，这招很妙；不让前任的光彩将你掩盖，这也是一种策略。填补大空缺很难，因为人们总是厚古薄今。只与前任不相上下是远远不够的，前任有占先的优势。所以，你要有额外的资格，才能取前人盛名而代之。

153．Beware of entering where there is a great gap to be filled

Beware of entering where there is a great gap to be filled. But if you do be sure to surpass your predecessor; merely to equal him requires twice his worth. As it is a fine stroke to arrange that our successor shall cause us to be wished back, so it is policy to see that our predecessor does not eclipse us. To fill a great gap is difficult, for the past always seems best, and to equal the predecessor is not enough, since he has the right of first possession. You must therefore possess additional claims to oust the other from his hold on public opinion.

154．不轻易相信，也不轻易喜欢

不轻易相信，也不轻易喜欢。成熟的头脑最为明显的标志便是不轻信他人。谎言司空见惯，所以不要经常相信别人。容易被牵着鼻子走的人很快就会被人鄙视。同时，也不必表现出你怀疑别人的真诚——这显得无礼，还是一种侮辱，因为这种怀疑等于你把递信之人视为骗子，或视其为上当受骗者。坏处不仅仅是这些，多疑还是惯于说谎之人的标志。撒谎者一般都要忍受两种煎熬：既不信人，也不为人所信。倾听者迟作判断是谨慎的，可以让讲话的人说出信息的最初来源。轻易就喜欢，也是一种类似的草率行为——言语可以行骗，行动亦能说谎，而对现实生活，后者的危害更甚于前者。

154．Do not believe, or like, lightly

Do not believe, or like, lightly. Maturity of mind is best shown in slow belief. Lying is the usual thing; then let belief be unusual. He that is lightly led away, soon falls into contempt. At the same time there is no necessity to betray your doubts in the good faith of others, for this adds insult to discourtesy, since you make out your informant to be either deceiver or deceived. Nor is this the only evil: want of belief is the mark of the liar, who suffers from two failings: he neither believes nor is believed. Suspension of judgment is prudent in a hearer: the speaker can appeal to his original source of information. There is a similar kind of imprudence in liking too easily, for lies may be told by deeds as well as in words, and this deceit is more dangerous for practical life.

155．掌控激情的艺术

掌控激情的艺术。若有可能，就让审慎深思来对抗低俗冲动，谨慎之人不难做到这点。意识到自己处于激情是掌控激情的第一步。这样，你就开始了控制自我情绪的斗争，你必须恰当地调节自己的激情——令其既有必要，又不过分。这是发怒而又止怒之关键技巧。你应该知道何时、如何止住它为最好，疾步狂奔之时是最难停下来的，同理，盛怒之际还能保持头脑清醒，这最能证明你的明智。每次过分激动都是对理性的背弃。但是，通过灵活的驾驭，理性永远不会被逾越，也不会超过自身防范的界限。为了驾驭激情，你必须抓牢注意力之缰绳。谁能做到这一点，谁就是骑在马背上的第一个智者(1)，也许还是最后一个。

155．The art of mastering your passions

The art of mastering your passions. If possible, oppose vulgar importunity with prudent reflection; it will not be difficult for a really prudent man. The first step towards mastering a passion is to perceive that you are in a passion. By this means you begin the conflict with command over your temper, for one has to regulate one's passion to the exact point that is necessary and no further. This is the art of arts in falling into and getting out of a rage. You should know how and when best to come to a stop: it is most difficult to halt while running at the double. It is a great proof of wisdom to remain clear-sighted during paroxysms of rage. Every excess of passion is a digression from rational conduct. But by this masterly policy reason will never be transgressed, nor pass the bounds of its own prophylaxis. To keep control of passion one must hold firm the reins of attention: he who can do so will be the first man "wise on horseback," and probably the last.

(1) 西班牙有谚语称“马背上无智者”。

156．选择你的朋友

选择你的朋友。经过实践和命运的考验的朋友才算合格。合格不仅体现在情感方面，还体现在洞察力方面。尽管这是人生第一要事，但世人对此并不上心。只有少数人用智力择友，而更多的则靠机遇。人们总是根据所交朋友来判断一个人的为人，因为智者永远不会与傻瓜有共鸣。同样，和某人交往很开心，并不意味着和他很亲密，可能只是喜欢与之为伴时的快乐，但未必信赖他的才能。有的友谊合法，有的则违法；后者是为了娱乐，前者却能产生思想和动力。大部分“朋友”看上你，不是因为你本人，而是因为你的境遇。众人的友好往往还抵不过一个挚友的真知灼见。因此，交友要精挑细选，而不应单纯依靠机缘。明智的友人驱走忧愁，愚昧的朋友让你烦忧。此外，别期盼朋友运气太好，可能你会就此失去他们。

156．Select your friends

Select your friends. Only after passing the matriculation of experience and the examination of fortune will they be graduates, not only in affection but in discernment. Though this is the most important thing in life, it is the one least cared for. Intelligence brings friends to some, chance to most. Yet a man is judged by his friends, for there was never agreement between wise men and fools. At the same time, to find pleasure in a man's society is no proof of near friendship: it may come from the pleasantness of his company more than from trust in his capacity. There are some friendships legitimate, others illicit; the latter for pleasure, the former for their fecundity of ideas and motives. Few are the friends of a man's self, most those of his circumstances. The insight of a true friend is more useful than the goodwill of others: therefore gain them by choice, not by chance. A wise friend wards off worries, a foolish one brings them about. But do not wish them too much luck, or you may lose them.

157．识人别出错

识人别出错。识错人，这是最糟糕的错误，也是最易犯的错误。宁可在商品的价格上受骗，也不能在其质量上受骗。相比与其他事物打交道，与人打交道尤其要看到本质。识人与辨货不同，需要洞悉他人内心深处的情感，分辨其性格特征，这是一门高深的学问。这就要像钻研书本那样，把人研究透。

157．Do not make mistakes about character

Do not make mistakes about character. That is the worst and yet easiest error. Better be cheated in the price than in the quality of goods. In dealing with men, more than with other things, it is necessary to look within. To know men is different from knowing things. It is profound philosophy to sound the depths of feeling and distinguish traits of character. Men must be studied as deeply as books.

158．善用朋友

善用朋友。这需要所有的判别技巧。有的朋友适合远交，有的朋友适合近处。有的朋友不善言辞，却可以成为很好的笔友。所谓距离产生美，距离能让人忽略一些亲近之时无法忍受的缺点。交友更要注重实效，而非只为享乐。因为正如一些人所言，朋友通常有着世间一切美好事物所共有的三大品质：和谐、诚实、善良。朋友是一切的一切。称得上好朋友的并不多，如果不善选择，好朋友就更加难求。珍惜老友比结交新知更重要。你所选择的应是那些能与你长久交往的朋友，如果起初的新朋友，将来变成老朋友，这也算是些许安慰。最好的朋友绝对是那些经年累月者，尽管他们可能需要不断经受考验。一个人活着，若无友谊，则其人生比沙漠还荒凉。友谊可使人生的美好翻倍，不幸减半。友谊是治疗失意的不二良药，是滋润灵魂的新鲜空气。

158．Make use of your friends

Make use of your friends. This requires all the art of discretion. Some are good afar off, some when near. Many are no good at conversation but excellent as correspondents, for distance removes some failings which are unbearable in close proximity to them. Friends are for use even more than for pleasure, for they have the three qualities of the Good, or, as some say, of Being in general: unity, goodness, and truth. For a friend is all in all. Few are worthy to be good friends, and even these become fewer because men do not know how to pick them out. To keep is more important than to make friends. Select those that will wear well; if they are new at first, it is some consolation they will become old. Absolutely the best are those well salted, though they may require soaking in the testing. There is no desert like living without friends. Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil. It is the sole remedy against misfortune, the very ventilation of the soul.

159．忍受愚蠢

忍受愚蠢。智者常常没有耐性，因为学问增加了，他们对愚蠢的耐心也减少了。学识渊博之人很难被取悦。生活中第一重要准则便是“忍耐”二字，爱比克泰德(1)如是说，他视其为所有智慧真谛的一半。容忍种种愚蠢，需要极大的耐性。有时候，我们不得不忍受的人恰恰是我们最依赖的人，这是锻炼我们自制力之有用的一课。忍耐产生安宁，这是世间幸福之无价的恩惠。如果没有耐性，就要独处——即便是独处，也不得不忍耐自己。

159．Put up with fools

Put up with fools. The wise are always impatient, for he that increases knowledge increase impatience of folly. Much knowledge is difficult to satisfy. The first great rule of life, according to Epictetus, is to put up with things: he valued this as half of all wisdom. To put up with all the varieties of folly would need much patience. We often have to put up with most from those on whom we most depend: a useful lesson in self-control. Out of patience comes forth peace, the priceless boon which is the happiness of the world. But let him that has no power of patience retire within himself, though even there he will have to put up with himself.

(1) 古罗马哲学家，晚期斯多葛派主要代表之一。

160．说话要谨慎

说话要谨慎。与对手交谈时，要审慎；与其他人交谈，也要小心，是为了言语得体。补充一句话总是有机会，收回一句话却永远不可能。说话要像立遗嘱：言词越少，纷争就越少。在细微小事上锻炼自己的言谈，从而应对更重要的讲话。深藏不露的秘密有点神圣的光彩。口风不紧之人，很容易跌倒或失败。

160．Be careful in speaking

Be careful in speaking. With your rivals from prudence; with others for the sake of appearance. There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one. Talk as if you were making your will: the fewer words the less litigation. In trivial matters exercise yourself for the more weighty matters of speech. Profound secrecy has some of the lustre of the divine. He who speaks lightly soon falls or fails.

161．认清自身喜爱的缺点

认清自身喜爱的缺点。最完美的人也有自己喜欢的缺点，这些缺点像明媒正娶那样堂而皇之，或像不合法关系那样遮遮掩掩。这些缺点通常是才智方面的，越是有才华的人，其缺点越严重，或越明显。并非这些人不知道自己有缺点，而是因为他们喜欢这些缺点。这是双重的不幸——因这些缺点本可改掉，但他们却爱得荒唐。这些缺点是完美的瑕疵，令本人高兴，却令他人生厌。消除这些缺点是件很了不起的事，还可带来其他优秀品质。不然，人们很容易就能看出这种缺点，在审查你的资质时，会紧盯这一污点不放，并尽量抹黑它，使你的其他才干也被掩藏。

161．Know your pet faults

Know your pet faults. The most perfect of men has them, and is either wedded to them or has illicit relations with them. They are often faults of intellect, and the greater this is, the greater they are, or at least the more conspicuous. It is not so much that their possessor does not know them: he loves them, which is a double evil: irrational affection for avoidable faults. They are spots on perfection; they displease the onlooker as much as they please the possessor. It is a gallant thing to get clear of them, and so give play to one's other qualities. For all men hit upon such a failing, and on going over your qualifications they make a long stay at this blot, and blacken it as deeply as possible in order to cast your other talents into the shade.

162．如何战胜对手和诽谤者

如何战胜对手和诽谤者。通常来说，轻视他们是明智的，但还远远不够——你还要有大将风度。别人说你不好，你却说他好话，这比什么都值得赞赏。用才干和帮助化解仇怨是最显英雄气概的报复，可以快速征服并折磨妒忌者。如果别人对你心怀恶意，那么，你的每次成功都等于进一步拧紧他们脖子上的绳子——对手的荣耀就是他们的地狱。嫉妒之人不会只死一次——他所嫉妒的对手每次赢得掌声，他就如同死了一次。一方多么有名望，另一方就多么受折磨：一方生活在无尽的荣耀中，另一方就生活在无尽的苦痛中。名声之号角宣布了一方的永生，也宣布了另一方的死亡，妒忌者的衰老是漫长的煎熬。

162．How to triumph over rivals and detractors

How to triumph over rivals and detractors. It is not enough to despise them, though this is often wise: a gallant bearing is the thing. One cannot praise a man too much who speaks well of them who speak ill of him. There is no more heroic vengeance than that of talents and services which at once conquer and torment the envious. Every success is a further twist of the cord round the neck of the ill-affected, and an enemy's glory is the rival's hell. The envious die not once, but as often as the envied wins applause. The immortality of his fame is the measure of the other's torture: the one lives in endless honour, the other in endless pain. The clarion of Fame announces immortality to the one and death to the other, the slow death of envy long drawn out.

163．决不因同情而卷入他人的不幸

决不因同情而卷入他人的不幸。一人的不幸也许是另一人的幸运。因为如果没有很多人的不幸，他又怎能走运？不幸之人的一个特点就是经常激起人们的善心。人们试图用于事无补的恩惠来补偿他所受到的打击。结果那些发达时人人妒忌之人，身处逆境之时，突然成了无人不怜的对象。人们对他高飞之时的仇恨，转化为对他落难之时的同情。但是，我们不应忘记命运是如何洗牌的。有的人总是与不幸之人结交，总让昔日飞黄腾达之人可怜兮兮地站在他身边。这也许显示其灵魂的高尚，但并不能表明其处世之智慧。

163．Never, from sympathy with the unfortunate, involve yourself in his fate

Never, from sympathy with the unfortunate, involve yourself in his fate. One man's misfortune is another man's luck, for one cannot be lucky without many being unlucky. It is a peculiarity of the unfortunate to arouse people's goodwill, who desire to compensate them for the blows of fortune with their useless favour, and it happens that one who was abhorred by all in prosperity is adored by all in adversity. Vengeance on the wing is exchanged for compassion afoot. Yet it is to be noticed how fate shuffles the cards. There are men who always consort with the unlucky, and he that yesterday flew high and happy stands today miserable at their side. That argues nobility of soul, but not worldly wisdom.

164．投石问路

投石问路，以洞察人们是怎样看待某些事情，尤其是那些不知道是否能够被接受、是否会成功的事情。这样，就能确保行事有好的结果，并且可以获得一个选择的机会，是继续认真做下去还是全身而退。智者通过试探他人的想法，从而知道自己的处境。这是在提出询问、请求和管理他人之时最具远见的重大法则。

164．Throw straws in the air

Throw straws in the air, to find how things will be received, especially those whose reception or success is doubtful. One can thus be assured of its turning out well, and an opportunity is afforded for going on in earnest or withdrawing entirely. By trying men's intentions in this way, the wise man knows on what ground he stands. This is the great rule of foresight in asking, in desiring, and in ruling.

165．斗争也要讲体面

斗争也要讲体面。有时，你不得不与人斗争，但不要使用毒箭。每个人都应按本色行事，不为他人所迫。在人生之战中，英勇可以赢得众人的赞赏——征服敌人，不仅要靠力量，还要靠道义。卑鄙的征服不能带来荣耀，只会让人感到耻辱。有荣誉的一方总是占优势。值得尊敬之人从来都不会使被禁之武器，比如不会利用友谊来达到仇恨之目的，并最终导致友谊的破裂：不把别人对自己的信任用作报复。最轻微的背叛也会玷污你的名誉；即便一点点卑鄙的痕迹也会被有荣誉感的人鄙视——高尚与卑鄙势不两立。你要能自豪地宣称：哪怕勇气、慷慨和忠诚都被世人遗弃，也一定藏于你心。

165．Wage war honourably

Wage war honourably. You may be obliged to wage war, but not to use poisoned arrows. Everyone must needs act as he is, not as others would make him to be. Gallantry in the battle of life wins all men's praise: one should fight so as to conquer, not alone by force but by the way it is used. A mean victory brings no glory, but rather disgrace. Honour always has the upper hand. An honourable man never uses forbidden weapons, such as using a friendship that's ended for the purposes of a hatred just begun: a confidence must never be used for a vengeance. The slightest taint of treason tarnishes the good name. In men of honour the smallest trace of meanness repels: the noble and the ignoble should be miles apart. Be able to boast that if gallantry, generosity, and fidelity were lost in the world men would be able to find them again in your own breast.

166．分辨善言者与善行者

分辨善言者与善行者。此辨别力很重要，正如辨别朋友是看中你本身还是趋附你地位一样——他们有天壤之别。有恶言而无恶行，便已很可恶；若说得好却做得糟，则更让人不齿。言语就像风一样，不能充饥；礼节也只是文雅的欺骗，同样不能充饥。用镜子反射光线可让鸟儿眩晕，不过想借此捕鸟只是一个美妙的幻想。只有虚荣的人才会接受空话作为报酬。言语应该成为实践的保证书，要像当票似的，具有市场价格。只长树叶而不结果实的树通常都没有树心——要认清它们，除了遮阴，别无他用。

166．Distinguish the man of words from the man of deeds

Distinguish the man of words from the man of deeds. Discrimination here is as important as in the case of friends, persons, and employments, which have all many varieties. Bad words even without bad deeds are bad enough; good words with bad deeds are worse. One cannot dine off words, which are wind, nor off politeness, which is but polite deceit. To catch birds with a mirror is the ideal snare. It is the vain alone who take their wages in windy words. Words should be the pledges of work, and, like pawn-tickets, have their market price. Trees that bear leaves but not fruit have usually no pith. Know them for what they are, of no use except for shade.

167．知道怎样依靠自己

知道怎样依靠自己。危难之时，勇敢的心就是最好的伙伴。如果心开始脆弱，最好用靠近它的器官来加强。意志坚定的人，忧虑自然就会消失。千万别向苦难投降，否则不幸会让你无法忍受。面对困境时，很多人不自救，且不懂得怎样去忍受，于是苦上加苦。了解自己的人懂得如何加强自己的弱项；明智之人可以征服一切，甚至包括他们的命运。

167．Know how to take your own part

Know how to take your own part. In great crises there is no better companion than a bold heart, and if it becomes weak it must be strengthened from the neighbouring parts. Worries die away before a man who asserts himself. One must not surrender to misfortune, or else it would become intolerable. Many men do not help themselves in their troubles, and double their weight by not knowing how to bear them. He that knows himself knows how to strengthen his weakness, and the wise man conquers everything, even the stars in their courses.

168．不要沦为愚蠢的怪物

不要沦为愚蠢的怪物。虚荣、专横、自我、言而无信、反复无常、顽固不化、不切实际、装模作样、异想天开、多管闲事、自相矛盾、拉帮结派以及所有偏执的人，都是鲁莽的怪物。精神畸形比身体残缺更令人讨厌，因为它与更高层次的美相抵触。可谁能救助这种已经彻底混乱了的心智呢？如果缺乏自控，必不能容纳他人之指导。这种人不在意人们真正的嘲笑，反而毫无根据地把它想象成他人的喝彩，以此来蒙骗自己。

168．Do not indulge in the eccentricities of folly

Do not indulge in the eccentricities of folly. Like vain, presumptuous, egotistical, untrustworthy, capricious, obstinate, fanciful, theatrical, whimsical, inquisitive, paradoxical, sectarian people and all kinds of one-sided persons: they are all monstrosities of impertinence. All deformity of mind is more obnoxious than that of the body, because it contravenes a higher beauty. Yet who can assist such a complete confusion of mind? Where self-control is wanting, there is no room for others' guidance. Instead of paying attention to other people's real derision, men of this kind blind themselves with the unfounded assumption of their imaginary applause.

169．多加小心，避免万一失手胜过百发百中

多加小心，避免万一失手胜过百发百中。无人会看炽燃的太阳，可一旦日食，则万众瞩目。人们通常不注意你做对了什么，却会注意你做错了什么。好事不出门，坏事传千里。很多人在出事之前无人知晓。所有的功绩汇总也不足以掩盖一个小小的污点。当你知道那些恶意的眼睛在关注你的每一个错误，而对你的成就熟视无睹，你就应避免犯错。

169．Be more careful not to miss once than to hit a hundred times

Be more careful not to miss once than to hit a hundred times. No one looks at the blazing sun; all gaze when he is eclipsed. The common talk does not reckon what goes right but what goes wrong. Evil report carries farther than any applause. Many men are not known to the world till they have left it. All the exploits of a man taken together are not enough to wipe out a single small blemish. Avoid therefore falling into error, seeing that ill-will notices every error and no success.

170．凡事有所保留

凡事有所保留，此法能确保你在他人心中的重要性。任何时候，你都不能一下子用尽你所有的才能和力量。即便是知识，也当留个后卫，有所隐藏。这样，你的才智就等于翻了一倍。对失败产生恐惧之时，你必须总能有所依靠。后备军往往比突击队更重要——他们的英勇和荣誉更值得褒奖。谨慎的人总是走得很稳。从这点上看，有一个尖锐的悖论说得好：一半多于全部。

170．In all things keep something in reserve

In all things keep something in reserve. It is a sure means of keeping up your importance. A man should not employ all his capacity and power at once and on every occasion. Even in knowledge there should be a rearguard, so that your resources are doubled. One must always have something to resort to when there is fear of a defeat. The reserve is of more importance than the attacking force, for it is distinguished for valour and reputation. Prudence always sets to work with assurance of safety, in this matter the piquant paradox holds good that the half is more than the whole.

171．不要滥用人情

不要滥用人情。重要的朋友要用在关键的时候。不要把重要的关系浪费在细微小事上——那会浪费别人的情义。预备的大锚应该为绝境保留着。如果让不重要的事情把重要的关系都浪费掉，那么，你还能剩下什么？在今天，没有什么比能得到他人的保护更重要，也没有什么比得到关爱更昂贵。他人的眷顾可助你成功，也能坏你的事；它甚至既能增长你的智慧，也能夺走它。智者受到造化和名望的眷顾，也常会招来命运之神的嫉妒。所以，保有权能人士的眷顾比保有财产更为重要。

171．Do not waste influence

Do not waste influence. The great as friends are for great occasions. One should not make use of great confidence for little things, for that is to waste a favour. The sheet anchor should be reserved for the last extremity. If you use up the great for little ends what remains afterwards? Nothing is more valuable than a protector, and nothing costs more nowadays than a favour. It can make or unmake a whole world. It can even give sense and take it away. As Nature and Fame are favourable to the wise, so Luck is generally envious of them. It is therefore more important to keep the favour of the mighty than goods and chattels.

172．决不与一无所有者争斗

决不与一无所有者争斗。如果这样做，你会陷入不公平的争斗中。对方肆无忌惮，因他已失去一切，包括羞耻感，也决不害怕再失去什么。他可以为所欲为。你绝不能把自己珍贵的名声暴露在如此可怕的危险之中，以免积攒多年的名声毁于一旦——稍不留神，你所有的辛劳就会化为乌有。拥有名誉、有责任心的人有好名声，他们担心失去许多东西，所以他们会权衡自己与对方的名声，谨慎地参与斗争，小心翼翼地开展工作，慎重地及时撤退，以保全名誉。否则，即便获胜，他也会因冒险而得不偿失。

172．Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose; for thereby you enter into an unequal conflict. The other enters without anxiety: having lost everything, including shame, he has no further loss to fear. He therefore resorts to all kinds of insolence. One should never expose a valuable reputation to so terrible a risk, lest what has cost years to gain may be lost in a moment, since a single slight may wipe out much sweat. A man of honour and responsibility has a reputation, because he has much to lose. He balances his own and the other's reputation: he only enters into the contest with the greatest caution, and then goes to work with such circumspection that he gives time to prudence to retire in time and bring his reputation under cover. For even by victory he cannot gain what he has lost by exposing himself to the chances of loss.

173．与人相交，不要像玻璃般易碎，朋友间尤其如此

与人相交，不要像玻璃般易碎，朋友间尤其如此。有些人很容易崩溃，表明他们太脆弱。他们把这归罪于想像中受到的侵犯，以及难以忍受的他人的恶意。他们的情感比眼睛还要敏感，无论是玩笑还是真心话都不能触碰。尘埃都能使他们生气，更别说大的刺激了。与这种人交往须很小心，要注意他们的神经过敏，要察言观色，因为稍微没有顾及到他们，他们就会不高兴。他们大多很自我，是自己情绪的奴隶，为此可把所有事情搁置一旁：他们是细节的崇拜者。与其相反，真正友爱的人，其秉性如钻石，既坚固又耐久。

173．Do not be glass in intercourse, still less in friendship

Do not be glass in intercourse, still less in friendship. Some break very easily, and thereby show their want of consistency. They attribute to themselves imaginary offences and to others oppressive intentions. Their feelings are even more sensitive than the eye itself, and must not be touched in jest or in earnest. Motes offend them: they need not wait for beams. Those who consort with them must treat them with the greatest delicacy, have regard to their sensitiveness, and watch their demeanour, since the slightest slight arouses their annoyance. They are mostly very egoistic, slaves of their moods, for the sake of which they cast everything aside: they are the worshippers of punctilio. On the other hand, the disposition of the true lover is firm and enduring like diamond.

174．不要活在匆忙中

不要活在匆忙中。懂得如何分割处理事情，就懂得如何从中享受乐趣。很多人还活着，好运却丧失殆尽。他们行色匆匆，经过许多有趣之事，却不知享受，当发现已跑过界碑时，才想回头重来。他们像驾驭生活的马车夫，因为赶急而加快生活的脚步。他们一天吞下的食物，比一生能消受的都要多。他们总是把享受置后，提前耗尽了年华，因为匆忙而把所有事情结束得太快。即便是寻求知识，也应把握好尺度，以免白花时间去学那些不如不去了解的东西。人生漫长，而快乐短暂。要快速工作，慢慢享受，因为大家都知道：工作结束会有娱乐相随，而娱乐之后却是后悔相伴。

174．Do not live in a hurry

Do not live in a hurry. To know how to separate things is to know how to enjoy them. Many people finish their fortune sooner than their life: they run through pleasures without enjoying them, and would like to go back when they find they have overleaped the mark. Postilions of life, they increase the ordinary pace of life by the hurry of their own calling. They devour more in one day than they can digest in a whole lifetime; they live in advance of pleasures, eat up the years beforehand, and by their hurry get through everything too soon. Even in the search for knowledge there should be moderation, lest we learn things better left unknown. We have more days to live through than pleasures. Be slow in enjoyment, quick at work, for men see work ended with pleasure, pleasure ended with regret.

175．做个实在的人

做个实在的人。如果你是个实在人，就不会喜欢不实之人。声名显赫而无根基，是可怜的。看上去实在的人并非都实在。有些人是欺诈的源头——虚妄的妖精(1)播下孽种于其大脑，滋生出种种欺诈。另一些人与此类似，喜欢谎言，不喜欢真实，因为谎言的承诺很多，但是真实却表现很一般。但最终这些妄想没有好的结局，因为它们缺乏坚实的基础。只有真正的功绩才能带来真正的名誉，只有实在的资产才能带来真正的利润。一个欺诈需要更多欺诈来弥补，这种空中楼阁必然会很快土崩瓦解。没有根基的事物就没有长久的生命力。承诺太多，令人质疑，就像证明过多反而有假一样。

175．A solid man

A solid man. One who is finds no satisfaction in those that are not. It is a pitiable eminence that is not well founded. Not all are men that seem to be so. Some are sources of deceit: impregnated by chimeras they give birth to impositions. Others are like them so far that they take more pleasure in a lie, because it promises much, than in the truth, because it performs little. But in the end these caprices come to a bad end, for they have no solid foundation. Only truth can give true reputation; only reality can be of real profit. One deceit needs many others, and so the whole house is built in the air and must soon come to the ground. Unfounded things never reach old age. They promise too much to be much trusted, just as that cannot be true which proves too much.

(1) 指凯米拉，希腊神话中吐火的怪物，是狮子、山羊和蛇的组合体，代表妄想。

176．自知或从知者处知

自知或从知者处知。如果没有知识（不管来自本人还是他人），就不可能有真实的生活。但是，许多人都不知道自己无知，更有甚者不懂却自以为懂。智力方面的缺陷是无可救药的，那些无知的人，没有自知之明，所以不知道去找寻自己所欠缺的东西。许多人如果不自作聪明，本来是可以成为智者的。这样，智慧的哲人虽然很少，但却无人问津。向他人求教无损你的伟大，也不会让人怀疑你的才能。相反，证明你乐于接纳他人意见。如果你不想失败，就应理智地听取别人的忠告。

176．Have knowledge, or know those that have knowledge

Have knowledge, or know those that have knowledge. Without intelligence, either one's own or another's, true life is impossible. But many do not know that they do not know, and many think they know when they know nothing. Failings of the intelligence are incorrigible, since those who do not know, do not know themselves, and cannot therefore seek what they lack. Many would be wise if they did not think themselves wise. Thus it happens that though the oracles of wisdom are rare, they are rarely used. To seek advice does not lessen greatness or argue incapacity. On the contrary, to ask advice proves you well advised. Take counsel with reason if you do not wish to court defeat.

177．避免与人太亲近

避免与人太亲近。不要与人过于亲近，也不要让人过于亲近你。与人过于亲近者，会丧失其影响力所赋予的所有优势，从而丧失尊严。天上的星星因为不贴近人类，所以才能保持灿烂辉煌。神圣是需要礼节的。太过亲近，则易生轻慢。关于世间之事，你越是显露得多，得到的就越少——本来可以隐藏起的缺陷，也会在公开交流中传播开来。亲密永远不悦人心意：与上级亲近则有临危之虞，与下属亲近则有些不得体。尤其不可与愚蠢之人亲近——他们蠢不可言，傲慢无礼，会错把你的亲近当成你需要他们。亲密近似粗俗。

177．Avoid familiarities in intercourse

Avoid familiarities in intercourse. Neither use them nor permit them. He that is familiar, loses any superiority his influence gives him, and so loses respect. The stars keep their brilliance by not making themselves common. The Divine demands decorum. Every familiarity breeds contempt. In human affairs, the more a man shows, the less he has, for in open communication you communicate the failings that reserve might keep under cover. Familiarity is never desirable; with superiors because it is dangerous, with inferiors because it is unbecoming, least of all with the common herd, who become insolent from sheer folly: they mistake favour shown them for need felt of them. Familiarity trenches on vulgarity.

178．信赖你的内心

信赖你的内心。尤其是当它被证明值得信赖后，更要如此。一定要倾听内心的想法。它是你家中的先知，常能预测各种重要的事情。许多人都因疑虑自己的内心而致毁灭。但是，只是疑虑而不寻求更好的补救措施，又有什么用呢？许多人天生就拥有一颗忠于自己的心，总能给他们以提示，发出警告之声，提醒他们避祸免灾。追逐祸害是很不明智的，除非你想征服它们。

178．Trust your heart

Trust your heart, especially when it has been proved. Never deny it a hearing. It is a kind of house oracle that often foretells the most important. Many have perished because they feared their own heart, but of what use is it to fear it without finding a better remedy? Many are endowed by Nature with a heart so true that it always warns them of misfortune and wards off its effects. It is unwise to seek evils, unless you seek to conquer them.

179．缄默是才能的标志

缄默是才能的标志。没有秘密的内心如同一封打开的信一般。只要地基坚固，城府深，秘密就能藏得很深——你的心中要有足够掩藏要事的地下室。缄默是自控的结果，在这方面实现自控才是真正的胜利。你把秘密告诉了谁，就要向谁交付赎金。安稳处世的智慧在于内心的节制。在他人盘问你之时，在他人用反驳的方法刺探你内心秘密之时，在他人讽刺你之时，缄默便遇到了险情——为了化解这些危险，谨慎之人愈加缄默。不要事先讲出必做之事，也不要一味地按照必说的去做。

179．Reticence is the seal of capacity

Reticence is the seal of capacity. A breast without a secret is an open letter. Where there is a solid foundation secrets can be kept profound: there are spacious cellars where things of moment may be hid. Reticence springs from self-control, and to control oneself in this is a true triumph. You must pay ransom to each you tell. The security of wisdom consists in temperance in the inner man. The risk that reticence runs lies in the cross-questioning of others, in the use of contradiction to worm out secrets, in the darts of irony: to avoid these the prudent become more reticent than before. What must be done need not be said, and what must be said need not be done.

180．决不被敌人误导

决不被敌人误导。智者断定的明智之事，蠢人从不会去做，因为他们不知道遵循合适的方法。审慎的人更不会遵循他人拟定甚而推行的计划，因为他们必须从多角度对事情进行探讨——反反复复地考虑到各个方面。人的判断是各不相同的；还未作出决定的人应考虑全面，多想想什么“有可能”发生，而不是什么“很可能”发生。

180．Never be guided by what your enemy has done

Never be guided by what your enemy has done. The fool never does what the wise judge wise, because he does not follow up the suitable means. He that is discreet follows still less a plan laid out, or even carried out, by another. One has to discuss matters from both points of view－turn it over on both sides. Judgments vary; let him that has not decided attend rather to what is possible than what is probable.

181．说真话，但不要说出所有真话

说真话，但不要说出所有真话。没有什么事比袒露真相更需要谨慎的了——说真话就像用手术刀给心脏做手术一样。透露真相和掩盖真相一样，耗费人的心机。一句简单的谎言就可能毁掉你整个诚实的名声。欺骗被视为背叛，骗子被视为叛徒——后者更严重。但是，不是所有的事实都可道出：有时是为了保全自己，有时是为了保全他人。

181．The truth, but not the whole truth

The truth, but not the whole truth. Nothing demands more caution than the truth: it is the lancet of the heart. It requires as much to tell the truth as to conceal it. A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity. The deceit is regarded as treason and the deceiver as a traitor, which is worse. Yet not all truths can be spoken: some for our own sake, others for the sake of others.

182．凡事都要勇敢

凡事都要勇敢，这是审慎处世的一个要点。你必须节制自己对他人的评价，以免高估他们，让自己畏惧。想象力不可无限扩大。很多人看似伟大，若与其相交，只会增加你的失望，而非景仰。无人能超越人性的局限，尽管它很小——每个人都有弱点，不是存在于大脑，就是存在于内心。尊贵的地位使人表面威严，但这权威很少与人自身的能力相配——命运无常，它总是让地位高贵的人拥有低劣的素质，以平衡其位置的高度。想象总是蹦出太快，给事物染上比本身更绚丽的色彩——想象力不是根据事物的本质来考虑问题的，是根据人的期望。历练的警觉可立即矫正这一点。智者不应懦弱退避，愚人不应粗鲁莽撞。如果说自信能为无知者助威，那它对智勇双全者的帮助又何其大矣！

182．A grain of boldness in everything

A grain of boldness in everything. It is an important piece of prudence. You must moderate your opinion of others so that you may not think so high of them as to fear them. The imagination should never yield to the heart. Many appear great till you know them personally, and then dealing with them does more to disillusionize than to raise esteem. No one oversteps the narrow bounds of humanity: all have their weaknesses either in heart or head. Dignity gives apparent authority, which is rarely accompanied by personal power, for Fortune often redresses the height of office by the inferiority of the holder. The imagination always jumps too soon, and paints things in brighter colours than the real: it thinks things not as they are but as it wishes them to be. Attentive experience disillusionized in the past soon corrects all that. Yet if wisdom should not be timorous, neither should folly be rash. And if self-reliance helps the ignorant, how much more the brave and wise?

183．不要固执己见

不要固执己见。愚蠢的人都坚信自己正确，坚信自己正确的人都很愚蠢。他们的判断越是错误，越是执迷不悟。即使事情明显是正确的，作出点让步也不妨：人们不会忽视我们所持观点的理由，而且会更认可我们让步所表现出来的优雅风度。否则，我们因固执而招致的损失，将远远超过我们因胜利而得到的——固执己见不是维护真理，而是粗鲁无礼。有些人的顽固脑袋，很难转过弯来，固执己见再加上异想天开，则生成一个令人厌烦的笨蛋。你的坚定应该表现在意志上，而不是心智上。但是，也有一个例外——你不能既在判断上让步，又在行动中让步，这样会导致双重的失败。

183．Do not hold your views too firmly

Do not hold your views too firmly. Every fool is fully convinced, and every one fully persuaded is a fool: the more erroneous his judgment the more firmly he holds it. Even in cases of obvious certainty, it is fine to yield: our reasons for holding the view cannot escape notice, our courtesy in yielding must be the more recognized. Our obstinacy loses more than our victory yields: that is not to champion truth but rather rudeness. There be some heads of iron most difficult to turn: add caprice to obstinacy and the sum is a wearisome fool. Steadfastness should be for the will, not for the mind. Yet there are exceptions where one would fail twice, owning oneself wrong both in judgment and in the execution of it.

184．不要过分拘礼

不要过分拘礼。就算是国王，这种装模作样会带来怪癖之名声。拘泥于细节往往令人讨厌，而有的国家全国上下都有这一怪毛病。繁文缛节织就了蠢人的衣服，他们顶礼膜拜的是自己的尊严，但事实表明他们根本不够格，因为他们害怕最细微的小事就能摧毁他们的尊严。要求别人尊重自己，这没错，但别把自己弄得像个仪式的司仪。当然，如果想要不凭仪式就做成某件事，一定要有超凡的品质。人不应装模作样，也不应该轻视礼节——在这种小事上显得了不起的人并非伟人。

184．Do not be ceremonious

Do not be ceremonious. Even in a king affectation in this was renowned for its eccentricity. To be punctilious is to be a bore, yet whole nations have this peculiarity. The garb of folly is woven out of such things. Such folk are worshippers of their own dignity, yet show how little it is justified since they fear that the least thing can destroy it. It is right to demand respect, but not to be considered a master of ceremonies. Yet it is true that a man to do without ceremonies must possess supreme qualities. Neither affect nor despise etiquette: he cannot be great who is great at such little things.

185．切莫孤注一掷赌名声

切莫孤注一掷赌名声。若此举失败，损失则难以弥补。出现一次失败很常见，尤其是初次尝试，更易失败。环境不会总是有利的，所以有人说：连狗都有好运当头的一天。总要给自己预留再试的余地，无论第一次是否成功，都能有益于第二次。你总会有更好的方法和更多的资源可供采用。事情成功与否仰仗各种机缘，这正是成就感如此难得的原因所在。

185．Never stake your credit on a single cast

Never stake your credit on a single cast; for if it miscarries the damage is irreparable. It may easy happen that a man should fail once, especially at first: circumstances are not always favourable, hence they say, "Every dog has his day." Always connect your second attempt with your first: whether it succeeds or fails, the first will redeem the second. Always have resort to better means and appeal to more resources. Things depend on all sorts of chances. That is why the satisfaction of success is so rare.

186．认识缺点，不管其地位有多高

识别缺点，不管其地位有多高。邪恶无法掩藏其本质，哪怕它穿绸披锦，甚或头戴金冠，终究会被正直之人识破。无论奴隶制怎样炫耀君王与主人的高贵，都无法减少其本质的卑劣。恶人可以站在高处，自拔其高，但他们依然卑下。人们能看到许多伟人有重大的过失，但却不知道伟人之所以伟大并非因为其过失。有些崇高的榜样外表美丽得很，甚至可以掩藏其缺陷；谄媚之人受其感染，认识不到高位所掩藏的东西如果失去其地位，将令人生厌。

186．Recognize faults, however high placed

Recognize faults, however high placed. Integrity cannot mistake vice even when clothed in brocade or perchance crowned with gold, but will not be able to hide its character for all that. Slavery does not lose its vileness, however it vaunt the nobility of its lord and master. Vices may stand in high place, but are low for all that. Men can see that many a great man has great faults, yet they do not see that he is not great because of them. The example of the great is so specious that it even glosses over viciousness, till it may so affect those who flatter it that they do not notice that what they gloss over in the great they abominate in the lower classes.

187．令人愉快之事，自己做；令人不快之事，让他人代劳

令人愉快之事，自己做；令人不快之事，让人代劳。前者让你赢得好感，后者让你避免憎恶。伟大的人物认为施惠比受惠更令人愉快，这是其慷慨天性带来的殊荣。他们不会随意让别人受苦，因为他们难免由此会因同情或懊悔而受苦。身居高位，只能通过对下属采用赏与罚来开展工作。那么，若奖赏你就亲自送出，而惩罚就让别人代办。你要找到一个这样的人，能让别人的不满、厌恶和诽谤都指向他。凡夫俗子的愤怒如疯狗一般，他们不知道痛从何处来，只知道去咬鞭子，鞭子不是真的罪人，不过无辜代罪而已。

187．Do pleasant things yourself, unpleasant things through others

Do pleasant things yourself, unpleasant things through others. By the one course you gain goodwill, by the other you avoid hatred. A great man takes more pleasure in doing a favour than in receiving one: it is the privilege of his generous nature. One cannot easily cause pain to another without suffering pain either from sympathy or from remorse. In high place one can only work by means of rewards and punishment, so grant the first yourself, inflict the other through others. Have someone against whom the weapons of discontent, hatred, and slander may be directed. For the rage of the mob is like that of a dog: missing the cause of its pain it turns to bite the whip itself, and though this is not the real culprit, it has to pay the penalty.

188．成为赞美之人

成为赞美之人。这可让我们的好品味得到更多的赞扬，这说明我们在他处已获得经验，知道何为优秀，从而知道在所处的场合如何进行赞美。赞美可以提供谈资、模仿的范本，并激励人们去做值得称道的努力。而且，这也是用优雅的方式向我们面前的杰出人物表示敬意。有的人则与此相反，他们用讥笑作为自己说话的伴奏，自认为贬低不在场的人就能恭维在场之人。也许，他们可用此手法对付浅薄之人，因为这些人注意不到对每个人都说别人的坏话是多么的狡诈。许多人都跟随这一策略：他们崇尚今天的平庸事迹，胜过昨日的丰功伟绩。审慎者一眼就能看穿这点小把戏，他们既不因为评论者言过其实而沮丧，也不因别人的谄媚而得意忘形。他们明白，那些人是在做同样的事情，他们根据不同的说话对象采取了不同的手段。

188．Be the bearer of praise

Be the bearer of praise. This increases our credit for good taste, since it shows that we have learnt elsewhere to know what is excellent, and hence how to prize it in the present company It gives material for conversation and for imitation, and encourages praiseworthy exertions. We do homage besides in a very delicate way to the excellences before us. Others do the opposite: they accompany their talk with a sneer, and fancy they flatter those present by belittling the absent. This may serve them with superficial people, who do not notice how cunning it is to speak ill of everyone to everyone else. Many pursue the plan of valuing more highly the mediocrities of the day than the most distinguished exploits of the past. Let the cautious penetrate through these subtleties, and let him not be dismayed by the exaggerations of the one or made overconfident by the flatteries of the other; knowing that both act in the same way by different methods, adapting their talk to the company they are in.

189．利用他人的欲望

利用他人的欲望。人越是有欲望，就越容易受控制。哲学家说“缺失”是什么都没有；政治家说“缺失”就是应有尽有——他们说的都有道理。许多人利用他人的欲望作为达到自己目的之阶梯。他们利用这种机会指出满足其欲望是如何之难，由此激起他人的兴趣。渴望所产生的干劲比拥有所产生的懒惰更有用处。阻力越大，渴望就越强烈。精妙之处在于：满足别人的渴望，同时，还维持他对你的依赖。

189．Utilize another's wants

Utilize another's wants. The greater his wants the greater the turn of the screw. Philosophers say privation is non-existent, statesmen say it is all-embracing, and they are right. Many make ladders to attain their ends out of wants of others. They make use of the opportunity and tantalize the appetite by pointing out the difficulty of satisfaction. The energy of desire promises more than the inertia of possession. The passion of desire increases with every increase of opposition. It is a subtle point to satisfy the desire and yet preserve the dependence.

190．在万物中寻觅慰藉

在万物中寻觅慰藉。在无用之物里你也能找到慰藉：它们可以不朽。烦忧都可以得到补偿。谚语曰：傻瓜有福，丑女有夫。事物的价值越小，其生命就越长。有裂纹的杯子永远都不碎，耐用得让人厌烦。天妒英才，它让无用者长寿，而让天才早逝，以求得平衡。担当重任者面带悲伤；无足轻重之人，总是活得安然。要么看上去如此，要么确实如此。那些不幸的人认为，自己既被死亡之神遗忘，也未被幸运之神想起。

190．Find consolation in all things

Find consolation in all things. Even the useless may find it in being immortal. No trouble without compensation. Fools are held to be lucky, and the good-luck of the ugly is proverbial. Be worth little and you will live long: it is the cracked glass that never gets broken, but worries one with its durability It seems that Fortune envies the great, so it equalizes things by giving long life to the useless, a short one to the important. Those who bear the burden come soon to grief, while those who are of no importance live on and on: in one case it appears so, in the other it is so. The unlucky thinks he has been forgotten by both Death and Fortune.

191．慎防巧言令色

慎防巧言令色，那是骗人的手法。有的人不用奇异药草就能制成迷魂药，他们只凭一个优雅的问候就能迷惑傻蛋。他们开办了一个“面子银行”，支付手段为花言巧语。什么都许诺就是什么都没许诺——许诺是陷害傻瓜的圈套。真正的谦恭是在履行自己的职责，伪装而特别无用的谦恭就是欺骗——这不是尊敬，而是趋炎附势。他们不是被某人所折服，而是被某人的权力折服；他们恭维一个人不是因为认可其人品，而是因为他们想从他处得到好处。

191．Do not take payment in politeness

Do not take payment in politeness; for it is a kind of fraud. Some do not need the herbs for their magic potion, for they can enchant fools by the grace of their salute. Theirs is the Bank of Elegance, and they pay with the wind of fine words. To promise everything is to promise nothing: promises are the pitfalls of fools. The true courtesy is performance of duty; the spurious and especially the useless is deceit. It is not respect but rather a means to power. Obeisance is paid not to the man but to his means, and compliments are offered not to the qualities that are recognized but to the advantages that are desired.

192．心境平和则长寿

心境平和则长寿。自己活，也让他人活。平和的人不只是活着——他们驾驭生活。做人应勤听、勤看、忌多言。白天不与人争论，夜晚便无噩梦。既活得长寿，又活得快乐，相当于活了两次，这就是心境平和的益处。一个人能不无中生有，就能应有尽有。事事锱铢必较最变态。事不关己却为之伤神，与事关自己却漠不关心是一样的愚蠢。

192．Peaceful life, a long life

Peaceful life, a long life. To live, let live. Peacemakers not only live: they rule life. Hear, see, and be silent. A day without dispute brings sleep without dreams. Long life and a pleasant one is life enough for two: that is the fruit of peace. He has all that makes nothing of what is nothing to him. There is no greater perversity than to take everything to heart. There is equal folly in troubling our heart about what does not concern us and in not taking to heart what does.

193．防备那些利用他人达到自己目的的人

防备那些利用他人达到自己目的的人。只有提高警惕，才能防备他人诡计。要留意他人的意图。许多人都善于将自己的事变成别人的事。除非你能拥有洞察他人意图之钥匙，否则，无论在何时，你都有可能被迫为他们火中取栗，而伤害自己的手指。

193．Watch him that begins with another's to end with his own

Watch him that begins with another's to end with his own. Watchfulness is the only guard against cunning. Be intent on his intentions. Many succeed in making others do their own affairs, and unless you possess the key to their motives you may at any moment be forced to take their chestnuts out of the fire to the damage of your own fingers.

194．理性看待自己和自己的事

理性看待自己和自己的事。初涉人世更要如此。人人都自视甚高，最没有资本的人自视最高。每人都梦想走运，并以为自己是个奇才。希望滋生非分之想，其实难以如愿。这种非分之想是烦恼的源泉，因为现实会让它幻灭。这种偏差，明智之人能够预见，他们总是抱着最好的期望，做最坏的打算，从而平静地接受任一结果。没错，把箭头瞄得高些，这很聪明，这样才能射中目标；但是不能瞄得太高，使得自己在人生之初就错过自己的目标。你应修正自己的想法，因为亲历之前，你的期望肯定飞得太高。小心谨慎是防止愚蠢的灵丹妙药。如果一个人了解自己的能力大小和自己真正的位置，他就能调节理想和现实的差距。

194．Have reasonable views of yourself and of your affairs

Have reasonable views of yourself and of your affairs, especially in the beginning of life. Everyone has a high opinion of himself, especially those who have least ground for it. Everyone dreams of his good-luck and thinks himself a wonder. Hope gives rise to extravagant promises which experience does not fulfil. Such idle imaginations merely serve as a wellspring of annoyance when disillusion comes with the true reality. The wise man anticipates such errors: he may always hope for the best, but he always expects the worst, so as to receive what comes with equanimity. True, It is wise to aim high so as to hit your mark, but not so high that you miss your mission at the very beginning of life. This correction of the ideas is necessary, because before experience comes expectation is sure to soar too high. The best panacea against folly is prudence. If a man knows the true sphere of his activity and position, he can reconcile his ideals with reality.

195．学会欣赏别人

学会欣赏别人。对他人无任何教益的人没有，优秀到无人能超越的人也没有。懂得如何使用各种人是一门有用的学问。智者欣赏每个人，因为他能看到每个人的优点，而且知道得一专长是何其不易。蠢人则贬低每个人，他们不会识别好的，只会选择坏的。

195．Know how to appreciate

Know how to appreciate. There is none who cannot teach somebody something, and there is none so excellent that he cannot be excelled. To know how to make use of everyone is useful knowledge. Wise men appreciate all men, for they see the good in each and know how hard it is to make anything good. Fools depreciate all men, not recognizing the good and selecting the bad.

196．知道你的幸运星

知道你的幸运星。没有幸运星的人最无助。如果一个人很倒霉，说明他还不知道幸运星在哪里。有的人攀龙附凤而站在高处，却不知其所以然，只知道好运气赐予他们优厚的条件，他们只需稍稍努力就好。有的人受智者的眷顾。有的人在一个国家也许比在另一国家更容易被接纳，有的人在一个城市比在另一城市更受欢迎。资质未变，换个部门或职务也许就会走运。幸运女神总是随意地洗牌。每个人都要了解自己的运气，就像了解自己的才干一样，因为人的成败得失都有赖于此。追随你的幸运星，不要搞错了——哪怕它旁边的星星雷鸣般大声召唤你——否则，你将迷失方向，找不着北。

196．Know your ruling star

Know your ruling star. None is so helpless as not to have one; if he is unlucky, that is because he does not know it. Some stand high in the favour of princes and potentates without knowing why or wherefore, except that good luck itself has granted them favour on easy terms, merely requiring them to aid it with a little exertion. Others find favour with the wise. One man is better received by one nation than by another, or is more welcome in one city than in another. He finds more luck in one office or position than another, and all this though his qualifications are equal or even identical. Luck shuffles the cards how and when she will. Let each man know his luck as well as his talents, for on this depends whether he loses or wins. Follow your guiding star and help it without mistaking any other for it, for that would be to miss the North, though its neighbour (the polestar) calls us to it with a voice of thunder.

197．不要为蠢人所累

不要为蠢人所累。不会识别蠢人的人，谓之蠢人；能够识别蠢人，却不与其保持距离，则更为愚蠢。和蠢人做伴是危险的，跟蠢人交朋友则是致命的。即便自身的小心和他人的注意也许会让蠢人暂时安分一些，但是，蠢人终究还是会说蠢话、做蠢事，而且会因为压抑太久而更为过分。没有声誉的人是不会帮助别人提高声誉的。蠢人大多很倒霉，这是他们的报应——他们必须为自己的行为付出代价。他们只有一样东西还不太坏，那就是：尽管他们对智者没用，但却可以作为很有用的路标或警告。

197．Do not carry fools on your back

Do not carry fools on your back. He that does not know a fool when he sees him is one himself; still more he that knows him but will not keep clear of him. They are dangerous company and ruinous confidants. Even though their own caution and others, care keeps them in bounds for a time, still at length they are sure to do or to say some foolishness which is all the greater for being kept so long in stock. They cannot help another's credit who have none of their own. They are most unlucky, which is the Nemesis of fools, and they have to pay for one thing or the other. There is only one thing which is not so bad about them, and this is that though they can be of no use to the wise, they can be of much use to them as signposts or as warnings.

198．懂得易地而处

懂得易地而处。有些国家的人，尤其是身居高位之人，必须离开自己的国家才能令其价值得到重视。他们的祖国对待天才就像后母：其出生之地，嫉妒泛滥；人们只能记住其开初的卑微，而忽视其日后的辉煌。一针一线从世界的这一端走到那一端，也会增值，来自远方的彩色玻璃其价格可超过钻石。舶来品都会受到人们的推崇，部分原因在于它来自远方，部分原因在于它做工精良。有些人曾经是同族人的笑柄，现在却成为世界奇才，受到同胞与外国人（他们现侨居其中）的尊敬——受到后者的尊敬，是因为他来自远方；受到前者的尊敬，是因为同胞们只能从远处遥望他。如果一个人知道祭坛上的雕像只是园林中的一段树干，就不会对其心生敬畏。

198．Know how to transplant yourself

Know how to transplant yourself. There are nations with whom one must cross their borders to make one's value felt, especially in great posts. Their native land is always a stepmother to great talents: envy flourishes there on its native soil, and they remember one's small beginnings rather than the greatness one has reached. A needle is appreciated that comes from one end of the world to the other, and a piece of painted glass might outvie the diamond in value if it comes from afar. Everything foreign is respected, partly because it comes from afar, partly because it is ready made and perfect. We have seen persons once the laughing-stock of their village and now the wonder of the whole world, honoured by their fellow-countrymen and by the foreigners [among whom they dwell]: by the latter because they come from afar, by the former because they are seen from afar. The statue on the altar is never reverenced by him who knew it as a trunk in the garden.

199．获得自己合适的位置，凭德行而非逾越

获得自己合适的位置，凭德行而非僭越。获得他人尊重的正确途径是凭借德行，若有努力做伴，路途就会更短。只有正直是不够的，拼命争取也不体面——这样获得的东西会布满灰尘，这种耻辱会破坏名声。正确的途径是二者皆用：将要到达某个位置时，鞭策自己，冲刺抵达。

199．To find a proper place by merit, not by presumption

To find a proper place by merit, not by presumption. The true road to respect is through merit, and if industry accompany merit the path becomes shorter. Integrity alone is not sufficient, push and insistence is degrading, for things arrive by that means so besprinkled with dust that the discredit destroys reputation. The true way is the middle one, halfway between deserving a place and pushing oneself into it.

200．把一些愿望留到以后去满足

把一些愿望留到以后去满足。这样，你就不会乐极生悲。身体需要呼吸，心灵也有渴望。如果你拥有一切，那么一切终将幻灭，让你不再满意。即使是求知，也应留些东西以后再去探索，从而激起好奇与希望。过度的幸福具有毁灭性。帮助他人要讲策略：不要让他们完全满意。如果他们再无渴望，一切将变得可怕，快乐之上却无欢愉。当欲望熄灭时，恐惧便会滋生。

200．Leave something to wish for

Leave something to wish for, so as not to be miserable from too much happiness. The body must respire and the soul aspire. If one possessed all, all would be disillusion and discontent. Even in knowledge there should be always something left to know in order to arouse curiosity and excite hope. Surfeits of happiness are fatal. In giving assistance it is a piece of policy not to satisfy entirely. If there is nothing left to desire, there is everything to fear, an unhappy state of happiness. When desire dies, fear is born.

201．看上去愚蠢的人都是笨蛋，看上去聪明的人也有一半是笨蛋

看上去愚蠢的人都是笨蛋，看上去聪明的人也有一半是笨蛋。世界上充满了愚蠢的人，即使有一点智慧，与神比起来，也是愚蠢的。那些认为自己聪明、别人都笨的人是最愚蠢的。如果想做聪明人，看上去聪明是不够的，而自作聪明则更糟。认为自己无知便为有知，看不见他人所见便为无见。尽管世界上充满了蠢人，但没有一人认为自己愚蠢，他们甚至会怀疑世人多半愚蠢这一事实。

201．They are all fools who seem so besides half the rest

They are all fools who seem so besides half the rest. Folly arose with the world, and if there be any wisdom it is folly compared with the divine. But the greatest fool is he who thinks he is not one and all others are. To be wise it is not enough to seem wise, least of all to oneself. He knows who does not think that he knows, and he does not see who does not see that others see. Though all the world is full of fools, there is none that thinks himself one, or even suspects the fact.

202．言语和行为共同打造完美之人

言语和行为共同打造完美之人。做人应该言语得当，行为得体。前者说明头脑优秀；后者显示心灵美好。二者皆源自高贵的灵魂。言语是行为的影子，前者为阴，后者为阳。因行为受人称赞比用言语称赞别人更重要。说话容易做事难。行动是生命的本质，言语只是装饰品。卓越的行为可以永生，惊世的言语则容易消逝。行动是思想的结果——如果思想是智慧的，那么行动就是有效的。

202．Words and deeds make the perfect man

Words and deeds make the perfect man. One should speak well and act honourably: the one is an excellence of the head, the other of the heart, and both arise from nobility of soul. Words are the shadows of deeds: the former are feminine, the latter masculine. It is more important to be renowned than to convey renown. Speech is easy, action hard. Actions are the stuff of life, words its frippery. Eminent deeds endure, striking words pass away Actions are the fruit of thought; if this is wise, they are effective.

203．认识你这个时代的伟人

认识你这个时代的伟人。伟人不多。世界上只有一只凤凰，一个世纪才出一位杰出的将军、一位完美的演说家、一位真正的哲人。几百年才出一位真正伟大的君王。平庸之人不计其数，同时也无足轻重；各个领域的杰出者都凤毛麟角，因为这需要完美无缺——所处层次越高，便越难卓尔不群。很多人想要像恺撒和亚历山大一样成为“大帝”，于是就自封头衔，结果却是白费心机。若没有伟大的功绩，头衔只不过是空气。塞涅卡式的人物历来不多，彪炳青史的也只有阿佩里斯(1)一人而已。

203．Know the great men of your age

Know the great men of your age. They are not many. There is one Phonix in the whole world, one great general, one perfect orator, one true philosopher in a century, a really illustrious king in several. Mediocrities are as numerous as they are worthless; eminent greatness is rare in every respect, since it needs complete perfection, and the higher the species the more difficult is the highest rank in it. Many have claimed the title "Great," like Caesar and Alexander, but in vain, for without great deeds the title is a mere breath of air. There have been few Senecas, and fame records but one Apelles.

(1) 公元前4世纪希腊人，曾任亚历山大的宫廷画家，在当时很受欢迎，其画像无一传世。

204．举轻若重，且举重若轻

举轻若重，且举重若轻。前者可以避免疏忽大意，后者可避免丧失信心。自以为一件事已经完成，它便永远无法完成。另一方面，勤奋且有耐心，可以攻克看似不可能的事情。想要成就大事，不必过分思虑，以免知难而退。

204．Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy

Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy: In one case that confidence may not fall asleep, in the other that it may not be dismayed. For a thing to remain undone nothing more is needed than to think it done. On the other hand, patient industry overcomes impossibilities. Great undertakings are not to be brooded over, lest their difficulty when seen causes despair.

205．懂得漠视的技巧

懂得漠视的技巧。想得到你想要的东西，最精明的方法就是：假装毫不在乎。踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费工夫。世上万物都是永恒之物的影子，都有影子的性质——它们逃离追逐者，却也追逐逃离它们的人。漠视亦是一种最为精明的报复方法。智者不会用笔来为自己辩解，这已是永恒的法则。如果你提笔辩护，总会留下痕迹，与其说是惩罚对手，不如说是让他们出名。小人的招数就是出来和伟人作对，用卑鄙的手段出名，因为他们不能从正道出名。假如伟人漠视那些卑鄙之徒，也许他们会就此了无声息。没有任何报复能像漠视那样，可把那些小人掩埋在卑微的尘土之下。无耻之人妄图借烧毁他们时代的世界奇观得以永垂青史。还击他人诽谤的办法就是漠视。和流言相争，反而对自己不利——即便让人相信了我们的清白，依然还会引起怀疑，对我们的对手来说，也是一种满足。这一点污迹所造成的阴影，即使不能完全抹黑我们的名声，也会削弱我们的光芒。

205．Know how to play the card of contempt

Know how to play the card of contempt. It is a shrewd way of getting things you want, by affecting to depreciate them: generally they are not to be had when sought for, but fall into one's hands when one is not looking for them. As all mundane things are but shadows of the things eternal, they share with shadows this quality, that they flee from him who follows them and follow him that flees from them. Contempt is the most subtle form of revenge. It is a fixed rule with the wise never to defend themselves with the pen. For such defence always leaves a stain, and does more to glorify one's opponent than to punish his offence. It is a trick of the worthless to stand forth as opponents of great men, so as to win notoriety by a roundabout way, which they would never do by the straight road of merit. There are many we would not have heard of if their eminent opponents had not taken notice of them. There is no revenge like oblivion, through which they are buried in the dust of their unworthiness. Audacious persons hope to make themselves eternally famous by setting fire to one of the wonders of the world and of the ages. The art of reproving scandal is to take no notice of it, to combat it damages our own case; even if credited it causes discredit, and is a source of satisfaction to our opponent, for this shadow of a stain dulls the lustre of our fame even if it cannot altogether deaden it.

206．要明白平庸者无处不在

要明白平庸者无处不在。哪怕是在科林斯(1)，在最显赫的家族，也不例外。每个人都可在自家门内进行验证。出身显赫的庸俗之人更糟糕，这种人有着所有庸俗之人的特点，就像一块玻璃碎片有整块玻璃碎片的特点一样，只不过是更有伤害性而已。他们说话不经过大脑，还经常无知地谴责别人。他们是无知之徒、愚蠢的主顾、造谣的老手。你不必理会他们的话，也不用顾及他们的想法。重要的是：认识粗俗就是为了远离它们，不管是主观的还是客观的。所有愚蠢都是粗俗，而粗俗之众又都由蠢人组成。

206．Know that there are vulgar people everywhere

Know that there are vulgar people everywhere, even in Corinth itself, even in the highest families. Every one may try the experiment within his own gates. But there is also such a thing as vulgar opposition to vulgarity, which is worse. This special kind shares all the qualities of the common kind, just as bits of a broken glass: but this kind is still more pernicious; it speaks for blames impertinently, is a disciple of ignorance, a patron of folly, and past master of scandal. You need not notice what it says, still less what it thinks. It is important to know vulgarity in order to avoid it, whether it is subjective or objective. For all folly is vulgarity, and the vulgar consist of fools.

(1) 指科林斯湾内伯罗奔尼撒半岛东北希腊南部的一个城市，在公元前7和6世纪是一个富裕的海上强国，以文化和教育扬名。

207．学会控制自己

学会控制自己。你必须考虑意外灾祸的发生。冲动会让你失去谨慎，甚至招致毁灭。一瞬间的愤怒或者喜悦，要比长时间的平静导致更多的失控，而短暂的失控也许会让你一生蒙羞。他人狡猾地利用这种机会来诱惑你，想查看你的内心，以探知你谨慎的限度。自控就是对策，且对突发的紧急事件尤其适用。为防止冲动，你要再三考虑——马背上的智者需要双倍的聪明。懂得危险之人会谨慎行事。如果脱口而出，也许言者无心，但可能听者有意。

207．Be moderate

Be moderate. One has to consider the chance of a mischance. The impulses of the passions cause prudence to slip, and there is the risk of ruin. A moment of wrath or of pleasure carries you on farther than many hours of calm, and often a short diversion may put a whole life to shame. The cunning of others uses such moments of temptation to search the recesses of the mind: they use such thumbscrews as are wont to test the best caution. Moderation serves as a counterplot, especially in sudden emergencies. Much thought is needed to prevent a passion taking the bit in the teeth, and he is doubly wise who is wise on horseback. He who knows the danger may with care pursue his journey. Light as a word may appear to him who throws it out, it may import much to him that hears it and ponders on it.

208．不要死于愚蠢

不要死于愚蠢。聪明之人总是在失去理智之后死去，愚蠢之人总是在找到理智之前死去。为愚蠢之人担心而死，就是死于过度思虑。有的人因为思虑太多、感触太多而死去；有的人根本不知思考，不知感触，却好好地活着。前者愚蠢，他们死于忧虑；后者同样愚蠢，因为他们没有忧虑。因为懂得太多而死，实在愚蠢。这样，一些人因懂得太多而死；另一些人因懂得不多而活。尽管有许多人像傻瓜一样死去，而那些傻瓜却很少会死。

208．Do not die of the fools' disease

Do not die of the fools, disease. The wise generally die after they have lost their reason; fools before they have found it. To die of the fools' disease is to die of too much thought. Some die because they think and feel too much; others live because they do not think and feel. These are fools because they do not die of sorrow, the others because they do. A fool is he that dies of too much knowledge; thus some die because they are too knowing, others because they are not knowing enough. Yet though many die like fools, few die fools.

209．超然于世俗的愚蠢

超然于世俗的愚蠢。这是一个特别的策略。这些愚蠢因为常见而有特别的力量，许多人不被个别的愚蠢误导，但无法摆脱普遍的缺陷。其中包括那些常见的错误：没有谁会对自己的财产感到满足（不管他多么富有），也没有谁会对自己的才智不满（无论他多么愚蠢）。人们不满足于自身的幸福，总是嫉妒他人的幸福。说得更远一点，现在的人总是赞美过去的事物，这里的人总是赞美别处的东西——似乎逝去的事物总是最美好的，遥远的东西都是那么有价值。对一切嗤之以鼻的人和对一切都抱着悲观态度的人，一样愚蠢。

209．Keep yourself free from common follies

Keep yourself free from common follies. This is a special stroke of policy. They are of special power because they are general, so that many who would not be led away by any individual folly cannot escape the universal failing. Among these are to be counted the common prejudice that any one is satisfied with his fortune, however great, or unsatisfied with his intellect, however poor it is. Or again, that each, being discontented with his own lot, envies that of others; or further, that persons of today praise the things of yesterday, and those here the things there. Everything past seems best and everything distant is more valued. He is as great a fool that laughs at all as he that weeps at all.

210．懂得怎样对待真相

懂得怎样对待真相。说出真相是危险的，但好人不能不说，这就需要高超的技巧。最高明的精神医生设法让真相的药丸变甜，因为当真相毁灭幻想时，会痛苦万分。这时，令人愉悦的方式可大展身手：同样的真相，既可让人开心，也可使人崩溃。处理今天的事情，要像处理很久之前的事情一样。对于明白人，一句话就够了；如果还不够，可以保持沉默。不要让那些贵族吞食苦涩的药丸，让他们清醒的药丸一定要包上糖衣。

210．Know how to play the card of truth

Know how to play the card of truth. It is dangerous, yet a good man cannot avoid speaking it. But great skill is needed here. The most expert doctors of the soul pay great attention to the means of sweetening the pill of truth. For when it deals with the destroying of illusion it is the quintessence of bitterness. A pleasant manner has here an opportunity for a display of skill: with the same truth it can flatter one and fell another to the ground. Matters of today should be treated as if they were long past. For those who can understand a word is sufficient, and if it does not suffice, it is a case for silence. Princes must not be cured with bitter draughts; it is therefore desirable in their case to gild the pill of disillusion.

211．天堂中一切是福，地狱中所有为苦

天堂中一切是福，地狱中所有为苦。尘世位居二者之间，因此苦难与幸福兼具。我们生活在两个极端之间，所以可以同时得到两个极端都有的东西。祸福没有定数，你不会永远走运，也不会终生倒霉。尘世本空，没有什么价值，但是因为有天堂在前面，才有了非同寻常的意义。淡泊处世，才是最谨慎的生存之道，智者从不会大惊小怪。人生如同一场复杂的喜剧，其复杂情况会慢慢解决，但要注意，在落幕之时，有个好结局。

211．In heaven all is bliss

In heaven all is bliss; in Hell all misery. On earth, between the two, both one thing and the other. We stand between the two extremes, and therefore share both. Fate varies: all is not good luck nor all mischance. This world is merely zero: by itself it is of no value, but with Heaven in front of it, it means much. Indifference at its ups and downs is prudent, nor is there any novelty for the wise. Our life gets as complicated as a comedy as it goes on, but the complications get gradually resolved: see that the curtain comes down on a good denouement.

212．懂得保留绝招的艺术

懂得保留绝招的艺术。大师在授徒之时，便是凭这个箴言保持尊贵的地位：永远领先于人，才能保持大师的地位。教授别人，一定要讲究技巧。知识和礼物的来源都不能告诉他人，这样，才能保持他人对你的敬仰和遵从。不管是娱乐还是教学，都要遵循这个规则：保持人们对你的期待，保持自己的优势。懂得保留，对人生、对成功，都是重要的法则，对那些身居高位的人来说，尤其如此。

212．Keep to yourself the final touches of your art

Keep to yourself the final touches of your art. This is a maxim of the great masters who pride themselves on this subtlety in teaching their pupils: one must always remain superior, remain master. One must teach an art artfully. The source of knowledge need not be pointed out no more than that of giving. By this means a man preserves the respect and the dependence of others. In amusing and teaching you must keep to the rule: keep up expectation and advance in perfection. To keep a reserve is a great rule for life and for success, especially for those in high place.

213．懂得如何反驳

懂得如何反驳。这是查明事情真相的主要方法——让别人尴尬，自己却不尴尬。这就像夹人手指一样，可刺激别人冲动，然后获知真相。你的些许怀疑，可作为他人吐露秘密的催化剂。这是一把钥匙，能打开他人紧锁的心。如果方法巧妙，能窥视到他的想法，考验他的意志。对别人神秘的话语狡猾地表现出不屑，可以掏出他隐藏最深的秘密；用甜美的诱饵把别人的秘密从心中引至嘴里，滑落舌尖，掉进你精心编织的欺骗之网里。你不表现得那么关心，别人就不会那么在意，从而能够吐露真言，不然，其内心就会深藏不露。假装有所怀疑是最灵巧的撬锁工具，能让你如愿以偿。在知识学习上，学生反驳老师也是精明的策略，这样老师就会尽力把道理讲得更透彻、更具说服力，因此适当的反驳可使教学更加完善。

213．Know how to contradict

Know how to contradict. A chief means of finding things out－to embarrass others without being embarrassed. The true thumbscrew, it brings the passions into play. Tepid incredulity acts as an emetic on secrets. It is the key to a locked-up breast, and with great subtlety makes a double trial of both mind and will. A sly depreciation of another's mysterious word scents out the profoundest secrets; some sweet bait brings them into the mouth till they fall from the tongue and are caught in the net of astute deceit. By reserving your attention the other becomes less attentive, and lets his thoughts appear while otherwise his heart were inscrutable. An affected doubt is the subtlest picklock that curiosity can use to find out what it wants to know. Also in learning it is a subtle plan of the pupil to contradict the master, who thereupon takes pains to explain the truth more thoroughly and with more force, so that a moderate contradiction produces complete instruction.

214．不要把一个错误变成两个错误

不要把一个错误变成两个错误。人们总是为了挽救一个错误，再犯四个错误；为了一次大意找借口，往往要再次大意。愚蠢不是谎言的亲戚，就是谎言的家人，因为它们都需要几个来支持一个。做了错事还辩解最糟糕，比罪过还糟糕的就是不能掩饰罪过。为一次过错支付抚恤金就够了，不要负担更多。智者也会做错事，但不会一错再错。即使滑倒，也是奔跑之时的大意，而非站立之时的故意。

214．Do not turn one blunder into two

Do not turn one blunder into two. It is quite usual to commit four others in order to remedy one, or to excuse one piece of impertinence by still another. Folly is either related to, or identical with the family of Lies, for in both cases it needs many to support one. The worst of a bad case is having to fight it, and worse than the ill itself is not being able to conceal it. The annuity of one failing serves to support many others. A wise man may make one slip but never two, and that only in running, not while standing still.

215．提防那些掩饰自己意图的人

提防那些掩饰自己意图的人。精明人的一个策略就是能在打击对手之前，先让他丧失警惕，然后反败为胜——他们掩饰自己所想之物，然后得到它。他们暂居第二，是为了在最后关头冲到最前面。这一招如果不被注意，就很少失败。当别人的意图很明显时，我们的注意力就不能沉睡。如果别人让他自己暂居第二，以隐藏其真正意图，你就要第一个发现它。小心谨慎就能够识破这种人的陷阱，并明白他们用以达到目的的借口。这些人总是指东打西，然后精明地回过头，直达目的。你最好明白自己所能容忍的限度，有时有必要让别人知道，你已看穿了他们的意图。

215．Watch him that acts on second thoughts

Watch him that acts on second thoughts. It is a device of business men to put the opponent off his guard before attacking him, and thus to conquer by being defeated: they dissemble their desire so as to attain it. They put themselves second so as to come out first in the final spurt. This method rarely fails if it is not noticed. Let therefore the attention never sleep when the intention is so wide awake. And if the other puts himself second so to hide his plan, put yourself first to discover it. Prudence can discern the artifices which such a man uses, and notices the pretexts he puts forward to gain his ends. He aims at one thing to get another; then he turns round smartly and fires straight at his target. It is well to know what you grant him, and at times it is desirable to give him to understand that you understand.

216．清楚地表达自己

清楚地表达自己。这不仅取决于思路的清晰，还在于思维的活跃。有的人容易怀孕，却总是难产。因为不能清楚地表达，头脑的孩子——思想和判断——就不能面世。许多人的才能就像肚大口小的坛子，而另一些人却说的比想的多。意志要坚定不移，思想要表达清晰，二者皆为非凡的天赋。能言善辩者受人欢迎。晦涩的思想常因其难以理解而受到尊崇，所以，有时表达不清还便于免俗。不过，如果说得不着边际，听者又怎能理解呢？

216．Be expressive

Be expressive. This depends not only on the clearness but also on the vivacity of your thoughts. Some have an easy conception but a hard labour, for without clearness the children of the mind, thoughts and judgments, cannot be brought into the world. Many have a capacity like that of vessels with a large mouth and a small vent. Others again say more than they think. Resolution for the will, expression for the thought: two great gifts. Plausible minds are applauded, yet confused ones are often venerated just because they are not understood, and at times obscurity is convenient if you wish to avoid vulgarity; yet how shall the audience understand one that connects no definite idea with what he says?

217．没有永远的爱，也没有永远的恨

没有永远的爱，也没有永远的恨。信赖今日的朋友，要想到他们可能会是你明日的敌人，而且是最危险的敌人。既然这种事总在现实中发生，那么，你就要有所防备。不要向抛弃友谊的人递武器，以免他们向你开战。另外，要为敌人打开和好之门，如果还是宽容之门，就更加安全。很久之前的复仇，有时到了今日会成为一种折磨，伤害他人的快感也会转化为悲伤。

217．Neither love nor hate forever

Neither love nor hate forever. Trust the friends of today as if they will be enemies tomorrow, and that of the worst kind. As this happens in reality, let it happen in your precaution. Do not put weapons in the hand for deserters from friendship to wage war with. On the other hand, leave the door of reconciliation open for enemies, and if it is also the gate of generosity so much the more safe. The vengeance of long ago is at times the torment of today, and the joy over the ill we have done is turned to grief.

218．行动不可出自固执，而应源于了解

行动不可出自固执，而应源于了解。顽固不化是心灵的毒瘤、冲动的外孙，它会搞砸所有事情。有的人是社交方面的暴徒，可以把任何事情搞得像战争一样。他们所做的一切必须以胜利为结束，他们不懂和睦共处。如果他们成为统治者，定会搞得天翻地覆，让亲者变成仇人。他们企图用计控制一切，并把它看成是自己玩弄手腕的成果。但是，当别人认清他们刚愎自用的秉性，就会群起而攻之，破坏他们那异想天开的计划。他们因此一事无成，只得到一堆烦恼，因为凡事都会加重他们的失望。他们顽固不化，思想狂野。对于这种怪物，你没有什么办法，只能远离他们，哪怕是逃到地球的另一端，也许那边的野蛮人也比糟糕的固执之人好忍受一些。

218．Never act from obstinacy but from knowledge

Never act from obstinacy but from knowledge. All obstinacy is an excrescence of the mind, a grandchild of passion which never did anything right. There are persons who make a war out of everything, real banditti of intercourse. All that they undertake must end in victory; they do not know how to get on in peace. Such men are fatal when they rule and govern, for they make government rebellion, and enemies out of those whom they ought to regard as children. They try to effect everything with strategy and treat it as the fruit of their skill. But when others have recognized their perverse humour all revolt against them and learn to overturn their chimerical plans, and they succeed in nothing but only heap up a mass of troubles, since everything serves to increase their disappointment. They have a head turned and a heart spoilt. Nothing can be done with such monsters except to flee from them, even to the Antipodes, where the savagery is easier to bear than their loathsome nature.

219．不要被看成伪君子

不要被看成伪君子。尽管你现在不可能不遇见伪君子，也不要被人看成伪君子。要让人认为你是谨慎而不是狡猾。人们喜欢真诚的行为，虽然不是每个人都能把这个体现在行动上。真诚不应成为天真，睿智不应退为狡黠。要因聪明而赢得爱戴，不因狡诈而被人惧怕。敞开心扉受人喜欢，也会被人欺骗。要掩藏被看成是欺诈的行为，需要高超的技巧。纯朴兴盛于黄金时代(1)，而狡诈则盛行于如今这冷铁时代。因识时务而闻名是一种荣誉，可以引发别人对你的信任；但是，如果被看成伪君子，就会失去别人对你的信任。

219．Do not pass for a hypocrite

Do not pass for a hypocrite, though such men are indispensable nowadays. Be considered rather prudent than astute. Sincerity in behaviour pleases all, though not all can show it in their own affairs. Sincerity should not degenerate into simplicity nor sagacity into cunning. Be rather respected as wise than feared as sly. The open-hearted are loved but deceived. The great art consists in disclosing what is thought to be deceit. In the golden age simplicity flourished, in these days of iron cunning. The reputation of being a man who knows what he has to do is honourable and inspires confidence, but to be considered a hypocrite is deceptive and arouses mistrust.

(1) 指希腊神话中和平、兴隆和幸福的时期。

220．不能披狮皮，那就披狐皮

不能披狮皮，那就披狐皮。顺应潮流就是为了引领潮流。如果你得偿所愿，就不会失去名声。如果强攻无法得到，就要智取。走不通此路走彼路——或者勇敢地走大道，或者机智地抄小径。技巧比力量更有效；智慧往往战胜勇气，而非相反。当你得不到某物，就鄙弃它吧。

220．If you cannot clothe yourself in lionskin use foxpelt

If you cannot clothe yourself in lionskin use foxpelt. To follow the times is to lead them. He that gets what he wants never loses his reputation. Use cleverness when force will not do. Take one way or another, the king's highway of valour or the bypath of cunning. Skill has effected more than force, and astuteness has conquered courage more often than the other way. When you cannot get a thing then is the time to despise it.

221．不要动辄使自己和他人感到尴尬

不要动辄使自己和他人感到尴尬。有些人对自己和他人都是有失体面的绊脚石，他们离愚蠢只有一步。这种人到处都能遇见，却不容易摆脱。即使一天惹出麻烦事上百桩，他们都毫不在乎。他们反对所有人和事，因此脾气总是不顺。他们颠倒判断标准，所以谴责任何事情。他们一无是处却又四处挑剔，这最能考验我们的耐性和谨慎。无教养的王国里到处都是这类怪物。

221．Do not seize occasions to embarrass yourself or others

Do not seize occasions to embarrass yourself or others. There are some men stumbling-blocks of good manners either for themselves or for others: they are always on the point of some stupidity. You meet with them easily and part from them uneasily. A hundred annoyances a day is nothing to them. Their humour always strokes the wrong way since they contradict all and every. They put on the judgment cap wrong side foremost and thus condemn all. Yet the greatest test of others' patience and prudence are just those who do no good and speak ill of all. There are many monsters in the wide realm of Indecorum.

222．缄默是谨慎的表现

缄默是谨慎的表现。舌头如同野兽，一旦松手，就再难缚住。它是心灵的脉搏，智者以此来判断心灵是否健康：凭此脉搏，细心的观察者能够感知心灵的每次跳动。最应沉默之人却最不沉默，这是最糟糕的事。智者会让自己尽量避免烦恼和尴尬，表现出纯熟的自制力。他十分审慎，像双面门神坚纽斯(1)一样不偏不倚，像百眼巨人阿各斯(2)一样时刻保持警惕。当然，莫墨斯(3)还不如让人在手上长眼睛，而不是在胸口开窗户。

222．Reserve is proof of prudence

Reserve is proof of prudence. The tongue is a wild beast: once let loose it is difficult to chain. It is the pulse of the soul by which wise men judge of its health: by this pulse a careful observer feels every movement of the heart. The worst is that he who should be most reserved is the least. The sage saves himself from worries and embarrassments, and shows his mastery over himself. He goes his way carefully, a Janus for impartiality, an Argus for watchfulness. Truly Momus had better placed the eyes in the hand than the window in the breast.

(1) 罗马神话中的门神，有两个面孔，朝着相反的方向。

(2) 见箴言第83条注(1)。

(3) 希腊神话中的挑剔和嘲弄之神。

223．不要因做作或粗心而显得古怪

不要因做作或粗心而显得古怪。很多人都有一些很明显的特质，从而做出古怪的行为。这是缺点，而非长处。正如有的人因过于丑陋而闻名，古怪之人也因其外在行为让人讨厌而闻名。这种怪异是他们独特的商标：他们要么招致恶意，要么被人嘲笑。

223．Be not eccentric

Be not eccentric, neither from affectation nor carelessness. Many have some remarkable and individual quality leading to eccentric actions. These are more defects than excellent differences. And just as some are known for some special ugliness, so these for something repellant in their outward behaviour. Such eccentricities simply serve as trademarks through their atrocious singularity: they cause either derision or ill-will.

224．不看事物的反面，不管事情怎样出现

不看事物的反面，不管事情怎样出现。任何东西都是一面平滑一面毛糙。哪怕是最好的兵器，如果抓到刀刃，也会伤手；哪怕是敌人的长枪，如果抓到枪杆，也会成为保卫我们最好的武器。许多事情会导致痛苦，但是，如果考虑积极的一面，也会令人快乐。凡事都有利弊，聪明人之所以聪明，就在于他能看到有利的方面。换种光线，同一件物品看上去却大相径庭。所以，要看到它最好的一面，且不要把好的变成坏的。因此，常常会出现这样的情况：在每件事上，许多人能找到快乐，也有许多人找到了悲伤。在幸运女神皱眉的时候，这条箴言能够有力地保护你；这条重要法则，适用于所有时代和所有情境。

224．Never take things against the grain

Never take things against the grain, no matter how they come. Everything has a smooth and a seamy side, and the best weapon wounds if taken by the blade, while the enemy's spear may be our best protection if taken by the staff. Many things cause pain which would cause pleasure if you regarded their advantages. There is a favourable and an unfavourable side to everything, the cleverness consists in finding out the favourable. The same thing looks quite different in another light; look at it therefore on its best side and do not exchange good for evil. Thus it haps that many find joy, many grief, in everything. This remark is a great protection against the frowns of Fortune, and a weighty rule of life for all times and all conditions.

225．知道你最大的缺点

知道你最大的缺点。任何人都有一个缺点与其最大的优点相伴，如果任缺点滋长，它就会如暴君一般主宰你。向它开战吧，让谨慎做你的盟军。你首先要做的事就是写公开檄文，因为邪恶一旦被人了解，很快就会被征服，尤其是当受折磨的人如旁观者一般注视它的时候。要主宰自己，就得了解自己。要让最大的缺点向你投降，其他的缺点就会望风而降。

225．Know your chief fault

Know your chief fault. There lives none that has not in himself' a counterbalance to his most conspicuous merit: if this be nourished by desire it may grow to be a tyrant. Commence war against it, summoning prudence as your ally, and the first thing to do is the public manifesto, for an evil once known is soon conquered, especially when the one afflicted regards it in the same light as the onlookers. To be master of oneself one should know oneself. If the chief imperfection surrender, the rest will come to an end.

226．乐于帮助他人

乐于帮助他人。许多人行事并非出于本性，而是因为迫不得已。让人相信坏事很容易，因为坏事容易让人相信，尽管有时候让人难以置信。我们再好，也要依赖别人的看法。有些人以为自己有理就行，其实这远远不够，道理还需力量的支持。施惠于人总是付出很少，收获很多。你能用言语买到他人的行动。世界就像所大房子，没有哪间屋子偏僻得在一年中的任何一天都用不到，如果要用时，自然会想到它，无论它是多么的没有价值。人们总是从自己的情感出发来谈论事情。

226．Take care to be obliging

Take care to be obliging. Most talk and act, not as they are, but as they are obliged. To persuade people of ill is easy for any, since the ill is easily credited even when at times it is incredible. The best we have depends on the opinion of others. Some are satisfied if they have right on their side, but that is not enough, for it must be assisted by energy. To oblige persons often costs little and helps much. With words you may purchase deeds. In this great house of the world there is no chamber so hid that it may not be wanted one day in the year, and then you would miss it however little is its worth. Everyone speaks of a subject according to his feelings.

227．不要成为第一印象的奴隶

不要成为第一印象的奴隶。有些人把首次所闻娶为妻，把其他说法纳为妾。但是，由于谎言捷足先登，真相就无法在这种人那里栖身。不要用最初的目标来满足愿望，也不要让第一印象充斥头脑，因为那是肤浅的。很多人就像装酒的新桶，都会保留首次入桶的酒的味道，无论酒好酒坏。如果这种肤浅被别人知晓，就会有灾难降临，这还会给那些狡猾的人做坏事的机会。居心不良者总是急于把轻信者的头脑涂上颜色，因此，定要在头脑中留出地方，用来举行第二次听证会。亚历山大总会空出一只耳朵，来倾听事情的另一面。要等待消息的第二甚至第三个版本。如果成为第一印象的奴隶，则说明缺乏心智，那么，成为冲动的奴隶就为期不远了。

227．Do not be the slave of first impressions

Do not be the slave of first impressions. Some marry the very first account they hear; all others must live with them as concubines. But as a lie has swift legs, the truth with them can find no lodging. We should neither satisfy our will with the first object nor our mind with the first proposition: for that were superficial. Many are like new casks who keep the scent of the first liquor they hold, be it good or bad. If this superficiality becomes known, it becomes fatal, for it then gives opportunity for cunning mischief; the ill-minded hasten to colour the mind of the credulous. Always therefore leave room for a second hearing. Alexander always kept one ear for the other side. Wait for the second or even third edition of news. To be the slave of your impressions shows want of capacity, and is not far from being the slave of your passions.

228．不要传播丑闻

不要传播丑闻，更不要被人当作长舌妇，因为那样等于犯了诽谤罪。不要总是诽谤他人，那样做很容易，但会遭人憎恨；而且所有人都会想要报复你，说你坏话，因为你孤单一人，而他们人多力量大，所以你的失败是必然的，他们不会相信你散布的谣言。不要对邪恶之事津津乐道，决不能把它当成谈话的主题。背后诋毁他人者令人厌恶，如果偶尔有伟人与之交往，前者也只是乐于听他的嘲讽，而不是尊重他的见解。说别人坏话的人，别人会把他说得更糟。

228．Do not be a scandal-monger

Do not be a scandal-monger. Still less pass for one, for that means to be considered a slanderer. Do not be witty at the cost of others: it is easy but hateful. All men have their revenge on such an one by speaking ill of him, and as they are many and he but one, he is more likely to be overcome than they convinced. Evil should never be our pleasure, and therefore never our theme. The backbiter is always hated, and if now and then one of the great consorts with him, it is less from pleasure in his sneers than from esteem for his insight. He that speaks ill will always hear worse.

229．合理规划自己的生活

合理规划自己的生活，不要听天由命，要深谋远虑。如果没有娱乐，就像途中没有旅店的漫长旅程，这样的人生令人厌倦。因此，要用广博的知识为你的生活带来种种快乐。高贵人生旅途的第一天应该用来与逝去的人对话，我们活着就是要去了解世界、了解自己，真正的好书能让我们成为真正的人。我们第二天应该与活着的人在一起，观察和留意世界上所有美好的事物。在一个国度里不可能找到一切。宇宙之父已分发他的礼物，有时他最丑的女儿还得到最丰厚的嫁妆。第三天完全属于自己。你最后的幸福就是成为一位哲人。

229．Plan out your life wisely

Plan out your life wisely, not as chance will have it, but with prudence and foresight. Without amusements it is wearisome, like a long journey where there are no inns: manifold knowledge gives manifold pleasure. The first day's journey of a noble life should be passed in conversing with the dead: we live to know and to know ourselves: hence true books make us truly men. The second day should be spent with the living, seeing and noticing all the good in the world. Everything is not to be found in a single country. The Universal Father has divided His gifts, and at times has given the richest dower to the ugliest. The third day is entirely for oneself. The last felicity is to be a philosopher.

230．早日睁开你的眼睛

早日睁开你的眼睛。不是所有看得见的人都睁开了眼，也不是所有睁开眼的人都看得见。迟来的醒悟除带来悔恨，却毫无帮助。有些人在没什么可看之时才去看，在失去所有家产之时才醒悟。让没有意志力的人拥有理解力很难，让没有理解力的人拥有意志力则更难。周围的人与他们玩捉迷藏，把他们当成笑料。他们的耳朵不好使，却不肯睁眼去看看。总有人鼓励这种昏聩，因为他们正是靠这个生存。盲骑士的骏马十分不幸，它永远不可能皮毛光滑、身体健壮。

230．Open your eyes betimes

Open your eyes betimes. Not all that see have their eyes open, nor do all those see who look. To come up to things too late is more worry than help. Some just begin to see when there is nothing more to see: they pull their houses about their ears before they come to themselves. It is difficult to give sense to those who have no power of will, still more difficult to give energy to those who have no sense. Those who surround them play with them a game of blind man's buff, making them the butts of jokes, and because they are hard of hearing, they do not open their eyes to see. There are often those who encourage such insensibility on which their very existence depends. It is an unhappy steed whose rider is blind: it will never grow sleek.

231．不让他人看到未成之事

不让他人看到未成之事。只有完成了的作品才能让人欣赏。万物在起初之时都不成形，这种不成形会给人留下很深的印象。想起曾看见的不完美，就会妨碍人们欣赏已经完成的作品。一口吞下大块食物，就难以分辨其中的成分，但人的味觉却可得到满足。事在形成之前，什么都不是；就算在形成过程中，也依然等于零。看着别人制作最美味的菜肴，也会感到倒胃口，而非食欲大开。每位大师都应注意，不要让作品在形成阶段被人看见。要向自然之母学习，在胎儿可以见人之后，才让其出生。

231．Never let things be seen half-finished

Never let things be seen half-finished. They can only be enjoyed when complete. All beginnings are misshapen, and this deformity sticks in the imagination. The recollection of having seen a thing imperfect disturbs our enjoyment of it when completed. To swallow something great at one gulp may disturb the judgment of the separate parts, but satisfies the taste. Till a thing is everything, it is nothing, and while it is in process of being it is still nothing. To see the tastiest dishes prepared arouses rather disgust than appetite. Let each great master take care not to let his work be seen in its embryonic stages: they might take this lesson from Mother Nature, who never brings the child to the light till it is fit to be seen.

232．要接触实务

要接触实务。人生不应全是思考，还应有行动。非常聪明的人常常容易受骗，他们懂得生僻的知识，却不懂生活中的常识，而后者是必须掌握的。他们沉浸在对深奥事物的观察中，没有时间留意身边之事。他们不懂得常人都懂的最基本的事情，于是，他们要么得到尊敬，要么被肤浅的民众看作无知。所以，睿智之人应注意，要懂得一点生意人的精明务实，以免上当受骗，而被人讥笑。做一个胜任日常事务的人，这些事虽不是人生中最高等的，却是最需要知道的。不实用的知识又有什么用呢？在今天，懂得生活才是真正的学问。

232．Have a touch of business sense

Have a touch of business sense. Life should not be all thought: there should be action as well. Very wise folk are generally easily deceived, for while they know out-of-the-way things they do not know the ordinary things of life, which are much more needful. The observation of higher things leaves them no time for things close at hand. Since they know not the very first thing they should know, and what everybody knows so well, they are either considered or thought ignorant by the superficial multitude. Let therefore the prudent take care to have something of the trader about him－enough to prevent him being deceived and so laughed at. Be a man adapted to the daily round, which if not the highest is the most necessary thing in life. Of what use is knowledge if it is not practical, and to know how to live is nowadays the true knowledge.

233．提供点食物，不要让人难咽

提供点食物，不要让人难咽。否则，别人会感到难受，而不是感激。有些人想帮助别人，结果却惹人生气，因为他们没有想到彼此品味的不同。同一种做法，对一个人来说是恭维，对另一个人来说却是冒犯。想要帮助他人，却可能让人感觉受伤。让人恼怒比让人高兴往往要付出更大的代价：你既送了礼，又得不到感谢，因为你丢失了驾驭快乐的方向盘。如果你不知道别人的口味，就不知道怎样取悦别人。因此，总会发生这种情况：许多人本来想赞美别人，却被人当成侮辱，从而反遭侮辱；还有人想通过谈吐展示魅力，结果却因为多嘴而惹人讨厌。

233．Let not the proffered morsel be distasteful

Let not the proffered morsel be distasteful; otherwise it gives more discomfort than pleasure. Some displease when attempting to oblige, because they take no account of varieties of taste. What is flattery to one is an offence to another, and in attempting to be useful one may become insulting. It often costs more to displease a man than it would have cost to please him: you thereby lose both gift and thanks because you have lost the compass which steers for pleasure. If you do not know another's taste, you do not know how to please him. Thus it happens that many insult where they mean to praise, and get soundly punished, and rightly so. Others desire to charm by their conversation, and only succeed in boring by their loquacity.

234．决不把名誉托付他人，除非他人以名誉作抵押

决不把名誉托付他人，除非他人以名誉作抵押。要确保沉默对双方都有利，泄露对双方都有害。涉及名声之时，你一定要有同伴，这样，每个人都会为自己的名誉而顾及别人的名誉。决不把名誉托付他人，如果必须如此，除了谨慎，更须防范。彼此休戚相关，你的同伴才不会出卖你。

234．Never trust your honour to another, unless you have his in pledge

Never trust your honour to another, unless you have his in pledge. Arrange that silence is a mutual advantage; disclosure a danger to both. Where honour is at stake you must act with a partner, so that each must be careful of the other's honour for the sake of his own. Never entrust your honour to another; but if you have, let caution surpass prudence. Let the danger be in common and the risk mutual, so that your partner cannot turn king's evidence.

235．求人有术

求人有术。对某些人来说，没有什么比这更容易；而对另外一些人来说，没有什么比这更困难。有些人不会拒绝人，你求他们无须运用任何技巧；有些人却惯于在任何时候第一个就说“不”字，求这样的人，就需要高超的技巧，并要选择恰当的时机。当他们兴致高昂时，当用餐或娱乐让他们恢复精神时，只要他们的精明没有预料到你的狡猾，就可乘其不备地提出要求。快乐的日子就是施惠的日子，因为快乐可从人的内心蔓延到身外的世界。如果有人在你前面已被拒绝，那么你再求也无用，因为阻止说“不”的阻力刚被克服。在他人悲伤之时也不适合提出要求。如果被求之人不是卑劣之徒，预先施惠于他就是良策。

235．Know how to ask

Know how to ask. With some nothing easier; with others nothing so difficult. For there are men who cannot refuse: with them no skill is required. But with others their first word at all times is No; with them great art is required, and with all the propitious moment. Surprise them when in a pleasant mood, when a repast of body or soul has just left them refreshed, if only their shrewdness has not anticipated the cunning of the applicant. The days of joy are the days of favour, for joy overflows from the inner man into the outward creation. It is no use applying when another has been refused, since the objection to a No has just been overcome. Nor is it a good time after sorrow. To oblige a person beforehand is a sure way, unless he is mean.

236．如果日后必求人且需答谢，还不如先施惠于人

如果日后必求人且需答谢，还不如先施惠于人。这是一个精明的策略。虽然别人还无资格接受，但是你却提前施惠，这说明你乐于助人。这样，预先施惠便有了两大优势：你的施惠干脆利落，让受惠者更加感激。同一件礼物，本只是日后对他的酬谢，却变成了事先的施惠。这是变换人情的精明策略：日后你有求于人，却变成了别人因为现在受惠而在日后回报你。但是，这种策略只对知恩图报之人有效。对卑鄙小人来说，提前的谢礼只是羁绊，而不是鞭策。

236．Make an obligation beforehand of what would have to be a reward afterwards

Make an obligation beforehand of what would have to be a reward afterwards. This is a stroke of subtle policy; to grant favours before they are deserved is a proof of being obliging. Favours thus granted beforehand have two great advantages: the promptness of the gift obliges the recipient the more strongly; and the same gift which would afterwards be merely a reward is beforehand an obligation. This is a subtle means of transforming obligations, since that which would have forced the superior to reward is changed into one that obliges them to satisfy the obligation. But this is only suitable for men who have the feeling of obligation, since with men of lower stamp the honorarium paid beforehand acts rather as a bit than as a spur.

237．决不分享上司的秘密

决不分享上司的秘密。也许你认为你们可以共享一个梨，事实上，你们能共享的不过只有梨皮而已。很多人因为成为他人心腹而没有好下场。他们像用面包皮制成的汤匙一样，承受马上就和汤一块被吃掉的危险。君主向你诉说秘密不代表宠信于你，他只是为了释放自己。许多人打碎镜子，以免看见自己的丑陋。我们不愿看见那些见过我们真面目的人；如果别人见过我们的丑陋，我们看到他也会觉得他不光彩。没人会感激我们见过他的隐私，尤其是那些位高权重之人。分享上司秘密不是受他们恩惠，而是恰恰相反。把秘密告诉朋友也很危险。将秘密泄露给他人，就等于把自己置于他人奴隶的位置。任何权贵都不能忍受这种地位，所以这种情况不会长久。他渴望找回失去的自由，为此不惜摧毁一切，包括公正和理性。因此，秘密不能讲，也不能听。

237．Never share the secrets of your superiors

Never share the secrets of your superiors. You may think you will share pears, but you will only share parings. Many have been ruined by being confidants: they are like sops of bread used as forks, they run the same risk of being eaten up afterwards. It is no favour in a prince to share a secret: it is only a relief. Many break the mirror that reminds them of their ugliness. We do not like seeing those who have seen us as we are; nor is he seen in a favourable light who has seen us in an unfavourable one. None ought to be too much beholden to us, least of all one of the great. Let it be for benefits done him rather than for such favours received from him. Especially dangerous are secrets entrusted to friends. He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave. With a prince this is an intolerable position which cannot last. He will desire to recover his lost liberty, and to gain it will overturn everything, including right and reason. Accordingly neither tell secrets nor listen to them.

238．知道自己缺少什么

知道自己缺少什么。如果不是有所欠缺，很多人可以成为大人物；有了不足，就无法达到完美的顶点。值得注意的是，有的人如果能在某方面好一点，他就会好许多。也许他们由于不认真，才影响了才华的施展。有的人不够亲切，他们身边的人很快会发现这一点，尤其是在他们手握大权的时候。有些人没有组织能力，有些人缺乏节制。对于所有这些缺陷，审慎者能培养好的习惯，使其成为人的第二天性。

238．Know what is wanting in yourself

Know what is wanting in yourself. Many would have been great personages if they had not had something wanting without which they could not rise to the height of perfection. It is remarkable with some that they could be much better if they could be better in something. They do not perhaps take themselves seriously enough to do justice to their great abilities; some are wanting in geniality of disposition, a quality which their entourage soon find the want of, especially if they are in high office. Some are without organizing ability, others lack moderation. In all such cases a careful man may make of habit a second nature.

239．不要打破沙锅问到底

不要打破沙锅问到底。做人更重要的是明白事理。所知超出所需，就会弄钝你的武器，因为锋利的刀刃容易卷口或者豁口。了解常识性的事实最为妥当。了解事情没有错，但不要揪住细枝末节不放。评论太多就会引起争议。明白事理要好得多，这样就不会偏离正在做的事情。

239．Do not be captious

Do not be captious. It is much more important to be sensible. To know more than is necessary blunts your weapons, for fine points generally bend or break. Commonsense truth is the surest. It is well to know but not to niggle. Lengthy comment leads to disputes. It is much better to have sound sense, which does not wander from the matter in hand.

240．学会装傻

学会装傻。最聪明的人有时也用此方法，有时候大智若愚。你不必真的那么傻，只是扮成傻瓜。在蠢人面前显得聪明，或在聪明人面前显得愚蠢，都没什么好处，你应该见什么人说什么话。假装傻瓜的人其实并不傻，为此受苦的人才叫傻。因为假装愚蠢十分聪明，它不是真正的愚蠢，地道的愚蠢才是。如果想得到众人的欢迎，就要披上一张最纯朴动物的皮。

240．Make use of folly

Make use of folly. The wisest play this card at times, and there are times when the greatest wisdom lies in seeming not to be wise. You need not be unwise, but merely affect unwisdom. To be wise with fools and foolish with the wise were of little use. Speak to each in his own language. He is no fool who affects folly, but he is who suffers from it. Ingenuous folly rather than the pretended is the true foolishness, since cleverness has arrived at such a pitch. To be well liked one must dress in the skin of the simplest of animals.

241．容忍别人嘲笑，但别嘲弄他人

容忍别人嘲笑，但别嘲弄他人。前者表示谦恭，后者则会导致尴尬。在玩乐时暴怒的人就像野兽，甚至比野兽更野蛮。大胆的嘲弄可以让人开心，能够经受住说明你很有魄力。如果你表现出生气，就会让别人也生气。最好别去理会——这是避免被人当成傻瓜最可靠的方法。玩笑常会导致最严重的问题，没有比这更需要机智和警觉。开玩笑之前，应知道玩笑对象能承受的程度。

241．Put up with raillery, but do not practise it

Put up with raillery, but do not practise it. The first is a form of courtesy, the second may lead to embarrassment. To snarl at play has something of the beast and seems to have more. Audacious raillery is delightful, to stand it proves power. To show oneself annoyed causes the other to be annoyed. Best leave it alone; the surest way not to put on the fool's cap that might fit. The most serious matters have arisen out of jests. Nothing requires more tact and attention. Before you begin to joke know how far the subject of your joke is able to bear it.

242．做事要有始有终

做事要有始有终。有些人在起初就使出全部力气，却不能坚持到底。他们有想法，却从不付诸实践。这种人总是敷衍了事。他们不能将比赛进行到底，因此得不到任何荣誉。他们做事，一遇到挫折就停止。有些是因为没有耐心，这是西班牙人的弱点；而富有耐心，却是比利时人的特长。后者做事善始善终，前者做事半途而废。他们奋力拼搏，克服了困难，却就此满足，不明白怎样去坚持胜利。他们证明自己有能力做事，只是不愿意做而已。这说明他们要么不能胜任，要么不可靠。如果是好事，为什么不完成？如果是坏事，为什么要做呢？如果你聪明，就要捉住猎物，而非仅仅满足于把它赶出藏身之地。

242．Push advantages

Push advantages. Some put all their strength in the commencement and never carry a thing to a conclusion. They invent but never execute. These be paltering spirits. They obtain no fame, for they sustain no game to the end. Everything stops at a single stop. This arises in some from impatience, which is the failing of the Spaniard, as patience is the virtue of the Belgian. The latter bring things to an end, the former come to an end with things. They sweat away till the obstacle is surmounted, but content themselves with surmounting it: they do not know how to push the victory home. They prove that they can but will not. This proves always that they cannot, or have no stability. If the undertaking is good, why not finish it? If it is bad, why undertake it? Strike down your quarry, if you are wise; be not content to flush it.

243．不要太过善良

不要太过善良。应将毒蛇的狡猾和鸽子的坦率结合起来。欺骗诚实之人最容易。从不说谎者很相信他人，从不行骗者很信任他人。被欺骗不总是因为愚蠢，也可能纯粹因为善良。有两种人可以保护自己不受伤害：自己付出代价而吸取教训之人；看到别人付出代价而受到警示之人。狡猾的人常常设置陷阱，谨慎的人应该保持警惕。任何人都不要过于善良，使别人的邪恶有机可乘。你要结合毒蛇和鸽子的特点，这是天才，而非妖怪。

243．Do not be too much of a dove

Do not be too much of a dove. Alternate the cunning of the serpent with the candour of the dove. Nothing is easier than to deceive an honest man. He believes in much who lies in naught; he who does no deceit, has much confidence. To be deceived is not always due to stupidity, it may arise from sheer goodness. There are two sets of men who can guard themselves from injury: those who have experienced it at their own cost, and those who have observed it at the cost of others. Prudence should use as much suspicion as subtlety uses snares, and none need be so good as to enable others to do him ill. Combine in yourself the dove and the serpent, not as a monster but as a prodigy.

244．让别人对你感恩

让别人对你感恩。有些人把受惠变成施恩，本来在受惠，看上去或被认为却是在施恩。有些人十分狡猾，本来是在求人，却好像是给人面子，自己反而受到尊敬；他们能从别人的掌声里捞到好处。他们掌控事情非常精明：别人为他们干活，却好像他们在为别人做事。他们用非常手段，颠倒施恩与受惠，或至少让人分不清谁对谁有恩。他们通过赞赏他人来获取最好的东西；表达自己喜欢某样东西，让人觉得赠送它是件很荣幸的事。他们利用谦恭来施恩，原本是他们欠债，却让别人感到是受惠。通过这种方法，他们把被动语态的“受惠”变成主动语态的“施恩”，这说明他们虽不通语法，却很懂手腕。这是一种狡猾的手段，但是，如果你能觉察并看穿它，让他们真正付出而你真正受益，那就更显出你的高明。

244．Create a feeling of obligation

Create a feeling of obligation. Some transform favours received into favours bestowed, and seem, or let it be thought, that they are doing a favour when receiving one. There are some so astute that they get honour by asking, and buy their own advantage with applause from others. They manage matters so cleverly that they seem to be doing others a service when receiving one from them. They transpose the order of obligation with extraordinary skill, or at least render it doubtful who has obliged whom. They buy the best by praising it, and make a flattering honour out of the pleasure they express. They oblige by their courtesy, and thus make men beholden for what they themselves should be beholden. In this way they conjugate "to oblige" in the active instead of in the passive voice, thereby proving themselves better politicians than grammarians. This is a subtle piece of finesse; a still greater is to perceive it, and to retaliate on such fools' bargains by paying in their own coin, and so coming by your own again.

245．要有独到的见解，这是才智过人的标志

要有独到的见解，这是才智过人的标志。不要看重从不反驳我们的人，这并不表明他喜欢我们，只表示他爱的是自己。不要被别人的谄媚蒙蔽，并为之付出代价，相反，要谴责这种行为。另外，如果你被某人非难，尤其是他们总把好的说成坏的，你可将其视为对你的赞美。相反，如果我们做的事让所有人都高兴，我们应该感到不安，因为这说明我们做的事毫无意义。只有少数人才能做到完美。

245．Original and out-of-the-way views

Original and out-of-the-way views are signs of superior ability. We do not think much of a man who never contradicts us: that is no sign he loves us, but rather that he loves himself. Do not be deceived by flattery, and thereby have to pay for it; rather condemn it. Besides you may take credit for being censured by some, especially if they are those of whom the good speak ill. On the contrary, it should disturb us if our affairs please everyone, for that is a sign that they are of little worth. Perfection is for the few.

246．除非被要求，决不提供解释

除非被要求，决不提供解释。就算有人要你解释，你解释过多也是错。在没有必要时为自己辩解相当于控告自己。让自己健康的身体流血，等于给居心不良者以暗示。意外的辩解会唤醒沉睡的怀疑。明智之人不会表现出自己已经意识到别人的怀疑，否则等于自找麻烦。最好是用正直诚实的行为来解除他人的怀疑。

246．Never offer satisfaction unless it is demanded

Never offer satisfaction unless it is demanded. And if they do demand it, it is a kind of crime to give more than necessary: To excuse oneself before there is occasion is to accuse oneself. To draw blood in full health gives the hint to ill-will. An excuse unexpected arouses suspicion from its slumbers. Nor need a shrewd person show himself aware of another's suspicion, which is equivalent to seeking out offence. He had best disarm distrust by the integrity of his conduct.

247．求知应多，生活应简

求知应多，生活应简。有些人持相反观点。安逸比劳碌好。除了时间，没有任何东西真正属于我们。即便你没有其他东西，你还有时间。浪费宝贵的生命去完成机械呆板的任务或大量太重要的工作，是一样的不幸。不要堆积职务，那样会堆积别人对你的嫉妒，你的生活将会十分忙乱，以至筋疲力尽。有的人想把这个原理用在求知方面，但是应该明白，除非有所知，否则就没有真正的生活。

247．Know a little more, live a little less

Know a little more, live a little less. Some say the opposite. To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which you have even if you have nothing else. It is equally unfortunate to waste your precious life in mechanical tasks or in a profusion of too important work. Do not heap up occupation and thereby envy, otherwise you complicate life and exhaust your mind. Some wish to apply the same principle to knowledge, but unless one knows one does not truly live.

248．不要认同最新的说法

不要认同最新的说法。有些人跟着最新的说法走，结果走向了荒谬的极端。他们的情感和愿望是用蜡制成的——最后到的人用图章在上面盖上印，把以前的印迹都抹掉。这种人永远不会得到任何东西，因为他们把一切丢得太快。每个人都可用自己的染料给他们染色。让他们成为知己没有任何好处，这些人一辈子都长不大。因为情感和意志变化无常，他们跌跌撞撞，思想和愿望都像跛了脚一样，在路上摇摇晃晃。

248．Do not go with the last speaker

Do not go with the last speaker. There are persons who go by the latest edition, and thereby go to irrational extremes. Their feelings and desires are made of wax: the last comer stamps them with his seal and obliterates all previous impressions. These never gain anything, for they lose everything so soon. Everyone dyes them with his own colour. They are of no use as confidants; they remain children their whole life. Owing to this instability of feeling and volition, they stumble along, crippled in will and thought, and tottering from one side of the road to the other.

249．人生不要本末倒置

人生不要本末倒置。许多人先行乐，把忧虑抛在身后。但是，你应该知道，应先做重要的事，以后有空时再做次要的事。有些人还没有战斗就想庆祝胜利。有的人先学不重要的东西，却把能带来名誉和成就的知识留在生命的最后。还有的人到了晚年才想去发财。求知也好，生活也罢，方法都是最重要的。

249．Never begin life with what should end it

Never begin life with what should end it. Many take their amusement at the beginning, putting off anxiety to the end; but the essential should come first and accessories afterwards if there is room. Others wish to triumph before they have fought. Others again begin with learning things of little consequence and leave studies that would bring them fame and gain to the end of life. Another is just about to make his fortune when he disappears from the scene. Method is essential for knowledge and for life.

250．何时把他人的话反过来听

何时把他人的话反过来听？就是在他们散布流言之时。对于某些人来说，所有事情都是颠倒的：他们说“是”就是“不”，他们说“不”就是“是”。如果他们批评某物，其实就是对该物作了最高评价。他们想得到某些东西，就对别人贬低那些东西。赞扬某物也不一定就是说它好——有些人为了避免表扬好的，就去表扬坏的。有的人觉得什么都好，其实说明他觉得什么都不好。

250．When to change the conversation

When to change the conversation? When they talk scandal. With some all goes contrariwise: their No is Yes, and their Yes No. If they speak ill of a thing it is the highest praise. For what they want for themselves they depreciate to others. To praise a thing is not always to speak well of it, for some, to avoid praising what's good, praise what's bad, and nothing is good for him for whom nothing is bad.

251．运用人道之时，就当神道不存。运用神道之时，只当人道不在

运用人道之时，就当神道不存。运用神道之时，只当人道不在。这是精湛的法则，无须评论。

251．Use human means as if there were no divine ones, and divine as if there were no human ones

Use human means as if there were no divine ones, and divine as if there were no human ones. A masterly rule: it needs no comment.

252．活着并非全为自己，也不是全为他人

活着并非全为自己，也不是全为他人。这两种说法都专制得不可取。如果只为自己而活，就会想占有所有的东西。这种人不愿作出丝毫让步，也不想损失一点点舒适。他们极少感恩，只靠自己的运气，但他们的支柱往往会倒塌。有时，应该考虑一下别人，以便日后别人也考虑你。担公职之人就应做公仆，要么放弃职位不干，要么勇挑重担——一位老妪曾这样对哈德良(1)说过。相反，有些人完全为别人而活，这很愚蠢，愚蠢常常走极端。没有哪天、哪个钟点属于他们自己。他们始终为别人而活，简直成了所有人的奴隶。甚至在求知方面，也是如此。有的人对别人的事情无所不知，对自己的事情却一无所知。你若精明，就应明白：别人找你并非要找你这个人，而是为了在你身上找到好处，或是通过你找到好处。

252．Neither belong entirely to yourself nor entirely to others

Neither belong entirely to yourself nor entirely to others. Both are mean forms of tyranny. To desire to be all for oneself is the same as desiring to have all for oneself. Such persons will not yield a jot or lose a tittle of their comfort. They are rarely beholden, lean on their own luck, and their crutch generally breaks. It is convenient at times to belong to others, so that others may belong to us. And he that holds public office is no more nor less than a public slave, or let a man give up both berth and burden, as the old woman said to Hadrian. On the other hand, others are all for others, which is folly, that always flies to extremes, in this case in a most unfortunate manner. No day, no hour, is their own, but they have so much too much of others that they may be called the slaves of all. This applies even to knowledge, where a man may know everything for others and nothing for himself. A shrewd man knows that others, when they seek him, do not seek him, but their advantage in him and by him.

(1) 罗马皇帝（117—138在位），“罗马五贤君”之一。据说，曾有一老妇人向哈德良申诉某事，皇帝说没有时间处理，老妇人于是说：“那么你就别占着位子。”哈德良觉得妇人说得有理，当场审结了那个案子。

253．不要解释太多

不要解释太多。很多人不珍重他们懂得的东西，而是推崇他们不懂的东西。想让某物受到重视，就要让人花些代价：人们对于费脑筋的事物才会给予很高的估价。如果你希望人们对你评价甚高，在与他们打交道时，就一定要显得比他们所要求的更明智、更审慎。但是要适当，不能过分。尽管对明理人来说，事情本身就已足够；但是对于大部分人来说，需要注意说话的技巧，不要给他们留时间来批评你，要让他们忙于琢磨你的意思。许多人赞美某物，却不知道为什么。原因就是：他们认为不懂的东西很神秘，从而产生敬畏；因为听到别人赞美，所以他们也要赞美。

253．Do not explain overmuch

Do not explain overmuch. Most men do not esteem what they understand, and venerate what they do not see. To be valued things should cost dear: what is not understood becomes overrated. You have to appear wiser and more prudent than he requires with whom you deal, if you desire to give him a high opinion of yourself; yet in this there should be moderation and no excess. And though with sensible people common sense holds its own, with most men a little elaboration is necessary. Give them no time for blame: occupy them with understanding your drift. Many praise a thing without being able to tell why, if asked. The reason is that they venerate the unknown as a mystery, and praise it because they hear it praised.

254．勿因恶小而轻视它

勿因恶小而轻视它。福有双至，祸不单行。幸与不幸常常都各寻同类。因此，所有人都想避开不幸，而与幸运同行。就连头脑简单的鸽子，也常飞往最白的墙壁。不幸之人一事无成——他本身、他的言语、他的运气，全都不顺。不要叫醒厄运之神，当她还在沉睡之时。一次跌倒算不了什么，但是致命的损失就会接踵而至，你不知道何时才是尽头。没有幸运是无暇的，也没有厄运是彻底的。对上苍的安排，要有耐心；对尘世的无常，也须谨慎。

254．Never despise an evil, however small

Never despise an evil, however small, for they never come alone: they are linked together like pieces of good fortune. Fortune and misfortune generally go to find their fellows. Hence all avoid the unlucky and associate with the fortunate. Even the doves with all their innocence resort to the whitest walls. Everything fails with the unfortunate－himself, his words, and his luck. Do not wake Misfortune when she sleeps. One slip is a little thing; yet some fatal loss may follow it till you do not know where it will end. For just as no happiness is perfect, so no ill-luck is complete. Patience serves with what comes from above; prudence with that from below.

255．行善不求大，但要常去做

行善不求大，但要常去做。你的付出，不能超出对方能回报你的能力。恩惠太多，就不是赠予，而是出售。不要耗尽他人的感激——受惠者见到无法回报你，就不会再接近你。对于许多人来说，对他们施惠太多，使他们无法承受，就会彻底失去他们：他们无法回报，就只能离去，宁愿做你的敌人，也不愿做你永远的欠债人。正如雕像不愿意再见到雕刻师一样，受惠之人也不想再见到施惠之人。施惠之术，十分玄妙，你赠予的东西不贵，但为对方所急需，才能更被珍视。

255．Do good a little at a time, but often

Do good a little at a time, but often. One should never give beyond the possibility of return. He who gives much does not give but sells. Nor drain gratitude to the dregs, for when the recipient sees all return is impossible he breaks off correspondence. With many persons it is not necessary to do more than overburden them with favours to lose them altogether: they cannot repay you, and so they retire, preferring rather to be enemies than perpetual debtors. The idol never wishes to see before him the sculptor who shaped him, nor does the benefited wish to see his benefactor always before his eyes. There is a great subtlety in giving what costs little yet is much desired, so that it is esteemed the more.

256．时刻做好防备

时刻做好防备。要防备粗鲁无礼、背信弃义、自以为是及各种愚蠢行为。世界上这些行为随处可见，最审慎的做法就是尽量避开它们。你每天都要当心，要用防御的武器武装自己，这样才能打败它们的攻击。你要防备这种情况，不要让自己的名声陷于粗鄙的威胁之中。以谨慎武装自己，就不会因为他人的粗鲁而投降。世道艰难，到处是可以颠覆我们名誉的陷阱。最好是剑走偏锋，仿照聪明的尤利西斯(1)的做法。遇到上面所说的冒犯，装作领会不到是很有用的。加之礼貌相助，将大有益处。这通常也是我们走出困境的唯一途径。

256．Go armed, always

Go armed, always, against discourtesy, perfidy, presumption, and all other kinds of folly. There is much of it in the world, and prudence lies in avoiding a meeting with it. Arm yourself each day before the mirror of attention with the weapons of defence. Thus you will beat down the attacks of folly. Be prepared for the occasion, and do not expose your reputation to vulgar contingencies. Armed with prudence, a man cannot be disarmed by impertinence. The road of human intercourse is difficult, for it is full of ruts which may jolt our credit. Best to take a byway, taking Ulysses as a model of shrewdness. Feigned misunderstanding is of great value in such matters. Aided by politeness it helps us over all, and is often the only way out of difficulties.

(1) 罗马神话中的人物，亦即希腊神话中的奥德修斯，荷马史诗《奥德赛》的主人公，智勇双全。

257．不要轻易断交

不要轻易断交。断交容易损害我们的名声。如果不能做朋友，所有人都有可能成为重要的敌人。对我们好的人少，但几乎每个人都可能对我们不好。在与甲壳虫断交之后，朱比特的鹰连在他怀里筑巢都不得安宁。暗藏的敌人借宣战敌人的手煽风点火，他们潜藏着，等待这个机会已经很久了。被得罪的朋友会成为让你最痛苦的敌人。为了掩饰自己的过错，他们会指责对方的错误。人们都是这样，事情在他们看来如何，他们就如何说；而事情看来如何，又取决于他们想要事情如何。每个人都会说我们从一开始就目光短浅，而且收场的时候又没有耐心，始终都不够谨慎。如果断交无法避免，那么也是可以谅解的，不要勃然大怒，而要慢慢疏远。这就很好地运用了优雅后退的格言。

257．Never let matters come to a rupture

Never let matters come to a rupture, for our reputation always comes injured out of the encounter. Everyone may be of importance as an enemy if not as a friend. Few can do us good, almost any can do us harm. In Jove's bosom itself even his eagle never nestles securely from the day he has quarrelled with a beetle. Hidden foes use the paw of the declared enemy to stir up the fire, and meanwhile they lie in ambush for such an occasion. Friends provoked become the bitterest of enemies. They cover their own failings with the faults of others. Everyone speaks as things seem to him, and things seem as he wishes them to appear. All blame us at the beginning for want of foresight, at the end for lack of patience, at all times for imprudence. If, however, a breach is inevitable, let it be rather excused as a slackening of friendship than by an outburst of wrath: here is a good application of the saying about a good retreat.

258．找人分担你的烦恼

找人分担你的烦恼。这样，就算是处于危险的境地，也不会独自承受所有的怨恨。有些人想凭自身高位收揽成功的所有荣耀，却只能承担失败的所有耻辱。于是，他们找不到人来开脱过失，也找不到人来分担过错。只要两人同心协力，厄运和暴徒都不敢轻易冒犯。所以，聪明的医生若治疗失败，就会以会诊的名义找个医生帮他抬尸体。找人分担重担与哀痛吧，因为孤立无援的人会承受双倍的压力。

258．Find out someone to share your troubles

Find out someone to share your troubles. You will never be all alone, even in dangers, nor bear all the burden of hate. Some think by their high position to carry off the whole glory of success, and have to bear the whole humiliation of defeat. In this way they have none to excuse them, none to share the blame. Neither fate nor the mob are so bold against two. Hence the wise physician, if he has failed to cure, looks out for someone who, under the name of a consultation, may help him carry out the corpse. Share weight and woe, for misfortune falls with double force on him that stands alone.

259．预见伤害，并将之转化为庇护

预见伤害，并将之转化为庇护。避免被人伤害要比报复他人明智得多。要想把对手变成密友，把预备攻击我们的人变成维护我们荣誉的人，的确十分精明。让别人对你怀有感激，会有许多助益，因为对你感激的人没有时间伤害你。化干戈为玉帛，是真正的处世之道。试着把敌意化为亲密吧。

259．Anticipate injuries and turn them into favours

Anticipate injuries and turn them into favours. It is wiser to avoid than to revenge them. It is an uncommon piece of shrewdness to change a rival into a confidant, or transform into guards of honour those who were aiming attacks at us. It helps much to know how to oblige, for he leaves no time for injuries that fills it up with gratitude. That is true savoir faire to turn anxieties into pleasures. Try and make a confidential relation out of ill-will itself.

260．我们不完全属于任何人，也没有任何人完全属于我们

我们不完全属于任何人，也没有任何人完全属于我们。无论是亲情还是友情，甚至是最亲密的关系，也是如此。付出全部信任和付出关心是不同的。但最亲密的朋友却会有例外，否则就会打破友谊的规则。对朋友总是会保守一些秘密，即便是儿子对父亲，也会有所隐瞒。对某人隐瞒的秘密，却会向另一个人吐露，反之亦然。如此看来，你袒露了一切，也隐瞒了一切，只是对象不同而已。

260．We belong to none and none to us, entirely

We belong to none and none to us, entirely. Neither relationship nor friendship nor the most intimate connection is sufficient to effect this. To give one's whole confidence is quite different from giving one's regard. The closest intimacy has its exceptions, without which the laws of friendship would be broken. The friend always keeps one secret to himself, and even the son always hides something from his father. Some things are kept from one that are revealed to another and vice versa. In this way one reveals all and conceals all, by making a distinction among the persons with whom we are connected.

261．不要执迷不悟

不要执迷不悟。很多人都把犯错当成义务。既然已经走错路，他们就要继续走下去，以证明自己性格坚强。他们内心其实后悔犯错，在外却为自己的错误开脱。在他们刚开始犯错时，别人以为他们是粗心；到后来，就会被看作是愚蠢。轻率的承诺或者错误的决定不应该阻碍我们去改过，但是，有的人固守自己的愚蠢，宁愿做永远的傻瓜。

261．Do not follow up a folly

Do not follow up a folly. Many make an obligation out of a blunder, and because they have entered the wrong path they think it proves their strength of character to go on in it. Within they regret their error, while outwardly they excuse it. At the beginning of their mistake they were regarded as inattentive, in the end as fools. Neither an unconsidered promise nor a mistaken resolution are really binding. Yet some continue in their folly and prefer to be constant fools.

262．能够忘记

能够忘记。如果说这需要技巧，不如说要凭运气。那些最好要忘却的事往往记得最牢。记忆不但难以驾驭，在我们最需要它的时候，弃我们于危难之中而不顾，而且还十分愚蠢，在我们不需要它的地方，把鼻子伸得很长。它主动亲近痛苦的经历，却不理踩快乐的往事。将疾病忘却是治疗疾病的唯一药方，而我们忘掉的却只是这个药方。尽管如此，我们还要培养良好的记忆习惯，因为这既能让我们生活在天堂里，也能让我们生活在地狱中。那些天真地享受一点点快乐的乐天派却是例外。

262．Be able to forget

Be able to forget. It is more a matter of luck than of skill. The things we remember best are those better forgotten. Memory is not only unruly, leaving us in the lurch when most needed, but stupid as well, putting its nose into places where it is not wanted. In painful things it is active, but neglectful in recalling the pleasurable. Very often the only remedy for the ill is to forget it, and all we forget is the remedy Nevertheless one should cultivate good habits of memory, for it is capable of making existence a Paradise or an Inferno. The happy are an exception who enjoy innocently their simple happiness.

263．许多好东西你不应一味想占有

许多好东西你不应一味想占有。如果好东西是别人的，我们更能享受它。第一天，这些东西为物主所有，此后，都属于别人。你可以从别人的财物中得到双倍享受，因为你不会心疼它，也不会厌倦它。没有的东西才是更好的，就连别人井中的水尝起来也像仙酿一样。你拥有某样东西，不但妨碍欣赏它，而且还在是否答应借给别人时平添许多烦恼。你只是为别人保管，或者不让别人得到，此外，你别无所获，而且，会因此友少敌多。

263．Many things of taste one should not possess oneself

Many things of taste one should not possess oneself. One enjoys them better if another's rather than one's own. The owner has the good of them the first day, for all the rest of the time they are for others. You take a double enjoyment in other men's property, being without fear of spoiling it and with the pleasure of novelty. Everything tastes better for having been without it: even water from another's well tastes like nectar. Possession not alone hinders enjoyment: it increases annoyance whether you lend or keep. You gain nothing except keeping things for or from others, and by this means gain more enemies than friends.

264．每天都不能大意

每天都不能大意。命运总喜欢恶作剧，只要有可乘之机，它就会出其不备地攻击我们。我们的智慧、审慎、勇气甚至美貌，都要时刻准备接受它的考验。因为轻信之日，就会是受辱之时。最需小心的时候，总是不小心。粗心大意让我们失足，并因此而毁灭。所以，别人就采取这个策略，在我们大意之时考验我们是否完美。他们在阅兵的日子放过我们，只是冷眼旁观，却选择最意外的一天，让我们的英勇得到最严格的考验。

264．Have no careless days

Have no careless days. Fate loves to play tricks, and will heap up chances to catch us unawares. Our intelligence, prudence, and courage, even our beauty, must always be ready for trial. For their day of careless trust will be that of their discredit. Care always fails just when it was most wanted. It is thoughtlessness that trips us up into destruction. Accordingly it is a piece of military strategy to put perfection to its trial when unprepared. The days of parade are watched and are allowed to pass by, but the day is chosen when least expected so as to put valour to the severest test.

265．为部下安排最难的任务

为部下安排最难的任务。许多人一遇到困难，就要立刻证明自己的能力，就像害怕淹死从而学会游泳一样。许多人就是因此而发现了自己的勇气、学识或机智——如果没有这种机会，这些都会因为胆怯而永远被埋没。困境是人为自己争得名誉的场合。当高尚的人看到自己的名声受到损害时，他会千方百计地加以维护。天主教徒伊莎贝拉女王(1)十分明白这一人生法则（正如懂得其他法则一样），正是由于她的恩宠十分精明，大船长哥伦布才得以出名，其他许多人也才能流芳百世。她就是用这个伟大技巧造就了伟大的人物。

265．Set those under you difficult task

Set those under you difficult task. Many have proved themselves able at once when they had to deal with a difficulty, just as fear of drowning makes a swimmer of a man. In this way many have discovered their own courage, knowledge, or tact, which but for the opportunity would have been forever buried beneath their want of enterprise. Dangers are the occasions to create a name for oneself; and if a noble mind sees honour at stake, he will do the work of thousands. Queen Isabella the Catholic knew well this rule of life, as well as all the others, and to a shrewd favour of this kind from her the Great Captain won his fame, and many others earned an undying name. By this great art she made great men.

(1) 西班牙女王，曾赞助哥伦布探索新航线。

266．不要因为太善良而变糟

不要因为太善良好而变糟，也就是说，不要从不生气。如此没有情感的人根本不能把他当人看。这种性格并非出于懒散，纯粹是因为无能。间或强烈地表达自己的情感，可以展示你的个性。你要知道，小鸟很快就会嘲笑木然的稻草人。甘苦参半是好品味的标志，若全是甜食，就只是为孩子和傻子而准备。如果因太过善良而麻木，就犯了大错。

266．Do not become bad from sheer goodness

Do not become bad from sheer goodness. That is, by never getting into a temper. Such men without feeling are scarcely to be considered men. It does not always arise from laziness, but from sheer inability. To feel strongly on occasion shows personality: birds soon mock at the scarecrow. It is a sign of good taste to combine bitter and sweet. All sweets is diet for children and fools. It is very bad to sink into such insensibility out of very goodness.

267．言语温软，举止优雅

言语温软，举止优雅。利箭伤人身体，恶言伤人心灵。甜美的糕点香气扑鼻。懂得说好听的话是高超的生活艺术。你能用言语来为很多东西付账，还能凭言语无所不能。因此，我们要在言语上下功夫，高贵的谈吐可以产生勇气与力量。你要满嘴塞蜜，让你的言语特别甜美，甚至使你的敌人都喜欢。如想讨人喜欢，你就要和蔼可亲。

267．Silken words, sugared manners

Silken words, sugared manners. Arrows pierce the body, insults the soul. Sweet pastry perfumes the breath. It is a great art in life to know how to sell wind. Most things are paid for in words, and by them you can remove impossibilities. Thus we deal in air, and a royal breath can produce courage and power. Always have your mouth full of sugar to sweeten your words, so that even your enemies enjoy them. To please one must be peaceful.

268．蠢人最后做的事，智者会马上做

蠢人最后做的事，智者会马上做。他们做着同样的事，只是在不同的时间里：智者在恰当的时候做，蠢人则在不当的时候做。一开始心智就混乱的人，会持续这种状态到最后。本该敲头，却去抱脚；错把右边当左边，所有的行动像小孩般幼稚。唯有一种方法能让他们朝着正确的方向，那就是迫使他们去做他们自愿做的事情。智者则相反，他们马上就明白早晚必做的是什么事，而且乐意去做，并因此获得荣誉。

268．The wise does at once what the fool does at last

The wise does at once what the fool does at last. Both do the same thing; the only difference lies in the time they do it: the one at the right time, the other at the wrong. Who starts out with his mind topsy-turvy will so continue till the end. He catches by the foot what he ought to knock on the head, he turns right into left, and in all his acts is but a child. There is only one way to get him in the right direction, and that is to force him to do what he might have done of his own accord. The wise man, on the other hand, sees at once what must be done sooner or later, so he does it willingly and gains honour thereby.

269．利用你刚上任时人们的新鲜感

利用你刚上任时人们的新鲜感。新人会受重视。新鲜事物之所以能让人快乐，是因为它不同寻常，改变了人的口味。一个新来乍到的平庸之辈比人们习以为常的杰出人物更受重用。能力可被使用殆尽，并过时。要明白新奇的光环非常短暂，四天之后人们的尊重就会消失。所以，你要学会利用人们最初对你的欣赏，在短暂的掌声中抓住一切能被利用的东西。新鲜感一旦消失，人们的热情就会冷却，对新鲜事物的欣赏就变成对习惯事物的腻烦。要相信万物都有其时，时机转眼即逝。

269．Make use of the novelty of your position

Make use of the novelty of your position; for men are valued while they are new. Novelty pleases all because it is uncommon, taste is refreshed, and a brand new mediocrity is thought more of than accustomed excellence. Ability wears away by use and becomes old. However, know that the glory of novelty is short-lived: after four days respect is gone. Accordingly, learn to utilize the first fruits of appreciation, and seize during the rapid passage of applause all that can be put to use. For once the heat of novelty over, the passion cools and the appreciation of novelty is exchanged for satiety at the customary. Believe that all has its season, which soon passes.

270．众人喜欢之物，个人不要谴责

众人喜欢之物，个人不要谴责。能取悦大众的事物，必有其可取之处——即使难以解释原因，也不防碍它受到欢迎。特立独行，总是遭人憎恨，如果还理亏，就会被当成笑柄。你伤害不到你谴责的东西，只能破坏人们对你的品味的尊敬，而遗弃你这个人和你的品味。如果你不能发现事物中好的方面，就掩藏好你的愚蠢，不要随便谴责。一般来说，品味低下总是源于无知。众人所说，就是如此，要么将是如此。

270．Do not condemn alone that which pleases all

Do not condemn alone that which pleases all. There must be something good in a thing that pleases so many; even if it cannot be explained it is certainly enjoyed. Singularity is always hated, and, when in the wrong, laughed at. You simply destroy respect for your taste rather than do harm to the object of your blame, and are left alone, you and your bad taste. If you cannot find the good in a thing, hide your incapacity and do not damn it straightway. As a general rule bad taste springs from want of knowledge. What all say, is so, or will be so.

271．不管从事任何工作，如果你所知不多，就走最安全的路线

不管从事任何工作，如果你所知不多，就走最安全的路线。你这么做，即便不被人称为机灵，也会被人认为是稳妥。另一方面，只有经过良好训练的人，方可随心所欲地勇往直前。如果无知而去冒险，和自毁没有两样。在这种情况下，一定要站在正确的一边，因为事已至此，就无法改变。所知不多的人，要走稳当的大道。处理任何事，不管懂与不懂，稳妥行事总比独树一帜更加明智。

271．In every occupation if you know little stick to the safest path

In every occupation if you know little stick to the safest. If you are not respected as subtle, you will be regarded as sure. On the other hand, a man well trained can plunge in and act as he pleases. To know little and yet seek danger is nothing else than to seek ruin. In such a case take stand on the right hand, for what is done cannot be undone. Let little knowledge keep to the king's highway, and in every case, knowing or unknowing, security is shrewder than singularity.

272．出售东西，附送殷勤

出售东西，附送殷勤。这才是最令人感激的。感兴趣的顾客所出的价钱，绝比不上感恩之人的回礼。殷勤真不是赠品，但它确实让人感恩。慷慨就是最大的恩情。对于正直之人，最贵重的就是赠予他的东西——这等于两次卖给他东西，于是就有了双倍的价钱：一是东西的价值，二是你的彬彬有礼。同时，粗俗之人确实会觉得你的慷慨有点奇怪，因为他们根本听不懂有教养的语言。

272．Sell things by the tariff of courtesy

Sell things by the tariff of courtesy. You oblige people most that way. The bid of an interested buyer will never equal the return gift of an honourable recipient of a favour. Courtesy does not really make presents, but really lays men under obligation, and generosity is the great obligation. To a right-minded man nothing costs more dear that what is given him: you sell it him twice and for two prices: one for the value, one for the politeness. At the same time it is true that with vulgar souls generosity is gibberish, for they do not understand the language of good breeding.

273．了解你所交往的人的性情

了解你所交往的人的性情。你会因此而了解他们的意图。知道事情的原因，才能明了事情的结果。先知道他的性情，才知道他的动机。个性忧郁之人总是能预见祸患，背后诽谤之人总能听到丑闻，他们不知道什么是好，于是邪恶就主动找上门。情绪激动之人说话总是有失偏颇，因为他说话用的是激情，而非理性。可见，每个人都是根据自己的感觉和脾气来表达看法，以致都远离事实。你应该学会琢磨他人的脸色，以此解读他的内心。总爱发笑的人是傻子，不苟言笑的人是伪君子。要警惕说闲话的人：他不是在胡言乱语，就是在到处打听。不要指望从面恶之人那里得到好处。大自然没有眷顾他，为了报复，他对大自然也没有敬畏。美貌常与愚蠢同行。

273．Comprehend their dispositions with whom you deal

Comprehend their dispositions with whom you deal, so as to know their intentions. Cause known, effect known, beforehand in the disposition and after in the motive. The melancholy man always foresees misfortunes, the backbiter scandals: having no conception of the good, evil offers itself to them. A man moved by passion always speaks of things differently from what they are; it is his passion speaks, not his reason. Thus each speaks as his feeling or his humour prompts him, and all far from the truth. Learn how to decipher faces and spell out the soul in the features. If a man laughs always, set him down as foolish; if never, as false. Beware of the gossip: he is either a babbler or a spy. Expect little good from the misshapen: they generally take revenge on Nature, and do little honour to her, as she has done little to them. Beauty and folly generally go hand in hand.

274．要有吸引力

要有吸引力，这是乖巧谦恭的魔力。令人快乐的性格就像磁铁，用其获得帮助是不够的，还要用其吸引善意，且广泛运用。只有美德是不够的，除非有魅力支撑——只有魅力才能让大众接受你，而且它还是驾驭别人最实用的方法。受人欢迎要靠运气，但也可以运用技巧获得。在受大自然眷顾的土地上，人工所造之物最容易扎根。在那里，人们的善意可以生长，发展成普遍的爱戴。

274．Be attractive

Be attractive. It is the magic of subtle courtesy Use the magnet of your pleasant qualities more to obtain goodwill than good deeds, but apply it to all. Merit is not enough unless supported by grace, which is the sole thing that gives general acceptance, and the most practical means of rule over others. To be in vogue is a matter of luck, yet it can be encouraged by skill, for art can best take root on a soil favoured by nature. There goodwill grows and develops into universal favour.

275．参加游戏，但应得体

参加游戏，但应得体。你不应总是装模作样而令人厌烦，这是保持豪爽风度的至理名言。你可放弃一点点尊严，以赢得人们的喜欢。你可偶尔去人们常去的地方，但不能失礼。对于当众丢丑的人，人们不会认为他在私下里有多谨慎。因一时玩乐而失去的，也许会比一生辛苦所得还要多。但是，你也不能自命不凡，不合群相当于在谴责他人。你更不能故作拘谨，女人才会如此，就连在宗教方面太过拘束也会遭人嘲笑。做男人就应像个男人。女人可以模仿男人，而且把这作为优点。但男人模仿女人则不是什么优点。

275．Join in the game as far as decency permits

Join in the game as far as decency permits. Do not always pose and be a bore: this is a maxim for gallant bearing. You may yield a touch of dignity to gain the general good-will: you may now and then go where most go, yet not beyond the bounds of decorum. He who makes a fool of himself in public will not be regarded as discreet in private life. One may lose more on a day of pleasure than has been gained during a whole life of labour. Still you must not always keep away: to be singular is to condemn all others. Still less act the prude－leave that to its appropriate sex: even religious prudery is ridiculous. Nothing so becomes a man as to be a man: a woman may affect a manly bearing as an excellence, but not vice versa.

276．知道如何完善自己的品性

知道如何完善自己的品性。常言道：人之性情七年一变。让这一变化朝着更好的方向发展，让你的品味也变得更高雅。过了第一个七年，你开始懂事。在之后的每一发展阶段，都要用新的优点为自己增光。观察这个变化以促进它，也希望有所长进于别的方面。因此，当很多人改变自身地位或职业之时，他们的行为也跟着改变了。有时，这种改变不被察觉，直至其完成之时。一个人，二十如孔雀，三十如狮子，四十如骆驼，五十如蛇精，六十如狗，七十如猴，到八十岁，便什么都不像了。

276．Know how to renew your character

Know how to renew your character, with the help both of Nature and of Art. Every seven years the disposition changes, they say. Let it be a change for the better and for the nobler in your taste. After the first seven comes reason, with each succeeding lustre let a new excellence be added. Observe this change so as to aid it, and hope also for betterment in others. Hence it arises that many change their behaviour when they change their position or their occupation. At times the change is not noticed till it reaches the height of maturity. At twenty Man is a Peacock, at thirty a Lion, at forty a Camel, at fifty a Serpent, at sixty a Dog, at seventy an Ape, at eighty nothing at all.

277．展示你自己

展示你自己。这能让你的才干更耀眼：每个人都有展示自己的时机，你要善加利用，并不是每天都有成功的机会。即便是小小的才干，踊跃者也会把它展示一番；如果他们有更多的东西，便可举办一场大型展览。一个人若多才多艺又善于展示，则被认为是奇迹。有的国家全民都惯于展示，西班牙人为最。万物要想有光彩，必须要有光线(1)。展示让事物得到补充，获得供给，且被赋予新生——如果真的卓越，则更是如此。上天赋予完美之物，也提供展示之道，因为二者缺一则不会有结果。然而展示也需要高超的技巧。即便非凡之才也有赖于环境，并非总是那么适宜。不合时宜的卖弄是不恰当的。展示之道，比其他任何素养更要避免任何故作。否则，它便让人憎恶，又因为流于虚荣而招致轻蔑。展示自己的才华要适当，以免流俗。任何过分之举皆为智者所不屑。有时，要的就是一种无声的雄辩，不经意的展示。明智的隐藏是最有效的夸耀，正是因为避开视线，反而将他人的好奇心激发至极点。不一次将长处全盘托出也是高明的；只让别人略知一二，随着时间推移，别人会发现你的长处越来越多。你的每项业绩，都是更多业绩的誓言，当别人对更多业绩产生期望之时，起初的掌声便会渐渐消失。

277．Display yourself

Display yourself. It is the illumination of talents: for each there comes an appropriate moment; use it, for not every day comes a triumph. There are some dashing men who make much show with a little, a whole exhibition with much. If ability to display them is joined to versatile gifts, they are regarded as miraculous. There are whole nations given to display: the Spanish people take the highest rank in this. Light was the first thing to cause Creation to shine forth. Display fills up much, supplies much, and gives a second existence to things, especially when combined with real excellence. Heaven that grants perfection, provides also the means of display; for one without the other were abortive. Skill is however needed for display. Even excellence depends on circumstances and is not always opportune. Ostentation is out of place when it is out of time. More than any other quality it should be free of any affectation. This is its rock of offence, for it then borders on vanity and so on contempt: it must be moderate to avoid being vulgar, and any excess is despised by the wise. At times it consists in a sort of mute eloquence, a careless display of excellence, for a wise concealment is often the most effective boast, since the very withdrawal from view piques curiosity to the highest. It is a fine subtlety too not to display one's excellence all at one time, but to grant stolen glances at it, more and more as time goes on. Each exploit should be the pledge of a greater, and applause at the first should only die away in expectation of its sequel.

(1) 指《圣经·创世纪》开端描述的情景。

278．避免抢眼而招致恶名

避免抢眼而招致恶名。即使是优点，若太著名，也将成为缺点。恶名来自离奇，怪人总受谴责，异类总让人避之不及。若打扮过分，即便美貌也会损人名誉，它太吸引注意力，会招致不满。对名誉有损的怪异行径更是让人指责。但是有些恶人想在堕落中寻求新奇，以获得不名誉之名声。就算是学识，讲时若不适度，也会沦为饶舌。

278．Avoid notoriety in all things

Avoid notoriety in all things. Even excellences become defects if they become notorious. Notoriety arises from singularity, which is always blamed: he that is singular is left severely alone. Even beauty is discredited by coxcombry, which offends by the very notice it attracts. Still more does this apply to discreditable eccentricities. Yet among the wicked there are some that seek to be known for seeking novelties in vice so as to attain to the fame of infamy. Even in matters of the intellect want of moderation may degenerate into loquacity.

279．不要回应驳斥你的人

不要回应驳斥你的人。对他人之驳斥，你必须搞清楚是出于狡诈还是出于粗鲁。驳斥并非总是出自顽固，还可能是个阴谋。对此，你须小心：前者让你受困，后者让你涉险。预防他人刺探，如何谨慎都不算过分。要防止撬锁者偷启你的心门，你只能用警惕的钥匙将其反锁。

279．Do not contradict the contradictor

Do not contradict the contradictor. You have to distinguish whether the contradiction comes from cunning or from vulgarity. It is not always obstinacy, but may be artfulness. Notice this: for in the first case one may get into difficulties, in the other into danger. Caution is never more needed than against spies. There is no such countercheck to the picklock of the mind as to leave the key of caution in the inside lock of the door.

280．做个值得信赖的人

做个值得信赖的人。光荣的行为已经绝迹，信任被人抛弃，没有几个人信守承诺，付出越多回报越少，这就是当今的世道。还有一些国家，全民均倾向于弄虚作假：要么是背信弃义让人害怕，要么总是言而无信，要么诡计多端。这种不良行为应成为警示，而不是榜样。我们所担心的是，耳濡目染此类卑劣行为可能会毁掉我们的正直。但是，值得尊敬之人从不会因为看到别人如何而忘记自己应该如何。

280．Be trustworthy

Be trustworthy. Honourable dealing is at an end, trusts are denied, few keep their word: the greater the service, the poorer the reward: that is the way with all the world nowadays. There are whole nations inclined to false dealing: with some treachery has always to be feared, with others breach of promise, with others deceit. Yet this bad behaviour of others should rather be a warning to us than an example. The fear is that the sight of such unworthy behaviour should override our integrity. But a man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.

281．赢得智者的好感

赢得智者的好感。杰出人物一声淡淡的“是”，比粗俗之人的所有欢呼更有价值。谷壳之烟不能煮熟一顿饭。智者说话富有见地，他们的赞扬能给你长久的满足。圣人安提格诺斯把自己的名声全部归于芝诺一人(1)，柏拉图也说亚里士多德一人就相当于他所有的学生(2)。有的人则使劲用乌合之众的污浊气息来填满自己的胃。即便是君主，也需要有作家为他立传，他们畏惧作家之笔，胜过丑女畏惧画家之笔。

281．Find favour with men of good sense

Find favour with men of good sense. The tepid Yes of a remarkable man is worth more than all the applause of the vulgar: you cannot make a meal off the smoke of chaff. The wise speak with understanding and their praise gives permanent satisfaction. The sage Antigonus reduced the theatre of his fame to Zeus alone, and Plato called Aristotle his whole school. Some strive to fill their stomach albeit only with the breath of the mob. Even monarchs have need of authors, and fear their pens more than ugly women the painter's pencil.

(1) 安提格诺斯是马其顿国王，曾暂时统一了希腊，亦爱好诗歌及哲学，十分推崇斯多葛派哲学的创始人芝诺（约前334—约前262）。

(2) 柏拉图是古希腊著名哲学家，苏格拉底的学生，亚里士多德（前384—前322）（古希腊著名哲学家、科学家）的老师。

282．不现身，从而使自己更受敬重

不现身，从而使自己更受敬重。惯常的现身会有损威名，缺席却会增加声望。有的人在不露面的时候被人认成是狮子，可一现身，就被视为山里出产的可笑之物。天才会因其滥用而失去光彩，因为人们更容易注意其外壳，而不是内在精髓。相比视力，想象力所及更远。错觉通常产生于耳朵，眼睛则使人醒悟。保持舆论关注之人才能保持名声。即使是不死鸟，也很少现形，从而更新自己的装饰物，并通过自身的退隐而引起人们的渴望。

282．Make use of absence to make yourself more esteemed or valued

Make use of absence to make yourself more esteemed or valued. If the accustomed presence diminishes fame, absence augments it. One that is regarded as a lion in his absence may be laughed at when present as the ridiculous result of the parturition of the mountains. Talents get soiled by use, for it is easier to see the exterior rind than the kernel of greatness it encloses. Imagination reaches farther than sight, and disillusion, which ordinarily comes through the ears, also goes out through the eyes. He keeps his fame that keeps himself in the centre of public opinion. Even the Phoenix uses its retirement for new adornment and turns absence into desire.

283．拥有善于发现之天赋

拥有善于发现之天赋。这是顶级天才的一大表现。但是，天才何时没有一点疯狂呢？如果善于发现是天才的一项特殊禀赋，善于选择则是良断的一项标志。善于发现是一种特殊的恩赐，十分罕见。大部分人能探究已被发现之事，但首先发现它却只是少数人的才能——他们是最优秀的，在整个时代也是首屈一指的。新奇事物让人赞叹，如果成功，则为拥有者赢得双倍的荣誉。在作判断之时，追新求异是很危险的，因为那样可能导致谬误；而在发明创造方面，求新求奇则应得到十足的称赞。如果二者都能成功，则都值得喝彩。

283．Have the gift of discovery

Have the gift of discovery. It is a proof of the highest genius, yet when was genius without a touch of madness? If discovery is a gift of genius, choice of means is a mark of sound sense. Discovery comes by special grace and very seldom. For many can follow up a thing when found, but to find it first is the gift of the few, and those the first in excellence and in age. Novelty flatters, and if successful gives the possessor double credit. In matters of judgment novelties are dangerous because leading to paradox, in matters of genius they deserve all praise. Yet both equally deserve applause if successful.

284．不要多管闲事

不要多管闲事。这样你才不受人怠慢。欲得人尊重，需先自重。出场宁可少，不要多。这样，别人才会需要你，从而接受你。只去别人邀请你去的地方，不要不请自来。如果主动担责，失败则自取其辱，事成也无人感激。多管闲事之人总是成为责备的对象。他不觉羞耻地进入，也会被羞辱地赶出来。

284．Do not be importunate

Do not be importunate, and so you will not be slighted. Respect yourself if you would have others respect you. Be sooner sparing than lavish with your presence. You will thus become desired and so well received. Never come unasked and only go when sent for. If you undertake a thing of your own accord you get all the blame if it fails, none of the thanks if it succeeds. The importunate is always the butt of blame; and because he thrusts himself in without shame he is thrust out with it.

285．不要死于他人之厄运

不要死于他人之厄运。注意观察那些身陷泥坑之人，看他们是如何求助从而找到灾难中的同伴以作安慰的。他们寻找别人以分担不幸，在这时候伸出援手的，往往是那些在他们好运之时不攀附他们的人。如果想要帮助快被淹死的人，而不危及自己，就要特别小心。

285．Never die of another's ill-luck

Never die of another's ill-luck. Notice those who stick in the mud, and observe how they call others to their aid so as to console themselves with a companion in misfortune. They seek someone to help them to bear misfortune, and often those who turned the cold shoulder on them in prosperity give them now a helping hand. There is great caution needed in helping the drowning without danger to oneself.

286．不要对所有的人和事都负责

不要对所有的人和事都负责。否则，你将沦为一个奴隶，所有人的奴隶。有的人天生就比其他人更幸运，他们生来就广施恩惠，别人即受惠于他们。你也许会受到诱惑，抛弃自由来换取某样东西，其实，自由更加珍贵。与其把重心放在让许多人依赖你上面，不如让自己独立于众人。手握实权的唯一好处就是你可以凭借它做更多的好事。最重要的一点是，别把责任视作恩惠，一般来说，这是别人的计谋，想达到让你依赖于他的目的。

286．Do not become responsible for all or for everyone

Do not become responsible for all or for everyone, otherwise you become a slave and the slave of all. Some are born more fortunate than others: they are born to do good as others to receive it. Freedom is more precious than any gifts for which you may be tempted to give it up. Lay less stress on making many dependent on you than on keeping yourself independent of any. The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good. Above all do not regard responsibility as a favour, for generally it is another's plan to make one dependent on him.

287．冲动之时决不行动

冲动之时决不行动，否则你将失去所有。当你不能控制自己时，你的行为通常不能代表自己。理性总是被激情赶走。这时候，你应该去找一个保持冷静的谨慎的中间人。这就是为何“旁观者清”，因为他们保持冷静。一旦察觉到自己要发脾气，你就赶紧鸣金收兵。因为热血一旦沸腾，不久就会泼溅。一瞬间的情绪失控会带来许多天的后悔，还有他人的责备。

287．Never act in a passion

Never act in a passion. If you do, all is lost. You cannot act for yourself if you are not yourself, and passion always drives out reason. In such cases interpose a prudent go-between who can only be prudent if he keeps cool. That is why onlookers see most of the game, because they keep cool. As soon as you notice that you are losing your temper beat a wise retreat. For no sooner is the blood up than it is spilt, and in a few moments occasion may be given for many days' repentance for oneself and complaints of the others.

288．顺应时势

顺应时势。我们行为、思想及一切都应视境况而定。若时机适宜，就应该下定决心，因为时势不等人。不要按照僵化的教条来生活，除非涉及基本的道德。也不要让你的意愿满足于不变的情形，因为到了明天，你可能不得不饮用今天泼出去的水。居然有人如此荒谬可笑，他们期望某一行动的一切条件都服从他们那古怪的念头，而非相反。智者明白：见风使舵、顺势求成才是谨慎的根本所在。

288．Live for the moment

Live for the moment. Our acts and thoughts and all must be determined by circumstances, Will when you may, for time and tide wait for no man. Do not live by certain fixed rules, except those that relate to the cardinal virtues. Nor let your will subscribe fixed conditions, for you may have to drink the water tomorrow which you cast away today. There be some so absurdly paradoxical that they expect all the circumstances of an action should bend to their eccentric whims and not vice versa. The wise man knows that the very polestar of prudence lies in steering by the wind.

289．要贬低一个人，莫过于表明他和任何人都没有区别

要贬低一个人，莫过于表明他和任何人都没有区别。就在他被看做凡人的那一天，他不再被视为圣人。轻浮与名誉南辕北辙。深沉之人高于常人，轻浮之人不及常人。没有什么缺陷比轻浮更能让你丧失尊重，因为它和可靠的严肃完全相反。轻浮之人即便是到了老年，也没有什么分量，尽管岁月的磨炼本应让他谨慎。轻浮这一缺点普通寻常，却依然招来人们的轻视。

289．Nothing depreciates a man more than to show he is a man like other men

Nothing depreciates a man more than to show he is a man like other men. The day he is seen to be very human he ceases to be thought divine. Frivolity is the exact opposite of reputation. And as the reserved are held to be more than men, so the frivolous are held to be less. No failing causes such failure of respect. For frivolity is the exact opposite of solid seriousness. A man of levity cannot be a man of weight even when he is old, and age should oblige him to be prudent. Although this blemish is so common it is none the less despised.

290．如能赢得人们的喜爱和尊敬，则是莫大的幸运

如能赢得人们的喜爱和尊敬，则是莫大的幸运。通常来讲，一个人想要赢得尊敬，则不敢让人喜爱。相比恨，爱更多愁善感。喜爱与尊敬并不融洽。因此，你的目标应是既不令人过于畏惧，也不令人过于喜爱。喜爱带来信心，别人对你越是亲近，对你的敬意就越会减损。宁愿被敬爱，而不是被喜爱，因为喜爱更大众化。

290．It is a piece of good fortune to combine men's love and respect

It is a piece of good fortune to combine men's love and respect. Generally one dare not be liked if one would be respected. Love is more sensitive than hate. Love and honour do not go well together. So that one should aim neither to be much feared nor much loved. Love introduces confidence, and the further this advances, the more respect recedes. Prefer to be loved with respect rather than with passion, for that is a love suitable for many.

291．懂得如何揣测他人

懂得如何揣测他人。智者要小心防范恶人的陷阱。要测试他人的判断力，你须有高超的判断力。了解他人的特性，比了解植物和矿石的特性更重要。这真是人生中最精明的技艺之一。辨别金属，你可听其音；辨别人，你可闻其言。一个人的言语可证明其是否正直，行动则更具说服力。揣度别人需要特别的小心，深入的观察，敏锐的辨别与明智的判断。

291．Know how to test people

Know how to test people. The care of the wise must guard against the snare of the wicked. Great judgment is needed to test that of another. It is more important to know the characteristics and properties of persons than those of vegetables and minerals. It is indeed one of the shrewdest things in life. You can tell metals by their ring and men by their voice. Words are proof of integrity, deeds still more. Here one requires extraordinary care, deep observation, subtle discernment, and judicious decision.

292．让你自身的素质超过职责的要求

让你自身的素质超过职责的要求，而不是相反。不管职位多高，你本身的素质都应更高。随着职位的升高，广博的才能随之越来越得到拓展。与之相反，气量狭小之人容易失去信心，并因为职责减小、名望减损而陷入悲伤之中。伟大的奥古斯都(1)更为看重的不是成为高贵的君主，而是成为一个伟大的人。高级的头脑能在此找到适当的位置，有充分根据的自信能在此找到恰当的机会。

292．Let your personal qualities surpass those of your office

Let your personal qualities surpass those of your office, do not let it be the other way about. However high the post, the person should be higher. An extensive capacity expands and dilates more and more as his office becomes higher. On the other hand, the narrow-minded will easily lose heart and come to grief with diminished responsibilities and reputation. The great Augustus thought more of being a great man than a great prince. Here a lofty mind finds fit place, and well-grounded confidence finds its opportunity.

(1) 罗马帝国第一任皇帝，恺撒的甥孙及养子。当政时扩张疆土，美化罗马，招纳学者，并奠定了长达两个世纪的“罗马式和平”。

293．做人应成熟

做人应成熟。人的成熟表现于外表的装束，更表现于风度。物质本身之重量说明金属之贵重，道德之重量说明人之贵重。成熟让才能得以完备而引人敬重。一个人镇静的举止构成他心灵的外在表现。这不是存在于愚蠢的麻木，像轻率之举那般，而是存在于淡然的威严。成熟之人说话像在发表演讲，行动像在履行契约。成熟使人更完善，只有拥有了成熟，你才算得上完善。当你不再像个孩子，你就要开始做到严肃和有权威。

293．Maturity

Maturity. It is shown in the costume, still more in the customs. Material weight is the sign of a precious metal; moral, of a precious man. Maturity gives finish to his capacity and arouses respect. A composed bearing in a man forms a facade to his soul. It does not consist in the insensibility of fools, as frivolity would have it, but in a calm tone of authority. With men of this kind sentences are orations and acts are deeds. Maturity finishes a man off, for each is so far a complete man according as he possesses maturity. On ceasing to be a child a man begins to gain seriousness and authority.

294．观点不能有所偏颇

观点不能有所偏颇。每个人都会依据自己的利益而各执己见，并想象自己肯定理由充足。因为大多数人的判断都让步于自身的意愿。可能会发生这种情况：两人针锋相对，各执己见，都认为自己占理。但道理自有其原则，从无两张面孔。在这种困境下，谨慎之人会极其小心，审察对方的观点，也怀疑自己的观点。在此情况下，应换位思考，研究对方的理由，这样，你就不会用如此糊涂的方式来谴责对方，或证明自己。

294．Be moderate in your views

Be moderate in your views. Everyone holds views according to his interest, and imagines he has abundant grounds for them. For with most men judgment has to give way to inclination. It may occur that two may meet with exactly opposite views and yet each thinks to have reason on his side, yet reason is always true to itself and never has two faces. In such a difficulty a prudent man will go to work with care, for his judgment of his opponent's view may cast doubt on his own. Place yourself in such a case in the other man's place and then investigate the reasons for his opinion. You will not then condemn him or justify yourself in such a confusing way.

295．若未奏效，不要邀功

若未奏效，不要邀功。很多没有资格邀功的人总是宣扬自己的功绩。他们若无其事地把一切都描述得神秘莫测。他们像个变色龙，一心想赢得他人的掌声，却令人捧腹大笑。虚荣总是让人反感，在此还应受人鄙视。为了名利，有人如蚂蚁一般四处攀爬，窃取别人业绩的渣滓。你的功绩越大，越不需伪装：踏实地做自己该做的事，不要理会他人的说法。功劳尽可能拱手相让，但不要待价而沽。不要雇佣贿赂来的笔在污泥上写下对你的赞美，让知情者嘲笑。宁可立志去做一名英雄，也不要只是表面如此。

295．Do not affect what you have not effected

Do not affect what you have not effected. Many claim exploits without the slightest claim. With the greatest coolness they make a mystery of all. Chameleons of applause they afford others a surfeit of laughter. Vanity is always objectionable, here it is despicable. These ants of honour go crawling about filching scraps of exploits. The greater your exploits the less you need affect them: content yourself with doing, leave the talking to others. Give away your deeds but do not sell them. And do not hire venal pens to write down praises in the mud, to the derision of the knowing ones. Aspire rather to be a hero than merely to appear one.

296．高贵的品质

高贵的品质。高贵的品质成就高贵的人。一个品质高贵之人比众多平庸之徒更有价值。有人什么东西都要用最好的，哪怕是家用器具。伟大的人更应使其灵魂尽可能伟大。上帝的一切都是永恒而无限的，英雄的一切也应伟大而庄严，这样，他的所有言行才显得无比威严。

296．Noble qualities

Noble qualities. Noble qualities make noblemen: a single one of them is worth more than a multitude of mediocre ones. There was once a man who made all his belongings, even his household utensils, as great as possible. How much more ought a great man see that the qualities of his soul are as great as possible. In God all is eternal and infinite, so in a hero everything should be great and majestic, so that all his deeds, nay, all his words, should he pervaded by a transcendent majesty.

297．行动总如处于监视中

行动总如处于监视中。一个人如果知道有人看着他，或即将看见他，定会环视四周。他知道隔墙有耳，也知道恶有恶报。即便独自一人，他也像全世界的人都在看着他一样，小心行事。他明白，所有的事情迟早会被人知道，所以行动时他假定有目击证人在场——这些人以后必会听证此事。希望全世界的人都一直监视自己的人，自然不介意邻居从墙头看到他。

297．Always act as if your acts were seen

Always act as if your acts were seen. He must see all round who sees that men see him or will see him. He knows that walls have ears and that ill deeds rebound back. Even when alone he acts as if the eyes of the whole world were upon him. For as he knows that sooner or later all will be known, so he considers those to be present as witnesses who must afterwards hear of the deed. He that wished the whole world might always see him did not mind that his neighbours could see him over their walls.

298．可造就非凡之人的三大要素

可造就非凡之人的三大要素。它们是上天慷慨赐予的精选礼物：天赋异禀、智慧超凡、品味高雅。想得好当然好，想得对则更好——这才算理解了什么是好。固执的判断是不行的，只会导致麻烦多于用处。正确的思考是明智心性的果实。人在20岁时依随意愿，30岁时凭其智慧，40岁时凭其判断。有些人的头脑像山猫的眼睛一样，可在黑暗中发光，在最黑暗的地方则最明白。还有的人则更善于随机应变，处理紧急情况时，总是能抓住要害——这种素质带来丰富而优质的东西，是一种丰饶的福气。同时，高雅的品味还可以给整个人生增添趣味。

298．Three things go to a prodigy

Three things go to a prodigy. They are the choicest gifts of Heaven's prodigality－a fertile genius, a profound intellect, a pleasant and refined taste. To think well is good, to think right is better: it is the understanding of the good. It will not do for the judgment to reside in the backbone: it would be of more trouble than use. To think right is the fruit of a reasonable nature. At twenty the will rules; at thirty the intellect; at forty the judgment. There are minds that shine in the dark like the eyes of the lynx, and are most clear where there is most darkness. Others are more adapted for the occasion－they always hit on that which suits the emergency: such a quality produces much and good－a sort of fecund felicity. In the meantime good taste seasons the whole of life.

299．让人有饥饿感

让人有饥饿感。哪怕是玉液琼酿，也应及时从嘴边拿开。需求是衡量价值的标尺。哪怕在口渴的时候，浅尝也比牛饮显得更有品味。少且精则倍加美好，第二回的满足则身价大跌。过度的快乐总有危险，而且会招致众神的愤怒。要取悦于人，唯一的办法就是吊他胃口，让他保持饿意。如果你一定要激起别人的欲望，最好是让他着急，而不是让他享受。通过努力获得的快乐给人双倍的喜悦。

299．Leave off hungry

Leave off hungry. One ought to remove even the bowl of nectar from the lips. Demand is the measure of value. Even with regard to bodily thirst it is a mark of good taste to slake but not to quench it. Little and good is twice good. The second time comes a great falling off. Surfeit of pleasure was always dangerous and brings down the ill-will of the Highest Powers. The only way to please is to revive the appetite by the hunger that is left. If you must excite desire, better do it by the impatience of want than by the repletion of enjoyment. Happiness earned gives double joy.

300．总而言之，做一位圣徒

总而言之，做一位圣徒。一切尽在此言中。美德是一切完美之链环，一切快乐之中心。美德使人审慎、贤明、睿智、小心、聪明、勇敢、深思、可靠、快乐、光荣、诚实，总之，它能让人成为一个全方位的英雄。有三件东西可使人幸福：健康、圣洁、智慧。美德是这个宇宙的太阳，良心构成了其中的一半。她如此美丽，讨得了上帝和众生的欢心。没有什么比美德可爱，没有什么比邪恶可恨。只有美德是严肃的，其他的均可作为笑谈。衡量一个人的能力与伟大，是用德行而不是财富。拥有美德，便拥有了一切。它让人生时被人爱戴，死后被人怀念。

300．In one word, be a saint

In one word, be a saint. So is all said at once. Virtue is the link of all perfections, the centre of all the felicities. She makes a man prudent, discreet, sagacious, cautious, wise, courageous, thoughtful, trustworthy, happy, honoured, truthful, and a universal Hero. Three HHH's make a man happy－Health, Holiness, and a Headpiece. Virtue is the sun of the microcosm, and has for hemisphere a good conscience. She is so beautiful that she finds favour with both God and man. Nothing is lovable but virtue, nothing detestable but vice. Virtue alone is serious, all else is but jest. A man's capacity and greatness are to be measured by his virtue and not by his fortune. She alone is all-sufficient. She makes men lovable in life, memorable after death.

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Table of Contents

前折页

书名页

版权页

目录

译者序：历经时光淘洗而不衰的处世经典

1．万物已近极致

1．Everything is at its acme

2．品性与智慧

2．Character and intellect

3．做事时常留有悬念

3．Keep matters for a time in suspense

4．有识亦应有胆

4．Knowledge and courage

5．让别人依赖你

5．Create a feeling of dependence

6．至善至美的境界

6．A man at his highest point

7．不要比上司更耀眼

7．Avoid victories over superiors

8．不被激情左右

8．To be without passions

9．避免土生土长的缺陷

9．Avoid the faults of your nation

10．财富与名望

10．Fortune and fame

11．择师而交

11．Cultivate those who can teach you

12．自然和人工：原料与加工

12．Nature and art

13．有时三思而行，有时立下决断

13．Act sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes on first impulse

14．事物本身及做事的方法

14．The thing itself and the way it is done

15．广纳贤人

15．Keep ministering spirits

16．学识和善心

16．Knowledge and good intentions

17．变换你的行为模式

17．Vary the mode of action

18．努力和能力

18．Application and ability

19．事前不要让人期望过高

19．Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering

20．生逢其时的人

20．A man of the age

21．幸运之道

21．The art of being lucky

22．学以致用

22．A man of knowledge to the point

23．没有瑕疵

23．Be spotless

24．控制自己的幻想

24．Keep the imagination under control

25．善于领会弦外之音

25．Know how to take a hint

26．揪出他人的把柄

26．Find out each man's thumbscrew

27．求精深重于求广博

27．Prize intensity more than extent

28．超凡脱俗

28．Common in nothing

29．刚直的人

29．A man of rectitude

30．不做毁誉之事

30．Have naught to do with occupations of ill-repute

31．学会趋利避害

31．Select the lucky and avoid the unlucky

32．因善行而闻名

32．Have the reputation of being gracious

33．知道如何逃避

33．Know how to withdraw

34．了解自己的最强项

34．Know your strongest point

35．遇事斟酌，遇要事则更要斟酌

35．Think over things, most over the most important

36．进退之际，了解时运

36．In acting or refraining, weigh your luck

37．准备一些讥诮话，并善加利用

37．Keep a store of sarcasms, and know how to use them

38．急流勇退

38．Leave your luck while winning

39．了解事物成熟的时机，并善加利用

39．Recognize when things are ripe, and then enjoy them

40．获得人们的好感

40．Gain the goodwill of people

41．切勿言过其实

41．Never exaggerate

42．天生为王

42．Born to command

43．心随精英，口随大众

43．Think with the few and speak with the many

44．英雄相惜

44．Sympathy with great minds

45．狡猾可以运用，但不能滥用

45．Use, but do not abuse, cunning

46．控制你的反感情绪

46．Master your antipathies

47．避免“为荣誉而决斗”

47．Avoid "affairs of honour"

48．做一个有深度的人至关重要

48．So much depends on being a person of depth

49．明察善断

49．Observation and judgment

50．不失自尊

50．Never lose self-respect

51．选择有道

51．Know how to choose well

52．从不慌乱

52．Never be put out

53．聪明且勤奋

53．Be diligent and intelligent

54．懂得展示你的勇气

54．Know how to show your teeth

55．善于等待

55．Wait

56．随机应变

56．Have presence of mind

57．慢且稳

57．Be slow and Sure

58．恰当展现自己

58．Adapt yourself to your company

59．要有完美的收场

59．Finish off well

60．判断准确

60．A sound judgment

61．卓越之处求卓越

61．To excel in what is excellent

62．善其事必先利其器

62．Use good instruments

63．抢先为上

63．To be the first of the kind is an excellence

64．远离烦恼

64．Avoid worry

65．培养高雅的品味

65．Elevated taste

66．使结局完美

66．See that things end well

67．选择能够获得殊荣的行业

67．Choose an occupation that wins distinction

68．点拨其心智，胜于助其回忆

68．It is better to help with intelligence than with memory

69．不要冲动行事

69．Do not give way to every common impulse

70．学会拒绝

70．Know how to refuse

71．不要左右摇摆

71．Do not vacillate

72．要当机立断

72．Be resolute

73．安然退避

73．Utilize slips

74．与人为善

74．Do not be unsociable

75．选择一位英雄作为偶像

75．Choose a heroic ideal

76．不要总开玩笑

76．Do not always be jesting

77．做人须八面玲珑

77．Be all things to all men

78．做事有道

78．The art of undertaking things

79．轻松快活的个性

79．A genial disposition

80．获取信息要谨慎

80．Take care to get information

81．勇于推陈出新

81．Renew your brilliance

82．凡事无论好与坏，不要走极端

82．Drain nothing to the dregs, neither good nor ill

83．容许自己有无伤大雅之过

83．Allow yourself some venial fault

84．善用对手

84．Make use of your enemies

85．不做无所不知之人

85．Do not be a wild card

86．预防流言蜚语

86．Prevent scandal

87．文明和高雅

87．Culture and elegance

88．举止高贵大方

88．Let your behaviour be fine and noble

89．了解自己

89．Know yourself

90．长寿的秘密

90．The secret of long life

91．对做某事审慎与否有疑虑，就别着手去做

91．Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts of its prudence

92．要有超凡的智慧

92．Transcendent wisdom

93．多才多艺

93．Versatility

94．让你的才能高深莫测

94．Keep the extent of your abilities unknown

95．让人们保持对你的期望

95．Keep expectation alive

96．至高无上的辨别力

96．The highest discretion

97．赢得并维护美名

97．Obtain and preserve a reputation

98．掩饰你的意图

98．Write your intentions in cypher

99．本质与表象

99．Reality and appearance

100．做一个清醒的人，智慧的信徒，贤能的臣子

100．Be a man without illusions, a wise Christian, a philosophic courtier

101．世上的一半人嘲笑另一半人，其实他们都是蠢人

101．One half of the world laughs at the other, and fools are they all

102．天降大福需有大心胸消受

102．Be able to stomach big slices of luck

103．让每人都保有尊严

103．Let each keep up his dignity

104．明确不同工作的要求

104．Know the demands of different occupations

105．勿遭人烦

105．Don't be a bore

106．勿炫耀你的地位

106．Do not parade your position

107．勿自鸣得意

107．Show no self-satisfaction

108．与人同行是成为伟人的捷径

108．The path to greatness is along with others

109．不要吹毛求疵

109．Be not censorious

110．不要坐以待毙

110．Do not wait till you are a sinking sun

111．赢得朋友

111．Have friends

112．博取他人的好感

112．Gain good-will

113．未雨绸缪

113．In prosperity prepare for adversity

114．避免与人相争

114．Never compete

115．习惯熟人的缺点

115．Get used to the failings of your familiars

116．只和可敬之人交往

116．Only act with honourable men

117．决不谈论自己

117．Never talk about yourself

118．要赢得谦恭有礼的名声

118．Acquire the reputation of courtesy

119．避免惹人厌烦

119．Avoid becoming disliked

120．生活讲求实际

120．Live practically

121．不要小题大做

121．Do not make a business of what is no business

122．言行应有威信

122．Distinction in speech and action

123．避免矫揉造作

123．Avoid affectation

124．要被他人想念

124．Get yourself missed

125．不要成为污点记录簿

125．Do not be a black list

126．愚蠢并非做了蠢事，而在于做后不知掩饰

126．Folly consists not in committing folly, but in not hiding it when committed

127．凡事从容优雅

127．Grace in everything

128．要有高远的志向

128．Highmindedness

129．从不抱怨

129．Never complain

130．要干，且要让人看见

130．Do and be seen doing

131．慷慨大度

131．Nobility of feeling

132．修正你的判断

132．Revise your judgments

133．宁可同醉，而不独醒

133．Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone

134．加倍储存你的资源

134．Double your resources

135．不要滋长唱反调的习气

135．Do not nourish the spirit of contradiction

136．抓住事情关键

136．Post yourself in the centre of things

137．圣人自足

137．The sage should be self-sufficing

138．任其自然的艺术

138．The art of letting things alone

139．冷静面对倒霉的日子

139．Recognize unlucky days

140．一眼看到事物好的一面

140．Find the good in a thing at once

141．不要只倾听自己的声音

141．Do not listen to yourself

142．当对手先站在正确的一方时，你不能固执地站在错误的一方

142．Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your opponent has anticipated you in taking the right one

143．别为免俗而玩弄诡辩之术

143．Never become paradoxical in order to avoid the trite

144．开始于他人，受用于自己

144．Begin with another's to end with your own

145．藏好你受伤的手指

145．Do not show your wounded finger

146．透过现象看本质

146．Look into the interior of things

147．采纳他人的建议

147．Do not be inaccessible

148．掌握谈话的艺术

148．Have the art of conversation

149．懂得推罪于人

149．Know how to put off ills on others

150．推销得法

150．Know how to get your price for things

151．高瞻远瞩

151．Think beforehand

152．不与令自己黯然失色之人为伍

152．Never have a companion who casts you in the shade

153．不要去填补前人留下的巨大空缺

153．Beware of entering where there is a great gap to be filled

154．不轻易相信，也不轻易喜欢

154．Do not believe, or like, lightly

155．掌控激情的艺术

155．The art of mastering your passions

156．选择你的朋友

156．Select your friends

157．识人别出错

157．Do not make mistakes about character

158．善用朋友

158．Make use of your friends

159．忍受愚蠢

159．Put up with fools

160．说话要谨慎

160．Be careful in speaking

161．认清自身喜爱的缺点

161．Know your pet faults

162．如何战胜对手和诽谤者

162．How to triumph over rivals and detractors

163．决不因同情而卷入他人的不幸

163．Never, from sympathy with the unfortunate, involve yourself in his fate

164．投石问路

164．Throw straws in the air

165．斗争也要讲体面

165．Wage war honourably

166．分辨善言者与善行者

166．Distinguish the man of words from the man of deeds

167．知道怎样依靠自己

167．Know how to take your own part

168．不要沦为愚蠢的怪物

168．Do not indulge in the eccentricities of folly

169．多加小心，避免万一失手胜过百发百中

169．Be more careful not to miss once than to hit a hundred times

170．凡事有所保留

170．In all things keep something in reserve

171．不要滥用人情

171．Do not waste influence

172．决不与一无所有者争斗

172．Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose

173．与人相交，不要像玻璃般易碎，朋友间尤其如此

173．Do not be glass in intercourse, still less in friendship

174．不要活在匆忙中

174．Do not live in a hurry

175．做个实在的人

175．A solid man

176．自知或从知者处知

176．Have knowledge, or know those that have knowledge

177．避免与人太亲近

177．Avoid familiarities in intercourse

178．信赖你的内心

178．Trust your heart

179．缄默是才能的标志

179．Reticence is the seal of capacity

180．决不被敌人误导

180．Never be guided by what your enemy has done

181．说真话，但不要说出所有真话

181．The truth, but not the whole truth

182．凡事都要勇敢

182．A grain of boldness in everything

183．不要固执己见

183．Do not hold your views too firmly

184．不要过分拘礼

184．Do not be ceremonious

185．切莫孤注一掷赌名声

185．Never stake your credit on a single cast

186．认识缺点，不管其地位有多高

186．Recognize faults, however high placed

187．令人愉快之事，自己做；令人不快之事，让他人代劳

187．Do pleasant things yourself, unpleasant things through others

188．成为赞美之人

188．Be the bearer of praise

189．利用他人的欲望

189．Utilize another's wants

190．在万物中寻觅慰藉

190．Find consolation in all things

191．慎防巧言令色

191．Do not take payment in politeness

192．心境平和则长寿

192．Peaceful life, a long life

193．防备那些利用他人达到自己目的的人

193．Watch him that begins with another's to end with his own

194．理性看待自己和自己的事

194．Have reasonable views of yourself and of your affairs

195．学会欣赏别人

195．Know how to appreciate

196．知道你的幸运星

196．Know your ruling star

197．不要为蠢人所累

197．Do not carry fools on your back

198．懂得易地而处

198．Know how to transplant yourself

199．获得自己合适的位置，凭德行而非逾越

199．To find a proper place by merit, not by presumption

200．把一些愿望留到以后去满足

200．Leave something to wish for

201．看上去愚蠢的人都是笨蛋，看上去聪明的人也有一半是笨蛋

201．They are all fools who seem so besides half the rest

202．言语和行为共同打造完美之人

202．Words and deeds make the perfect man

203．认识你这个时代的伟人

203．Know the great men of your age

204．举轻若重，且举重若轻

204．Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy

205．懂得漠视的技巧

205．Know how to play the card of contempt

206．要明白平庸者无处不在

206．Know that there are vulgar people everywhere

207．学会控制自己

207．Be moderate

208．不要死于愚蠢

208．Do not die of the fools' disease

209．超然于世俗的愚蠢

209．Keep yourself free from common follies

210．懂得怎样对待真相

210．Know how to play the card of truth

211．天堂中一切是福，地狱中所有为苦

211．In heaven all is bliss

212．懂得保留绝招的艺术

212．Keep to yourself the final touches of your art

213．懂得如何反驳

213．Know how to contradict

214．不要把一个错误变成两个错误

214．Do not turn one blunder into two

215．提防那些掩饰自己意图的人

215．Watch him that acts on second thoughts

216．清楚地表达自己

216．Be expressive

217．没有永远的爱，也没有永远的恨

217．Neither love nor hate forever

218．行动不可出自固执，而应源于了解

218．Never act from obstinacy but from knowledge

219．不要被看成伪君子

219．Do not pass for a hypocrite

220．不能披狮皮，那就披狐皮

220．If you cannot clothe yourself in lionskin use foxpelt

221．不要动辄使自己和他人感到尴尬

221．Do not seize occasions to embarrass yourself or others

222．缄默是谨慎的表现

222．Reserve is proof of prudence

223．不要因做作或粗心而显得古怪

223．Be not eccentric

224．不看事物的反面，不管事情怎样出现

224．Never take things against the grain

225．知道你最大的缺点

225．Know your chief fault

226．乐于帮助他人

226．Take care to be obliging

227．不要成为第一印象的奴隶

227．Do not be the slave of first impressions

228．不要传播丑闻

228．Do not be a scandal-monger

229．合理规划自己的生活

229．Plan out your life wisely

230．早日睁开你的眼睛

230．Open your eyes betimes

231．不让他人看到未成之事

231．Never let things be seen half-finished

232．要接触实务

232．Have a touch of business sense

233．提供点食物，不要让人难咽

233．Let not the proffered morsel be distasteful

234．决不把名誉托付他人，除非他人以名誉作抵押

234．Never trust your honour to another, unless you have his in pledge

235．求人有术

235．Know how to ask

236．如果日后必求人且需答谢，还不如先施惠于人

236．Make an obligation beforehand of what would have to be a reward afterwards

237．决不分享上司的秘密

237．Never share the secrets of your superiors

238．知道自己缺少什么

238．Know what is wanting in yourself

239．不要打破沙锅问到底

239．Do not be captious

240．学会装傻

240．Make use of folly

241．容忍别人嘲笑，但别嘲弄他人

241．Put up with raillery, but do not practise it

242．做事要有始有终

242．Push advantages

243．不要太过善良

243．Do not be too much of a dove

244．让别人对你感恩

244．Create a feeling of obligation

245．要有独到的见解，这是才智过人的标志

245．Original and out-of-the-way views

246．除非被要求，决不提供解释

246．Never offer satisfaction unless it is demanded

247．求知应多，生活应简

247．Know a little more, live a little less

248．不要认同最新的说法

248．Do not go with the last speaker

249．人生不要本末倒置

249．Never begin life with what should end it

250．何时把他人的话反过来听

250．When to change the conversation

251．运用人道之时，就当神道不存。运用神道之时，只当人道不在

251．Use human means as if there were no divine ones, and divine as if there were no human ones

252．活着并非全为自己，也不是全为他人

252．Neither belong entirely to yourself nor entirely to others

253．不要解释太多

253．Do not explain overmuch

254．勿因恶小而轻视它

254．Never despise an evil, however small

255．行善不求大，但要常去做

255．Do good a little at a time, but often

256．时刻做好防备

256．Go armed, always

257．不要轻易断交

257．Never let matters come to a rupture

258．找人分担你的烦恼

258．Find out someone to share your troubles

259．预见伤害，并将之转化为庇护

259．Anticipate injuries and turn them into favours

260．我们不完全属于任何人，也没有任何人完全属于我们

260．We belong to none and none to us, entirely

261．不要执迷不悟

261．Do not follow up a folly

262．能够忘记

262．Be able to forget

263．许多好东西你不应一味想占有

263．Many things of taste one should not possess oneself

264．每天都不能大意

264．Have no careless days

265．为部下安排最难的任务

265．Set those under you difficult task

266．不要因为太善良而变糟

266．Do not become bad from sheer goodness

267．言语温软，举止优雅

267．Silken words, sugared manners

268．蠢人最后做的事，智者会马上做

268．The wise does at once what the fool does at last

269．利用你刚上任时人们的新鲜感

269．Make use of the novelty of your position

270．众人喜欢之物，个人不要谴责

270．Do not condemn alone that which pleases all

271．不管从事任何工作，如果你所知不多，就走最安全的路线

271．In every occupation if you know little stick to the safest path

272．出售东西，附送殷勤

272．Sell things by the tariff of courtesy

273．了解你所交往的人的性情

273．Comprehend their dispositions with whom you deal

274．要有吸引力

274．Be attractive

275．参加游戏，但应得体

275．Join in the game as far as decency permits

276．知道如何完善自己的品性

276．Know how to renew your character

277．展示你自己

277．Display yourself

278．避免抢眼而招致恶名

278．Avoid notoriety in all things

279．不要回应驳斥你的人

279．Do not contradict the contradictor

280．做个值得信赖的人

280．Be trustworthy

281．赢得智者的好感

281．Find favour with men of good sense

282．不现身，从而使自己更受敬重

282．Make use of absence to make yourself more esteemed or valued

283．拥有善于发现之天赋

283．Have the gift of discovery

284．不要多管闲事

284．Do not be importunate

285．不要死于他人之厄运

285．Never die of another's ill-luck

286．不要对所有的人和事都负责

286．Do not become responsible for all or for everyone

287．冲动之时决不行动

287．Never act in a passion

288．顺应时势

288．Live for the moment

289．要贬低一个人，莫过于表明他和任何人都没有区别

289．Nothing depreciates a man more than to show he is a man like other men

290．如能赢得人们的喜爱和尊敬，则是莫大的幸运

290．It is a piece of good fortune to combine men's love and respect

291．懂得如何揣测他人

291．Know how to test people

292．让你自身的素质超过职责的要求

292．Let your personal qualities surpass those of your office

293．做人应成熟

293．Maturity

294．观点不能有所偏颇

294．Be moderate in your views

295．若未奏效，不要邀功

295．Do not affect what you have not effected

296．高贵的品质

296．Noble qualities

297．行动总如处于监视中

297．Always act as if your acts were seen

298．可造就非凡之人的三大要素

298．Three things go to a prodigy

299．让人有饥饿感

299．Leave off hungry

300．总而言之，做一位圣徒

300．In one word, be a saint

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