智慧书

序号 标题 中文 英文
205205205．学会利用藐视
获取难得之物的最好方法就是对它们不屑一顾。世问之物，苦苦寻觅不见踪影，而稍后，你不必费力，它们却奔涌而来。尘世万物是天国的影子，其行止亦如影子；你追赶它们，它们就逃走；你逃离它们，它们却追逐你而来。藐视也是一种最机警的报复手段。有这么一句智慧的箴言：永远不要用笔来保卫自己，因为这会给你的敌人以可乘之机并使他们出名，而达不到惩罚他们的目的。卑鄙小人常会狡猾地对抗伟人：他们试图间接地由此得到他们根本就不配的荣耀。如果杰出人物对他们的对手置之不理的话，那些小人恐怕将永远默默无闻。没有比漠视更好的报复了：把那些人埋葬在他们愚昧的灰烬中。轻妄之徒想妄经由纵火烧掉世界和历史的奇迹以成不朽。平息流言蜚语的方法之一就是置之不理。指责它们只会给自己带来伤害。对它们反唇相讥只会使自己荣誉受毁。你应为别人想与你媲美而感到高兴，尽管他们的言语能使完美蒙上一层阴影，却毕竟难以将完美真正掩盖。		205 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 besides 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.
206206206．须知俗庸之辈无处不在
俗庸之辈无处不在，甚至科林斯①和最显赫的家族也不能幸免。每个人都会在自己家里见到他们。不仅有通常的庸人，还有出自名门望族的俗庸之人，这种人更是庸俗有加之辈。这些人折射出俗气的实质，就如同一面镜子的碎片，但却更具伤害性。他们说起话来就如同白痴并且常常妄言批评别人。他们是传播无知的使徒，守护愚蠢的教父，贪恋自贬人格的流言蜚语。对他们的言语可以置之不理，更不必管他们感觉如何。结识他们是为了避开他们：避免与他们同流合污或成为他们的攻击目标。任何愚蠢都是粗俗，而庸俗之国则是由蠢人组成。		206 Know that there are vulgar Natures everywhere,
even in Corinth itself, even in the highest families. Everyone 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 folly, 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.
207207207．要有自制力
对偶然事件要有高度的警惕性。激情奔放的突发性动作会使谨慎失去平衡，而这正是你有可能栽筋斗的地方。人在狂怒或满足的一瞬间比在心平气和的状态下产生更多的想法。一秒中的狂暴会使你终生悔恨。工于心计的人为谨慎的人们设下这些陷井，就是为了摸清底细井试探对手的思想。为了侦察到秘密，他们必须深入到最伟大的灵魂的深处。那么你的对策呢？控制自己，特别是控制自己突发的冲动。控制自己的冲动同驾驭烈马类似；如果你在马背上表现得睿智的话，那么你就会事事聪明。能够预见危险的人会摸索着找到自己的道路。冲动之下的言语对脱口而出的人也许微不足道，但听话者会衡量它的份量。		207 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.
208208208．不要因犯愚蠢病而死去
聪明的人通常糊涂地死掉。傻子会被忠告噎死。如果你推理太过，你会死于愚蠢。一些人因其过分敏感而死，而另一些人因其麻木不仁而死。一些人因其从不知悔恨为何物而成傻瓜，而另一些人却因其事事懊悔而傻。因过分聪明而暴亡是愚蠢的。一些人因其明了一切而暴死，另一些人因其事事不明而活着。尽管许多人死于愚蠢，却极少有蠢材死掉，因为他们从来谈不上活过。		208 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.
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