Chapter 1
認識自己
…
誠實地面對自己，不逃避。
你害怕了，誰來替你勇敢？
Be honest and be brave.
知識和勇氣需共存
Knowledge and courage are the elements of Greatness.
成就自己的完美
A man at his high point.
憑著「個性」 和「智慧」 做事
Character and intellect are the two poles of our capacity.
不受情緒擺佈
To be without passions.
避免受環境影響
Avoid the faults of your nation.
去體會天然與人工修飾的關係
Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art.
努力比能力更重要
What cost little is little worth.
關於生逢其時者
Things have their period; even excellences are subject to fashion.
與其博， 不如精
Prize intensity more than extent.
要脫俗， 超越平凡
Common in nothing.
經營自己的特長
Know your strongest point, your preeminent gift.
豐富的學問必須能夠學以致用
More is often taught by a jest than by the most serious teaching.
將幻想的馬韁握在手中
Keep the imagination under control; sometimes correcting, sometimes assisting.
具有天生為王的本性
Such magisterial spirits are kings by merit and lions by innate privilege.
成為有深度的人
The interior must be at least as much as the exterior.
既要勤奮果決也要聰明
Diligence promptly executes what intelligence slowly excogitates.
適時展現你的勇氣
Give way to the first and you must yield to the second, and so on till the last.
擁有良好的判斷力
With age and experience their reason ripens, and thus they attend sound judgement.
率先邁出第一步
To be the first of the kind is an excellence.
遠離憂愁煩惱
Avoid worry. Such prudence brings its own reward.
培養高雅的品味
Full knowledge whets desire and increases enjoyment.
時常反省自己
Do not give way to every common impulse.
培養隨和的性格
You show a sense of placability, which acts as a magnet on all hearts.
謹慎獲取資訊
We live by information, not by sight. We exist by faith in others.
敢於重現你的輝煌
The staleness of custom weakens admiration, and a mediocrity that’s new often eclipses the highest excellence grown old.
允許自己犯一些無傷大雅的錯誤
Allow yourself some venial faults.
展示才華應適度
It is a great misfortune to be of use to nobody; scarcely less to be of use to everybody.
杜絕謠言
The wise accordingly avoid these mischances, guarding against vulgar scandal with sedulous vigilance.
要有教養
Ignorance is very raw; nothing contributes so much to culture as knowledge.
不要在小事上煩惱
To keep hovering around the object or your annoyance is a kind of mania.
人貴有自知之明
Know yourself in talents and capacity, in judgment and inclination.
具備超凡的智慧
The reputation of wisdom is the last triumph of fame.
多才多藝
Variety in excellences is the delight of life.
保持期待的心情
It requires great skill to moderate your forces so as to keep expectation from being dissipated.
良好的判斷力是理性的要素
Discretion consists in a natural tendency to the most rational course, combined with a liking for the surest.
名聲需要細心呵護
It is expensive to obtain a reputation, for it only attaches to distinguished abilities, which are as rare as mediocrities.
真相與表象
It is not enough to be right, if rights seem false and ill.
莫以一己之見去衡量一切
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.
知曉不同工作的要求
Know the demands of different occupations.
少囉嗦！ 言談貴在簡明扼要
The man of one business or of on topic is apt to be tiresome.
切勿庸人自擾
Do not make a business of what is no business.
言行應有威信
Distinction in speech and action. By this you gain a position in many places and carry esteem beforehand.
修正自己的判斷
Revise your judgements.
不要凡事都唱反調
Do not nourish the spirit of contradiction.
智者自足
The sage should be self-sufficing.
讓一切順其自然
There are hurricanes in human affairs, tempests of passion, when it is wise to retire to a harbor and ride at anchor.
不要只傾聽自己的聲音
It is no use pleasing yourself if you do not please others, and as a rule general contempt is the punishment for self-satisfaction.
Chapter 2
與人相處
…
太孤單，怎麼辦？
有技巧地與人相處、結交朋友吧。
Be friendly and good at making friends.
不要因為固執而護短
Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your opponent has anticipated you in taking the right one.
三人行， 必有我師焉
Cultivate those who can teach you.
選擇和幸運者來往
Select the lucky and avoid the unlucky.
努力使人理解你
It is better to help with intelligence than with memory.
切忌反復無常
Do not let your actions be abnormal either from disposition or affection.
不要成為難以親近的人
To be inaccessible is the fault of those who distrust themselves, whose honours change their manner.
選擇一位偉人做楷模
Choose a heroic ideal; but rather to emulate than to imitate.
和與自己不同特質的人來往
Intercourse works well: manners and taste are shared, good sense and even talent grow insensibly.
留給他人一個解釋
A noble nature always knows how to find an excuse for failings, if not in the intention, at least from oversight.
廣交朋友
A friend is a second self.
贏得他人的善意
Gain good-will. For thus the first and highest cause foresees and furthers the greatest objects.
容忍熟人的缺點
Get used to the failings of your familiars, as you do to ugly faces.
與有原則的人打交道
Only act with honourable men.
不要談論自己
Never talk about yourself.
獲得恭謙有禮的美名
Acquire the reputation of courtesy; for it is enough to make you liked.
不要引起別人反感
Avoid becoming disliked.
採納他人的建議
Do not inaccessible.
選擇你的朋友
Only after passing the matriculation of experience and the examination of fortune will they be graduates, not only in affection but in discernment.
識人不要出錯
Do not make mistakes about character.
善用朋友
Make use of your friends. This requires all the art of discretion.
懂得如何忍受愚蠢的人
Put up with fools.
說話要謹慎
Be careful in speaking. With your rivals from prudence; with others for the sake of appearance.
不要與使你黯然失色者為伴
Never have a companion who casts you in the shade.
Chapter 3
處世要認清現實
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透徹了解人心，就知道如何處世，
其實，奸詐並不可恥。
Be smart and excel at reading people’s mind.
萬物已近極致
Everything is at its acme.
凡事有所保留， 不必完全公開
Keep matters for a time in suspense.
培養人們對你的依賴感
Create a feeling of dependence.
不要比上司更優秀
Avoid victories over superiors.
把握好運， 贏得名聲
Fortune is desired, at times assisted: fame is earned.
時而三思而行， 時而英明果斷
Act sometimes on second thoughts, sometimes on first impulse.
招賢納士， 為己所用
Such ministering spirits distil the best books and serve up the quintessence of wisdom.
時常變換做事風格
It is easy to kill a bird on the wing that flies straight.
不要一開始就給他人過高期望
Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering.
幸運的方法
There are rules of luck: it is not all chance with the wise: it can be assisted by care.
學會掩飾缺陷
The highest skill is to transform them into ornament.
善察弦外之音
We must know how to take a hint, especially in disabusing ourselves.
捕捉他人的弱點
Find out each man’s thumbscrew.
懂得適時全身而退
Know how to withdraw.
凡事仔細斟酌、反覆推敲
Think over things, most over the most important.
採取任何行動前， 瞭解自己的時運吧
In acting or refraining, weigh your luck.
懂得諷刺和挖苦的藝術
Keep a store of sarcasms, and know how to use them. This is the point of greatest tact in human intercourse.
急流勇退， 切莫眷戀好運而貪得無厭
Leave your luck while winning.
思如精英， 口隨大眾
Think with the few and speak with the many.
利用而不濫用、詐用
Use, but do not abuse, cunning.
控制你的反感情緒
Master your antipathies.
冒險之事不要輕易插手
There is more valour needed not to take up the affair than to conquer it.
學會等待
Wait. It’s a sign of a noble heart dowered with patience, never to be in a hurry, never to be in a passion.
放慢腳步將事情妥善完成
Be slow and sure. Early enough if well.
留一手的藝術
There is no need to show your ability before everyone.
正確選擇你的職業
Choose an occupation that wins distinction.
拒絕有方
One ought not to give way in everything nor to everybody.
減少玩笑次數
Do not always be jesting.
調整自我， 投人所好
Be all things to all men a discreet Proteus.
善於利用敵人
You should learn to seize things not by the blade, which cuts, but by the handle, which saves you from harm.
做一個深不可測的人
Keep the extent of your abilities unknown.
不要暴露你的意圖
Write your intention in cypher. The passions are the gates of the soul.
不要沉浸於幻覺和欺騙
The discovery of deceit was always thought the true nourishment of a thoughtful mind.
被拋棄前， 先做捨棄
Do not wait till you are a sinking sun.
讓人想念你
Get yourself missed.
遮掩自己做的蠢事
Folly consists not in committing folly, but in not hiding it when committed.
不要訴苦抱怨
To complain always brings discredit.
要肯做事， 但也要懂得表現
Do and be seen doing.
寧與人共醉， 不要我獨醒
Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone.
不幸的日子裡， 你要知所趨避
Everything is in process of change, even the mind, and no one is always wise.
以退讓開始， 以勝利收場
Begin with another’s to end with your own.
藏起受傷的手指
Do not show your wounded finger.
了解人心等於掌握推銷技巧
Know how to get your price for things.
不要去填補前人留下的空缺
Beware of entering where there is a great gap to be filled.
要適時行動
Have presence of mind. This is she child of a happy promptitude of spirit.
爭取完美結局
In the house of fortune, if you enter by the gate of pleasure you must leave by that of sorrow and vice versa.
在崇高的事業上出類拔萃
It is a great rarity among excellences.
安全地擺脫困境
Use slips. That is how smart people get out of difficulties.
做事巧在試探摸索
Step cautiously where you suspect depth.
還存有疑惑時， 不要貿然行動
Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts of its prudence.
別與對手爭鬥
Rivalry discloses faults which courtesy would hide.
善作長遠之計
Think beforehand.
觀察與判斷
Keen observation, subtile insight, judicious inference: with these he discovers, notices, grasps, and comprehends everything.
不要失去自尊
Never lose self-respect, or be too familiar with oneself.
選擇須有方
Know how to choose well. Most of life depends thereon.
永遠保持鎮靜
It is a great aim of prudence never to be embarrassed.
凡事應有完美結局
At times it is part of the art of life to transgress the rules of the art, if you cannot end well otherwise.
要當機立斷
Bad execution of your designs does less harm than irresolution in forming them.
適可而止
Drain nothing to the dregs, neither good nor ill.
生活要講求實際
Live practically. Even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not it is wise to affect ignorance.
抓住事情關鍵
Post yourself in the center of things.
相對於事情本身， 如何去做更重要
A bad manner spoils everything, even reason and justice.
Chapter 4
保持善良
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記得，再飽經世故，也別忘了初衷，
保持你的善良，才可能成就一切。
Be kind.
將知識與善良結合
Knowledge and good intentions together ensure continuance of success.
做個正直的人
What a scanty following has rectitude!
不做毀譽之事
Have naught to do with occupations of ill-repute, still less with fads that bring more notoriety than repute.
讓樂善好施成為你的品牌形象
Have the reputation of being gracious.
永遠不要言過其實
Never exaggerate.
天降大福須有大氣度受之
Be able to stomach big slice of luck.
讓所有人都保有自己的尊嚴
Let each keep up his dignity.
不要過分炫耀自己的地位
To outshine in dignity is more offensive than in personal attractions.
勿露自鳴得意之神色
You must neither be discontented with yourself nor self-satisfied.
得意時要為失意時做準備
In prosperity prepare for adversity.
不要總是惦念著別人的過失
Do not be a black list. It is a sign of having a tarnished name to concern oneself with the ill-fame of others.
萬事從容優雅
Grace in everything.
要有高遠的志向
High-mindedness. This is one of the principal qualifications for a gentleman, for it spurs on to all kinds of nobility.
要有寬廣的胸襟
There is a certain distinction of the soul, a highmindedness prompting to gallant acts, that gives and air of grace to the whole character.
善於發現事物的美好
Find the good in a thing at once.
詭辯之術不可用
Never become paradoxical in order to avoid the trite.
善於控制你的激情
If possible, oppose vulgar importunity with prudent reflection.
