《智慧書》
作者：巴爾塔沙·葛拉西安（Baltasar Gracian）
前言
智慧一詞在我看來總是很高尚的，似乎只有聖人才會擁有智慧。所羅門是《聖經》裡最智慧的人，他向神所求的就是智慧，可見擁有智慧是我們人類不斷的追求。箴言書是《聖經》的智慧書，還有傳道書也是所羅門寫的。傳道書裡面常說的一句話，是虛空的虛空。告訴世人不論是知識的或是快樂的尋求，都是虛空、都是捕風。人類對財富、美名、壽命、權力、地位一切的追求，結果也是虛空，沒有意義，沒有滿足。只有在神裡面，才能尋得生命的意義與方向。由神來的智慧才是擁有至高無比的能量，把自己一切交給神。這本《智慧書》讓我產生了好奇，因此就買來細細斟酌。
讀書筆記
三百條智慧箴言：
1．萬物已近極致/3
Everything is at its acme
2．品性與智慧/3
Character and intellect
3．做事時常留有懸念/3
Keep matters for a time in suspense
4．有識亦應有膽/5
Knowledge and courage
5．讓別人依賴你/5
Create a feeling of dependence
6．至善至美的境界/7
A man at his highest point
7．不要比上司更耀眼/9
Avoid victories over superiors
8．不被激情左右/11
To be without passions
9．避免土生土長的缺陷/11
Avoid the faults of your nation
10．財富與名望/13
Fortune and fame
11．擇師而交/13
Cultivate those who can teach you
12．自然和人工：原料與加工/15
Nature and art
13．有時三思而行，有時立下決斷/15
Act sometimes on second thoughts,
sometimes on first impulse
14．事物本身及做事的方法/19
The thing itself and the way it is done
15．廣納賢人/19
Keep ministering spirits
16．學識和善心/21
Knowledge and good intentions
17．變換你的行為模式/21
Vary the mode of action
18．能力和努力/23
Application and ability
19．事前不要讓人期望過高/25
Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering
20．生逢其時的人/27
A man of the age
21．幸運之道/27
The art of being lucky
22．學以致用/29
A man of knowledge to the point
23．沒有瑕疵/29
Be spotless
24．控制自己的幻想/31
Keep the imagination under control
25．善於領會弦外之音/31
Know how to take a hint
26．揪出他人的把柄/33
Find out each man’s thumbscrew
27．求精深重於求廣博/33
Prize intensity more than extent
28．超凡脫俗/35
Common in nothing
29．剛直的人/35
A man of rectitude
30．不做毀譽之事/37
Have naught to do with occupations of ill-repute
31．學會趨利避害/39
Select the lucky and avoid the unlucky
32．因善行而聞名/39
Have the reputation of being gracious
33．知道如何逃避/41
Know how to withdraw
34．瞭解自己的最強項/41
Know your strongest point
35．遇事斟酌，遇要事則更要斟酌/43
Think over things,most over the most important
36．進退之際，瞭解時運/45
In acting or refraining,weigh your luck
37．準備一些譏誚話，並善加利用/45
Keep a store of sarcasms,and know how to use them
38．急流勇退/47
Leave your luck while winning
39．瞭解事物成熟的時機，並善加利用/49
Recognize when things are ripe,and then enjoy them
40．獲得人們的好感/49
Gain the goodwill of people
41．切勿言過其實/51
Never exaggerate
42．天生為王/53
Born to wommand
43．心隨精英，口隨大眾/53
Think with the few and speak with the many
44．英雄相惜/55
Sympathy with great minds
45．狡猾可以運用，但不能濫用/57
Use,but do not abuse,cunning
46．控制你的反感情緒/57
Master your antipathies
47．避免“為榮譽而決鬥”/59
Avoid “affairs of honour”
48．做一個有深度的人至關重要/59
So much depends on being a person of depth
49．明察善斷/61
Observation and judgment
50．不失自尊/61
Never lose self-respect
51．選擇有道/63
Know how to choose well
52．從不慌亂/63
Never be put out
53．聰明且勤奮/65
Be diligent and intelligent
54．懂得展示你的勇氣/65
Know how to show your teeth
55．善於等待/67
Wait
56．隨機應變/67
Have presence of mind
57．慢且穩/69
Be slow and Sure
58．恰當展現自己/69
Adapt yourself to your company
59．要有完美的收場/71
Finish off well
60．判斷準確/71
A sound judgment
61．卓越之處求卓越/73
To excel in what is excellent
62．善其事必先利其器/73
Use good instruments
63．搶先為上/75
To be the first of the kind is an excellence
64．遠離煩惱/77
Avoid worry
65．培養高雅的品味/77
Elevated taste
66．使結局完美/79
See that things end well
67．選擇能夠獲得殊榮的行業/81
Choose an occupation that wins distinction
68．點撥其心智，勝於助其回憶/81
It is better to help with intelligence than with memory
69．不要衝動行事/83
Do not give way to every common impulse
70．學會拒絕/85
Know how to refuse
71．不要左右搖擺/87
Do not vacillate
72．要當機立斷/87
Be resolute
73．安然退避/89
Utilize slips
74．與人為善/89
Do not be unsociable
75．選擇一位英雄作為偶像/91
Choose a heroic ideal
76．不要總開玩笑/93
Do not always be jesting
77．做人須八面玲瓏/93
Be all things to all men
78．做事有道/95
The art of undertaking things
79．輕鬆快活的個性/95
A genial disposition
80．獲取資訊要謹慎/97
Take care to get information
81．勇於推陳出新/97
Renew your brilliance
82．凡事無論好與壞，不要走極端/99
Drain nothing to the dregs,neither good nor ill
83．容許自己有無傷大雅之過/99
Allow yourself some venial fault
84．善用對手/101
Make use of your enemies
85．不做無所不知之人/103
Do not be a wild card
86．預防流言蜚語/103
Prevent scandal
87．文明和高雅/105
Culture and elegance
88．舉止高貴大方/107
Let your behaviour be fine and noble
89．瞭解自己/107
Know yourself
90．長壽的秘密/109
The secret of long life
91．對做某事審慎與否若有疑慮，就別著手去做/109
Never set to work at anything if you have
any doubts of its prudence
92．要有超凡的智慧/111
Transcendent wisdom
93．多才多藝/111
Versatility
94．讓你的才能高深莫測/113
Keep the extent of your abilities unknown
95．讓人們保持對你的期望/113
Keep expectation alive
96．至高無上的辨別力/113
The highest discretion
97．贏得並維護美名/115
Obtain and preserve a reputation
98．掩飾你的意圖/115
Write your intentions in cypher
99．本質與表像/117
Reality and appearance
100．做一個清醒的人，智慧的信徒，賢能的臣子/117
Be a man without illusions,
a wise christian,a philosophic courtier
101．世上的一半人嘲笑另一半人，其實他們都是蠢人/119
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/119
Be able to stomach big slices of luck
103．讓每人都保有尊嚴/121
Let each keep up his dignity
104．明確不同工作的要求/123
Know the demands of different occupations
105．勿遭人煩/123
Don’t be a bore
106．勿炫耀你的地位/125
Do not parade your position
107．勿自鳴得意/127
Show no self-satisfaction
108．與人同行是成為偉人的捷徑/129
The path to greatness is along with others
109．不要吹毛求疵/129
Be not censorious
110．不要坐以待斃/131
Do not wait till you are a sinking sun
111．贏得朋友/131
Have friends
112．博取他人的好感/133
Gain good-will
113．未雨綢繆/135
In prosperity prepare for adversity
114．避免與人相爭/135
Never compete
115．習慣熟人的缺點/137
Get used to the failings of your familiars
116．只和可敬之人交往/137
Only act with honourable men
117．決不談論自己/139
Never talk about yourself
118．要贏得謙恭有禮的名聲/139
Acquire the reputation of courtesy
119．避免惹人厭煩/141
Avoid becoming disliked
120．生活講求實際/143
Live practically
121．不要小題大做/145
Do not make a business of what is no business
122．言行應有威信/145
Distinction in speech and action
123．避免矯揉造作/147
Avoid affectation
124．要被他人想念/147
Get yourself missed
125．不要成為污點記錄簿/149
Do not be a black list
126．愚蠢並非做了蠢事，而在於做後不知掩飾/151
Folly consists not in
committing folly,but in not hiding it when committed
127．凡是從容優雅/151
Grace in everything
128．要有高遠的志向/153
Highmindedness
129．從不抱怨/153
Never complain
130．要幹，且要讓人看見/155
Do and be seen doing
131．慷慨大度/157
Nobility of feeling
132．修正自己的判斷/157
Revise your judgments
133．寧可同醉，而不獨醒/159
Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone
134．加倍儲存你的資源/159
Double your resources
135．不要滋長唱反調的習氣/161
Do not nourish the spirit of contradiction
136．抓住事情關鍵/163
Post yourself in the centre of things
137．聖人自足/163
The sage should be self-sufficing
138．任其自然的藝術/165
The art of letting things alone
139．冷靜面對倒楣的日子/165
Recognize unlucky days
140．一眼看到事物好的一面/167
Find the good in a thing at once
141．不要只傾聽自己的聲音/169
Do not listen to yourself
142．當對手先站在正確的一方時，你不能固執地站在錯誤的一方/171
Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your
opponent has anticipated you in taking the right one
143．別為免俗而玩弄詭辯之術/173
Never become paradoxical in order to avoid the trite
144．開始于他人，受用於自己/173
Begin with another’s to end with your own
145．藏好你受傷的手指/175
Do not show your wounded finger
146．透過現象看本質/177
Look into the interior of things
147．採納他人的建議/177
Do not be inaccessible
148．掌握談話的藝術/179
Have the art of conversation
149．懂得推罪於人/181
Know how to put off ills on others
150．推銷得法/181
Know how to get your price for things
151．高瞻遠矚/183
Think beforehand
152．不與令自己黯然失色之人為伍/185
Never have a companion who casts you in the shade
153．不要去填補前人留下的巨大空缺/185
Beware of entering where there is a great gap to be
filled
154．不輕易相信，也不輕易喜歡/187
Do not believe,or like,lightly
155．掌控激情的藝術/189
The art of mastering your passions
156．選擇你的朋友/189
Select your friends
157．識人別出錯/191
Do not make mistakes about character
158．善用朋友/193
Make use of your friends
159．忍受愚蠢/195
Put up with fools
160．說話要謹慎/195
Be careful in speaking
161．認清自身喜愛的缺點/197
Know your pet faults
162．如何戰勝對手和誹謗者/197
How to triumph over rivals and detractors
163．決不因同情而捲入他人的不幸/199
Never,from sympathy with the unfortunate,
involve yourself in his fate
164．投石問路/201
Throw straws in the air
165．鬥爭也要講體面/201
Wage war honourably
166．分辨善言者與善行者/203
Distinguish the man of words from the man of deeds
167．知道怎樣依靠自己/203
Know how to take your own part
168．不要淪為愚蠢的怪物/205
Do not indulge in the eccentricities of folly
169．多加小心，避免萬一失手勝過百發百中/207
Be more careful not to miss once
than to hit a hundred times
170．凡事有所保留/207
In all things keep something in reserve
171．不要濫用人情/209
Do not waste influence
172．決不與一無所有者爭鬥/209
Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose
173．與人相交，不要像玻璃般易碎，朋友間尤其如此/211
Do not be glass in intercourse,still less in friendship
174．不要活在匆忙中/213
Do not live in a hurry
175．做個實在的人/213
A solid man
176．自知或從知者處知/215
Have knowledge,or know those that have knowledge
177．避免與人太親近/217
Avoid familiarities in intercourse
178．信賴你的內心/217
Trust your heart
179．緘默是才能的標誌/219
Reticence is the seal of capacity
180．決不被敵人誤導/221
Never be guided by what your enemy has done
295．若未奏效，不要邀功/359
Do not affect what you have not effected
296．高貴的品質/361
Noble qualities
297．行動總如處於監視中/361
Always act as if your acts were seen
298．可造就非凡之人的三大要素/363
Three things go to a prodigy
——豐沛的智慧、深刻的見地和闊達的性情
299．讓人有饑餓感/363
Leave off hungry
300．總而言之，做一位聖徒/365
In one word,be a saint
讀後感
利用短篇的文章來講述一個個道理，很多道理我們都懂，就發生在我們的身邊。特別是最後的一句話：要做聖人。是啊，聖人擁有大智慧，知道為何而活著，知道如何活著。我們都是按照神的樣式而創造的，那麼本來的我們就是我完美的“聖人”，要做到聖潔、健康和聰慧是我們獲得幸福的源泉。真正的智慧始終離不開神，唯有誠信依靠神，才能活出最有智慧的自己，正如伯大尼的瑪利亞一樣，最有智慧地留在神身邊聽神的話語。
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