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.