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74.与人为善

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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.