172．决不与一无所有者争斗

决不与一无所有者争斗。如果这样做，你会陷入不公平的争斗中。对方肆无忌惮，因他已失去一切，包括羞耻感，也决不害怕再失去什么。他可以为所欲为。你绝不能把自己珍贵的名声暴露在如此可怕的危险之中，以免积攒多年的名声毁于一旦——稍不留神，你所有的辛劳就会化为乌有。拥有名誉、有责任心的人有好名声，他们担心失去许多东西，所以他们会权衡自己与对方的名声，谨慎地参与斗争，小心翼翼地开展工作，慎重地及时撤退，以保全名誉。否则，即便获胜，他也会因冒险而得不偿失。

172．Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose; for thereby you enter into an unequal conflict. The other enters without anxiety: having lost everything, including shame, he has no further loss to fear. He therefore resorts to all kinds of insolence. One should never expose a valuable reputation to so terrible a risk, lest what has cost years to gain may be lost in a moment, since a single slight may wipe out much sweat. A man of honour and responsibility has a reputation, because he has much to lose. He balances his own and the other's reputation: he only enters into the contest with the greatest caution, and then goes to work with such circumspection that he gives time to prudence to retire in time and bring his reputation under cover. For even by victory he cannot gain what he has lost by exposing himself to the chances of loss.