175．做个实在的人

做个实在的人。如果你是个实在人，就不会喜欢不实之人。声名显赫而无根基，是可怜的。看上去实在的人并非都实在。有些人是欺诈的源头——虚妄的妖精(1)播下孽种于其大脑，滋生出种种欺诈。另一些人与此类似，喜欢谎言，不喜欢真实，因为谎言的承诺很多，但是真实却表现很一般。但最终这些妄想没有好的结局，因为它们缺乏坚实的基础。只有真正的功绩才能带来真正的名誉，只有实在的资产才能带来真正的利润。一个欺诈需要更多欺诈来弥补，这种空中楼阁必然会很快土崩瓦解。没有根基的事物就没有长久的生命力。承诺太多，令人质疑，就像证明过多反而有假一样。

175．A solid man

A solid man. One who is finds no satisfaction in those that are not. It is a pitiable eminence that is not well founded. Not all are men that seem to be so. Some are sources of deceit: impregnated by chimeras they give birth to impositions. Others are like them so far that they take more pleasure in a lie, because it promises much, than in the truth, because it performs little. But in the end these caprices come to a bad end, for they have no solid foundation. Only truth can give true reputation; only reality can be of real profit. One deceit needs many others, and so the whole house is built in the air and must soon come to the ground. Unfounded things never reach old age. They promise too much to be much trusted, just as that cannot be true which proves too much.