273．了解你所交往的人的性情

了解你所交往的人的性情。你会因此而了解他们的意图。知道事情的原因，才能明了事情的结果。先知道他的性情，才知道他的动机。个性忧郁之人总是能预见祸患，背后诽谤之人总能听到丑闻，他们不知道什么是好，于是邪恶就主动找上门。情绪激动之人说话总是有失偏颇，因为他说话用的是激情，而非理性。可见，每个人都是根据自己的感觉和脾气来表达看法，以致都远离事实。你应该学会琢磨他人的脸色，以此解读他的内心。总爱发笑的人是傻子，不苟言笑的人是伪君子。要警惕说闲话的人：他不是在胡言乱语，就是在到处打听。不要指望从面恶之人那里得到好处。大自然没有眷顾他，为了报复，他对大自然也没有敬畏。美貌常与愚蠢同行。

273．Comprehend their dispositions with whom you deal

Comprehend their dispositions with whom you deal, so as to know their intentions. Cause known, effect known, beforehand in the disposition and after in the motive. The melancholy man always foresees misfortunes, the backbiter scandals: having no conception of the good, evil offers itself to them. A man moved by passion always speaks of things differently from what they are; it is his passion speaks, not his reason. Thus each speaks as his feeling or his humour prompts him, and all far from the truth. Learn how to decipher faces and spell out the soul in the features. If a man laughs always, set him down as foolish; if never, as false. Beware of the gossip: he is either a babbler or a spy. Expect little good from the misshapen: they generally take revenge on Nature, and do little honour to her, as she has done little to them. Beauty and folly generally go hand in hand.