288．顺应时势

顺应时势。我们行为、思想及一切都应视境况而定。若时机适宜，就应该下定决心，因为时势不等人。不要按照僵化的教条来生活，除非涉及基本的道德。也不要让你的意愿满足于不变的情形，因为到了明天，你可能不得不饮用今天泼出去的水。居然有人如此荒谬可笑，他们期望某一行动的一切条件都服从他们那古怪的念头，而非相反。智者明白：见风使舵、顺势求成才是谨慎的根本所在。

288．Live for the moment

Live for the moment. Our acts and thoughts and all must be determined by circumstances, Will when you may, for time and tide wait for no man. Do not live by certain fixed rules, except those that relate to the cardinal virtues. Nor let your will subscribe fixed conditions, for you may have to drink the water tomorrow which you cast away today. There be some so absurdly paradoxical that they expect all the circumstances of an action should bend to their eccentric whims and not vice versa. The wise man knows that the very polestar of prudence lies in steering by the wind.