《智慧书·第一辑·一至五十》第7则
Avoid Victories over Superiors. All victories breed hate, and that over your superior is foolish or fatal. Superiority is always detested, a fortiori superiority over superiority. Caution can gloss over common advantages; for example, good looks may be cloaked by careless attire. There be some that will grant you precedence in good luck or good temper, but none in good sense, least of all a prince; for good sense is a royal prerogative, any claim to that is a case of lése majesté. They are princes, and wish to be so in that most princely of qualities. They will allow a man to help them but not to surpass them, and will have any advice tendered them appear like a recollection of something they have forgotten rather than as a guide to something they cannot find. The stars teach us this finesse with happy tact; though they are his children and brilliant like him, they never rival the brilliancy of the sun.
注释摘要
这一则格言的西班牙语标题是“Excelsos primores. Evitar victorias del superiores”，英译作“Avoid Victories over Superiors”。标题与正文合在一起，道出一个冷峻的判断：一切胜利都招致憎恨，而胜于上司，或者愚蠢，或者致命。葛拉西安用一个递进结构来展开这个主题。他说优越感本来就招人厌弃…