《智慧书·第一辑·一至五十》第19则
Arouse no Exaggerated Expectations on entering. It is the usual ill-luck of all celebrities not to fulfil afterwards the expectations beforehand formed of them. The real can never equal the imagined, for it is easy to form ideals but very difficult to realise them. Imagination weds Hope and gives birth to much more than things are in themselves. However great the excellences, they never suffice to fulfil expectations, and as men find themselves disappointed with their exorbitant expectations they are more ready to be disillusionised than to admire. Hope is a great falsifier of truth; let skill guard against this by ensuring that fruition exceeds desire. A few creditable attempts at the beginning are sufficient to arouse curiosity without pledging one to the final object. It is better that reality should surpass the design and is better than was thought. This rule does not apply to the wicked, for the same exaggeration is a great aid to them; they are defeated amid general applause, and what seemed at first extreme ruin comes to be thought quite bearable.
注释摘要
葛拉西安这一则的标题和正文首句本是一句话的两半。标题"不要一登场就激起虚高期望"，正文首句接着说"这是所有显要人物共通的厄运——他们事后永远无法满足人们事先为他们建立的期待"。整则格言的核心命题就在这里：入场之前被人捧得愈高，入场之后摔得愈重。这句话用的"celebrity"一词指的不一定是今天意义上的名人，更多是指在任何领域里声名先至的那一类人，他的名声…