《智慧书·第一辑·一至五十》第37则
Keep a Store of Sarcasms, and know how to use them. This is the point of greatest tact in human intercourse. Such sarcasms are often thrown out to test men's moods, and by their means one often obtains the most subtle and penetrating touchstone of the heart. Other sarcasms are malicious, insolent, poisoned by envy or envenomed by passion, unexpected flashes which destroy at once all favour and esteem. Struck by the slightest word of this kind, many fall away from the closest intimacy with superiors or inferiors which could not be the slightest shaken by a whole conspiracy of popular insinuation or private malevolence. Other sarcasms, on the other hand, work favourably, confirming and assisting one's reputation. But the greater the skill with which they are launched, the greater the caution with which they should be received and the foresight with which they should be foreseen. For here a knowledge of the evil is in itself a means of defence, and a shot foreseen always misses its mark.
注释摘要
这则格言的标题 Keep a Store of Sarcasms 与正文第一句合在一起，才是完整意思：要储备机锋之言，更要懂得使用它们，这是人间交往中最需分寸的事情。这里的 sarcasms 并非现代英语里单纯的挖苦嘲讽，它的西班牙原文很可能对应的是 dicho picante 或 agudeza de malicia——尖利的话、带刺的机锋，它可以是试探…