《智慧书·第一辑·一至五十》第41则
Never Exaggerate. It is an important object of attention not to talk in superlatives, so as neither to offend against truth nor to give a mean idea of one's understanding. Exaggeration is a prodigality of the judgment which shows the narrowness of one's knowledge or one's taste. Praise arouses lively curiosity, begets desire, and if afterwards the value does not correspond to the price, as generally happens, expectation revolts against the deception, and revenges itself by under-estimating the thing recommended and the person recommending. A prudent man goes more cautiously to work, and prefers to err by omission than by commission. Extraordinary things are rare, therefore moderate ordinary valuation. Exaggeration is a branch of lying, and you lose by it the credit of good taste, which is much, and of good sense, which is more.
注释摘要
葛拉西安这一则讨论的是一个貌似简单的社交守则，实则指向了判断力本身的秩序。标题“Never Exaggerate”与正文的第一句话就是一体两面：不注意避免夸张，便会同时触犯两样东西——真，以及旁人对你智识的评价。他把话说得很密。夸张不仅是把话说过了头，更是判断能力的一种挥霍，prodigality of the judgment，挥霍在这里是巴洛克式比喻，…