《智慧书·第一辑·一至五十》第43则
Think with the Few and speak with the Many. By swimming against the stream it is impossible to remove error, easy to fall into danger; only a Socrates can undertake it. To dissent from others' views is regarded as an insult, because it is their condemnation. Disgust is doubled on account of the thing blamed and of the person who praised it. Truth is for the few, error is both common and vulgar. The wise man is not known by what he says on the house-tops, for there he speaks not with his own voice but with that of common folly, however much his inmost thoughts may gainsay it. The prudent avoid being contradicted as much as contradicting: though they have their censure ready they are not ready to publish it. Thought is free, force cannot and should not be used to it. The wise man therefore retires into silence, and if he allows himself to come out of it, he does so in the shade and before few and fit persons.
注释摘要
这则格言的核心是一句话里的两个动作：用心智去“少数人”那边思考，用言语去“多数人”那边说话。英文译本作“Think with the Few and speak with the Many”，西班牙文原文中“with”这个连接在此处同时承载了两种含义——与少数人一起思考，对多数人说话——两者方向相反，却是同一个人的同一套生存策略。 葛拉西安随即用一个水流的…