《智慧书·第二辑·五一至一百》第37则
Culture and Elegance. Man is born a barbarian, and only raises himself above the beast by culture. Culture therefore makes the man; the more a man, the higher. Thanks to it, Greece could call the rest of the world barbarians. Ignorance is very raw; nothing contributes so much to culture as knowledge. But even knowledge is coarse If without elegance. Not alone must our intelligence be elegant, but our desires, and above all our conversation. Some men are naturally elegant in internal and external qualities, in their thoughts, in their address, in their dress, which is the rind of the soul, and in their talents, which is its fruit. There are others, on the other hand, so gauche that everything about them, even their very excellences, is tarnished by an intolerable and barbaric want of neatness.
注释摘要
这一则的标题与正文实际是一句话劈成的两半：前半句指出人需要文化，后半句马上补上，光有文化还不够，还得有优雅。在葛拉西安的词汇里，cultura 是使人从野蛮状态中脱离出来的那种教化，而 elegancia 则是一种更高级的东西，它让被教化了的人不至于粗鄙。这里有一个关键点常常被人忽略：他并没有把优雅当成锦上添花的点缀，而是把它视为区分“有知识的人”与“真正…