《智慧书·第四辑·一五一至二百》第6则
Select your Friends. Only after passing the matriculation of experience and the examination of fortune will they be graduates not alone in affection but in discernment. Though this is the most important thing in life, it is the one least cared for. Intelligence brings friends to some, chance to most. Yet a man is judged by his friends, for there was never agreement between wise men and fools. At the same time, to find pleasure in a man's society is no proof of near friendship: it may come from the pleasantness of his company more than from trust in his capacity. There are some friendships legitimate, others illicit; the latter for pleasure, the former for their fecundity of ideas and motives. Few are the friends of a man's self, most those of his circumstances. The insight of a true friend is more useful than the goodwill of others: therefore gain them by choice, not by chance. A wise friend wards off worries, a foolish one brings them about. But do not wish them too much luck, or you may lose them.
注释摘要
葛拉西安把择友这件事设置成了一套严格的学术程序，但用的不是温情脉脉的词。“入学考试”（matriculation）与“毕业”（graduates）这两个意象贯穿始终，等于在说：未经考场的，不算朋友。考场有两个科目——经验与命运。经验是时间里的观察，命运则是顺境逆境中的验证。只有在这两道题上都及格，这个人才能在情感（affection）之外还获得辨识力（di…