《智慧书·第五辑·二〇一至二五〇》第18则
Never act from Obstinacy but from Knowledge. All obstinacy is an excrescence of the mind, a grandchild of passion which never did anything right. There are persons who make a war out of everything, real banditti of intercourse. All that they undertake must end in victory; they do not know how to get on in peace. Such men are fatal when they rule and govern, for they make government rebellion, and enemies out of those whom they ought to regard as children. They try to effect everything with strategy and treat it as the fruit of their skill. But when others have recognised their perverse humour all revolt against them and learn to overturn their chimerical plans, and they succeed in nothing but only heap up a mass of troubles, since everything serves to increase their disappointment. They have a head turned and a heart spoilt. Nothing can be done with such monsters except to flee from them, even to the Antipodes, where the savagery is easier to bear than their loathsome nature.
注释摘要
这则格言的标题与正文合在一起，构成了一个斩钉截铁的完整命题：永远不要出于固执而行动，要出于认知而行动。在葛拉西安的词汇表里，固执（obstinacy）不是立场坚定，而是一种丧失了判断力的僵直。他把固执定义为"心智的赘生物"——excrescence of the mind，这个词选得非常精确：赘生物是身体上多余的增生组织，不执行任何功能，却占据空间、压迫正…