《智慧书·第五辑·二〇一至二五〇》第47则
Know a little more, live a little less. Some say the opposite. To be at ease is better than to be at business. Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else. It is equally unfortunate to waste your precious life in mechanical tasks or in a profusion of important work. Do not heap up occupation and thereby envy: otherwise you complicate life and exhaust your mind. Some wish to apply the same principle to knowledge, but unless one knows one does not truly live.
注释摘要
这则格言的标题与正文构成一个耐人寻味的悖论：多知道一点，少活一点。而第一句就告诉我们，有人反过来说。这句话里的"live"是一个概念主义式的双关，既指生物学意义上的存活，也指人在世上的实际经历与享受——你把时间花在求知上，就没时间去经历那些构成尘世生活的东西。葛拉西安在这里并非简单地选边站队，而是把两种说法都摆出来，他自己则落在一种平衡上。 接着他给出了立…