《智慧书·第六辑·二五一至三百》第26则
Know how to renew your Character, with the help both of Nature and of Art. Every seven years the disposition changes, they say. Let it be a change for the better and for the nobler in your taste. After the first seven comes reason, with each succeeding lustre let a new excellence be added. Observe this change so as to aid it, and hope also for betterment in others. Hence it arises that many change their behaviour when they change their position or their occupation. At times the change is not noticed till it reaches the height of maturity. At twenty Man is a Peacock, at thirty a Lion, at forty a Camel, at fifty a Serpent, at sixty a Dog, at seventy an Ape, at eighty nothing at all.
注释摘要
这则格言的核心意思，是劝人不要把品性看成一块刻死的大理石，而要懂得顺着生命内在的节律，借天性与技艺两股力量，去促成自己的品格常新。开篇那句“Know how to renew your Character, with the help both of Nature and of Art”，就是总纲。Nature 指人生来具有的禀赋、体气与自然进程，Art …