《智慧书·第六辑·二五一至三百》第48则
Three Things go to a Prodigy. They are the choicest gifts of Heaven's prodigality—a fertile genius, a profound intellect, a pleasant and refined taste. To think well is good, to think right is better: 'tis the understanding of the good. It will not do for the judgment to reside in the backbone: it would be of more trouble than use. To think aright is the fruit of a reasonable nature. At twenty the will rules; at thirty the intellect; at forty the judgment. There are minds that shine in the dark like the eyes of the lynx, and are most clear where there is most darkness. Others are more adapted for the occasion: they always hit on that which suits the emergency: such a quality produces much and good; a sort of fecund felicity. In the meantime good taste seasons the whole of life.
注释摘要
这一则的标题与正文原本是一句话的两半：三样东西造就一个奇才。葛拉西安在这里把"prodigy"当作人的极致状态来理解，不是怪胎，而是上天慷慨施舍的最高产物——丰沛的才智、深邃的理智、优雅而精纯的品味。这三样东西的排列并非随意，它们构成一个从生发到判断再到调和的序列。 接下来的"想得好"和"想得对"之间有一个精微的区分，很容易被一带而过。想得好指的是思路活泛…