译者序：历经时光淘洗而不衰的处世经典
1.万物已近极致
Everything is at its acme
2.品性与智慧
Character and intellect
3.做事时常留有悬念
Keep matters for a time in suspense
4.有识亦应有胆
Knowledge and courage
5.让别人依赖你
Create a feeling of dependence
6.至善至美的境界
A man at his highest point
7.不要比上司更耀眼
Avoid victories over superiors
8.不被激情左右
To be without passions
9.避免土生土长的缺陷
Avoid the faults of your nation
10.财富与名望
Fortune and fame
11.择师而交
Cultivate those who can teach you
12.自然和人工：原料与加工
Nature and art
13.有时三思而行，有时立下决断
Act sometimes on second thoughts,
sometimes on first impulse
14.事物本身及做事的方法
The thing itself and the way it is done
15.广纳贤人
Keep ministering spirits
16.学识和善心
Knowledge and good intentions
17.变换你的行为模式
Vary the mode of action
18.能力和努力
Application and ability
19.事前不要让人期望过高
Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering
20.生逢其时的人
A man of the age
21.幸运之道
The art of being lucky
22.学以致用
A man of knowledge to the point
23.没有瑕疵
Be spotless
24.控制自己的幻想
Keep the imagination under control
25.善于领会弦外之音
Know how to take a hint
26.揪出他人的把柄
Find out each man’s thumbscrew
27.求精深重于求广博
Prize intensity more than extent
28.超凡脱俗
Common in nothing
29.刚直的人
A man of rectitude
30.不做毁誉之事
Have naught to do with occupations of ill-repute
31.学会趋利避害
Select the lucky and avoid the unlucky
32.因善行而闻名
Have the reputation of being gracious
33.知道如何逃避
Know how to withdraw
34.了解自己的最强项
Know your strongest point
35.遇事斟酌，遇要事则更要斟酌
Think over things, most over the most important
36.进退之际，了解时运
In acting or refraining, weigh your luck
37.准备一些讥诮话，并善加利用
Keep a store of sarcasms, and know how to use them
38.急流勇退
Leave your luck while winning
39.了解事物成熟的时机，并善加利用
Recognize when things are ripe, and then enjoy them
40.获得人们的好感
Gain the goodwill of people
41.切勿言过其实
Never exaggerate
42.天生为王
Born to wommand
43.心随精英，口随大众
Think with the few and speak with the many
44.英雄相惜
Sympathy with great minds
45.狡猾可以运用，但不能滥用
Use, but do not abuse, cunning
46.控制你的反感情绪
Master your antipathies
47.避免“为荣誉而决斗”
Avoid “affairs of honour”
48.做一个有深度的人至关重要
So much depends on being a person of depth
49.明察善断
Observation and judgment
50.不失自尊
Never lose self-respect
51.选择有道
Know how to choose well
52.从不慌乱
Never be put out
53.聪明且勤奋
Be diligent and intelligent
54.懂得展示你的勇气
Know how to show your teeth
55.善于等待
Wait
56.随机应变
Have presence of mind
57.慢且稳
Be slow and Sure
58.恰当展现自己
Adapt yourself to your company
59.要有完美的收场
Finish off well
60.判断准确
A sound judgment
61.卓越之处求卓越
To excel in what is excellent
62.善其事必先利其器
Use good instruments
63.抢先为上
To be the first of the kind is an excellence
64.远离烦恼
Avoid worry
65.培养高雅的品味
Elevated taste
66.使结局完美
See that things end well
67.选择能够获得殊荣的行业
Choose an occupation that wins distinction
68.点拨其心智，胜于助其回忆
It is better to help with intelligence than with memory
69.不要冲动行事
Do not give way to every common impulse
70.学会拒绝
Know how to refuse
71.不要左右摇摆
Do not vacillate
72.要当机立断
Be resolute
73.安然退避
Utilize slips
74.与人为善
Do not be unsociable
75.选择一位英雄作为偶像
Choose a heroic ideal
76.不要总开玩笑
Do not always be jesting
77.做人须八面玲珑
Be all things to all men
78.做事有道
The art of undertaking things
79.轻松快活的个性
A genial disposition
80.获取信息要谨慎
Take care to get information
81.勇于推陈出新
Renew your brilliance
82.凡事无论好与坏，不要走极端
Drain nothing to the dregs, neither good nor ill
83.容许自己有无伤大雅之过
Allow yourself some venial fault
84.善用对手
Make use of your enemies
85.不做无所不知之人
Do not be a wild card
86.预防流言蜚语
Prevent scandal
87.文明和高雅
Culture and elegance
88.举止高贵大方
Let your behaviour be fine and noble
89.了解自己
Know yourself
90.长寿的秘密
The secret of long life
91.对做某事审慎与否若有疑虑，就别着手去做
Never set to work at anything if you have
any doubts of its prudence
92.要有超凡的智慧
Transcendent wisdom
93.多才多艺
Versatility
94.让你的才能高深莫测
Keep the extent of your abilities unknown
95.让人们保持对你的期望
Keep expectation alive
96.至高无上的辨别力
The highest discretion
97.赢得并维护美名
Obtain and preserve a reputation
98.掩饰你的意图
Write your intentions in cypher
99.本质与表象
Reality and appearance
100.做一个清醒的人，智慧的信徒，贤能的臣子
Be a man without illusions,
a wise christian, a philosophic courtier
101.世上的一半人嘲笑另一半人，其实他们都是蠢人
One half of the world laughs at the other,
and fools are they all
102.天降大福需有大心胸消受
Be able to stomach big slices of luck
103.让每人都保有尊严
Let each keep up his dignity
104.明确不同工作的要求
Know the demands of different occupations
105.勿遭人烦
Don't be a bore
106.勿炫耀你的地位
Do not parade your position
107.勿自鸣得意
Show no self-satisfaction
108.与人同行是成为伟人的捷径
The path to greatness is along with others
109.不要吹毛求疵
Be not censorious
110.不要坐以待毙
Do not wait till you are a sinking sun
111.赢得朋友
Have friends
112.博取他人的好感
Gain good-will
113.未雨绸缪
In prosperity prepare for adversity
114.避免与人相争
Never compete
115.习惯熟人的缺点
Get used to the failings of your familiars
116.只和可敬之人交往
Only act with honourable men
117.决不谈论自己
Never talk about yourself
118.要赢得谦恭有礼的名声
Acquire the reputation of courtesy
119.避免惹人厌烦
Avoid becoming disliked
120.生活讲求实际
Live practically
121.不要小题大做
Do not make a business of what is no business
122.言行应有威信
Distinction in speech and action
123.避免矫揉造作
Avoid affectation
124.要被他人想念
Get yourself missed
125.不要成为污点记录簿
Do not be a black list
126.愚蠢并非做了蠢事，而在于做后不知掩饰
Folly consists not in
committing folly, but in not hiding it when committed
127.凡是从容优雅
Grace in everything
128.要有高远的志向
Highmindedness
129.从不抱怨
Never complain
130.要干，且要让人看见
Do and be seen doing
131.慷慨大度
Nobility of feeling
132.修正自己的判断
Revise your judgments
133.宁可同醉，而不独醒
Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone
134.加倍储存你的资源
Double your resources
135.不要滋长唱反调的习气
Do not nourish the spirit of contradiction
136.抓住事情关键
Post yourself in the centre of things
137.圣人自足
The sage should be self-sufficing
138.任其自然的艺术
The art of letting things alone
139.冷静面对倒霉的日子
Recognize unlucky days
140.一眼看到事物好的一面
Find the good in a thing at once
141.不要只倾听自己的声音
Do not listen to yourself
142.当对手先站在正确的一方时,你不能固执地站在错误的一方
Never from obstinacy take the wrong side because your
opponent has anticipated you in taking the right one
143.别为免俗而玩弄诡辩之术
Never become paradoxical in order to avoid the trite
144.开始于他人，受用于自己
Begin with another's to end with your own
145.藏好你受伤的手指
Do not show your wounded finger
146.透过现象看本质
Look into the interior of things
147.采纳他人的建议
Do not be inaccessible
148.掌握谈话的艺术
Have the art of conversation
149.懂得推罪于人
Know how to put off ills on others
150.推销得法
Know how to get your price for things
151.高瞻远瞩
Think beforehand
152.不与令自己黯然失色之人为伍
Never have a companion who casts you in the shade
153.不要去填补前人留下的巨大空缺
Beware of entering where there is a great gap to be filled
154.不轻易相信，也不轻易喜欢
Do not believe, or like, lightly
155.掌控激情的艺术
The art of mastering your passions
156.选择你的朋友
Select your friends
157.识人别出错
Do not make mistakes about character
158.善用朋友
Make use of your friends
159.忍受愚蠢
Put up with fools
160.说话要谨慎
Be careful in speaking
161.认清自身喜爱的缺点
Know your pet faults
162.如何战胜对手和诽谤者
How to triumph over rivals and detractors
163.决不因同情而卷入他人的不幸
Never, from sympathy with the unfortunate,
involve yourself in his fate
164.投石问路
Throw straws in the air
165.斗争也要讲体面
Wage war honourably
166.分辨善言者与善行者
Distinguish the man of words from the man of deeds
167.知道怎样依靠自己
Know how to take your own part
168.不要沦为愚蠢的怪物
Do not indulge in the eccentricities of folly
169.多加小心，避免万一失手胜过百发百中
Be more careful not to miss once
than to hit a hundred times
170.凡事有所保留
In all things keep something in reserve
171.不要滥用人情
Do not waste influence
172.决不与一无所有者争斗
Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose
173.与人相交，不要像玻璃般易碎，朋友间尤其如此
Do not be glass in intercourse, still less in friendship
174.不要活在匆忙中
Do not live in a hurry
175.做个实在的人
A solid man
176.自知或从知者处知
Have knowledge, or know those that have knowledge
177.避免与人太亲近
Avoid familiarities in intercourse
178.信赖你的内心
Trust your heart
179.缄默是才能的标志
Reticence is the seal of capacity
180.决不被敌人误导
Never be guided by what your enemy has done
……
295.若未奏效，不要邀功
Do not affect what you have not effected
296.高贵的品质
Noble qualities
297.行动总如处于监视中
Always act as if your acts were seen
298.可造就非凡之人的三大要素
Three things go to a prodigy
299.让人有饥饿感
Leave off hungry
300.总而言之，做一位圣徒
In one word, be a saint