雙語智慧書·避免與人相爭

114．避免與人相爭
　　避免與人相爭。任何相爭都會損害名譽(yù)。對手會伺機(jī)遮蓋我們的光芒，以達(dá)到比我們更耀眼的目的。幾乎沒有人能打一場光彩的戰(zhàn)爭。在你謙恭之時，你的缺點(diǎn)與過失也許會被掩蓋。在敵對之時，則會被揭露。許多人在樹敵之前都有很好的名聲，但是爭斗讓逝去的謠言再度復(fù)活，讓早被掩埋的丑聞曝光。競爭從貶損開始，什么手段都能使得出。當(dāng)謾罵無法奏效（許多情況都是這樣），對方就以此報(bào)復(fù)，至少也要掃去陳年落灰，將我們所有不光彩的事情全都抖摟出來。親善之人往往平和，擁有名譽(yù)和尊嚴(yán)的人也往往是親善之人。


114．Never compete
　Never compete. Every competition damages the credit: our rivals seize occasion to obscure us so as to outshine us. Few wage honourable war. Rivalry discloses faults which courtesy would hide. Many have lived in good repute while they had no rivals. The heat of conflict gives life, or even new life, to dead scandals, and digs up long-buried skeletons. Competition begins with belittling, and seeks aid wherever it can, not only where it ought. And when the weapons of abuse do not effect their purpose, as often or mostly happens, our opponents use them for revenge, and use them at least for beating away the dust of oblivion from anything to our discredit. Men of good-will are always at peace; men of good repute and dignity are men of good-will.