生活讲求实际。知识也要与时俱进。在某些领域你显得落伍，也要明智地装作一无所知。思想和品味随时日而改变。不要让自己的思维方式落伍，要让自己的品味跟上潮流。在任何领域，品味都是由大多数人主导；你必须暂时追随着它，好将它引入更高层次。不管是思想的外衣还是身体的包装，都要与时代相适应，哪怕过去的似乎更好。但对于“善”字，这一规则并不适合，因为在任何时代，人们都需要它。现在，善良已被忽视，好像已经过时。说真话、重承诺，似乎属于美好的过去，其实它们仍然受人欢迎。不过，当今世上即便仍有这种美德、这种好人存在，也不再时髦，没人会效仿。美德罕见、邪恶当道，我们处于一个多么可悲的时代啊！如果你还算明智，就算不能按意愿生活，也要按才能生活。与其挂念命运拒绝赐予的东西，不如珍惜命运已经赐予的一切。
live practically. even knowledge has to be in the fashion, and where it is not it is wise to affect ignorance. thought and taste change with the times. do not be old-fashioned in your ways of thinking, and let your taste be in the modern style. in everything the taste of the many carries the votes; for the time being one must follow it in the hope of leading it to higher things. in the adornment of the body as of the mind adapt yourself to the present, even though the past appear better. but this rule does not apply to kindness, for goodness is for all time. it is neglected nowadays and seems out of date. truth-speaking, keeping your word, and so too good people, seem to come from the good old times, yet they are liked for all that, but in such a way that even when they all exist they are not in the fashion and are not imitated. what a misfortune for our age that it regards virtue as a stranger and vice as a matter of course! if you are wise, live as you can, if you cannot live as you would. think more highly of what fate has given you than of what it has denied.
