不要固执己见。愚蠢的人都坚信自己正确，坚信自己正确的人都很愚蠢。他们的判断越是错误，越是执迷不悟。即使事情明显是正确的，作出点让步也不妨：人们不会忽视我们所持观点的理由，而且会更认可我们让步所表现出来的优雅风度。否则，我们因固执而招致的损失，将远远超过我们因胜利而得到的——固执己见不是维护真理，而是粗鲁无礼。有些人的顽固脑袋，很难转过弯来，固执己见再加上异想天开，则生成一个令人厌烦的笨蛋。你的坚定应该表现在意志上，而不是心智上。但是，也有一个例外——你不能既在判断上让步，又在行动中让步，这样会导致双重的失败。
do not hold your views too firmly. every fool is fully convinced, and every one fully persuaded is a fool: the more erroneous his judgment the more firmly he holds it. even in cases of obvious certainty, it is fine to yield: our reasons for holding the view cannot escape notice, our courtesy in yielding must be the more recognized. our obstinacy loses more than our victory yields: that is not to champion truth but rather rudeness. there be some heads of iron most difficult to turn: add caprice to obstinacy and the sum is a wearisome fool. steadfastness should be for the will, not for the mind. yet there are exceptions where one would fail twice, owning oneself wrong both in judgment and in the execution of it.
