懂得易地而处。有些国家的人，尤其是身居高位之人，必须离开自己的国家才能令其价值得到重视。他们的祖国对待天才就像后母：其出生之地，嫉妒泛滥；人们只能记住其开初的卑微，而忽视其日后的辉煌。一针一线从世界的这一端走到那一端，也会增值，来自远方的彩色玻璃其价格可超过钻石。舶来品都会受到人们的推崇，部分原因在于它来自远方，部分原因在于它做工精良。有些人曾经是同族人的笑柄，现在却成为世界奇才，受到同胞与外国人（他们现侨居其中）的尊敬——受到后者的尊敬，是因为他来自远方；受到前者的尊敬，是因为同胞们只能从远处遥望他。如果一个人知道祭坛上的雕像只是园林中的一段树干，就不会对其心生敬畏。
know how to transplant yourself. there are nations with whom one must cross their borders to make one's value felt, especially in great posts. their native land is always a stepmother to great talents: envy flourishes there on its native soil, and they remember one's small beginnings rather than the greatness one has reached. a needle is appreciated that comes from one end of the world to the other, and a piece of painted glass might outvie the diamond in value if it comes from afar. everything foreign is respected, partly because it comes from afar, partly because it is ready made and perfect. we have seen persons once the laughing-stock of their village and now the wonder of the whole world, honoured by their fellow-countrymen and by the foreigners [among whom they dwell]: by the latter because they come from afar, by the former because they are seen from afar. the statue on the altar is never reverenced by him who knew it as a trunk in the garden.
