智慧書（中英雙語） · 41．切勿言過其實

41．切勿言過其實 切勿言過其實。細心謹慎的一個重要目的，就是說話不過分使用「最」字，以免違背事實，或是讓人對你的判斷力產生懷疑。言過其實糟蹋你的判斷力，顯得你學識淺薄，品位低劣。讚美之辭引來人們的好奇心，好奇心又滋生欲望。待之後人們發現你是在誇大其詞時，期望落空，就會有種被欺騙的感覺，於是滋生報復之心，將讚美者和被讚美者一起貶低下去。因此，謹小慎微之人在評價事物時總是很謹慎，寧可言之不足，也不誇大其詞。非凡的事物是很少見的，因此，你要節制你的評價。誇大其詞近乎說謊，會危及自身聲譽，讓人對你的品味產生懷疑；更糟糕的是，讓人懷疑你的見識。 41．Never exaggerate Never exaggerate. It is an important object of attention not to talk in superlatives, so as neither to offend against truth nor to give a mean idea of one's understanding. Exaggeration is a prodigality of the judgment which shows the narrowness of one's knowledge or one's taste. Praise arouses lively curiosity, begets desire, and if afterwards the value does not correspond to the price, as generally happens, expectation revolts against the deception, and revenges itself by under-estimating the thing recommended and the person recommending. A prudent man goes more cautiously to work, and prefers to err by understatement than by overstatement. Extraordinary things are rare, therefore moderate your valuation. Exaggeration is a branch of lying, and you lose by it the credit of good taste, which is much, and of good sense, which is more.