Keep matters in suspense. Being too obvious is neither useful nor tasteful. By not declaring yourself immediately, you keep people guessing. Cautious silence is where prudence takes refuge. Once declared, resolutions lie open to criticism. If they turn out badly, you will be twice unfortunate.
Know your best quality. Foster your most outstanding gift and nurture the rest. All people could achieve eminence in something if only they knew what they excelled at.
Never exaggerate. Superlatives offend the truth and cast doubt on your judgment. The prudent show restraint, and would rather fall short that long. To overvalue something is a form of lying. It can ruin your reputation for good taster and wisdom.
Adapt to those around you. Don’t put more effort into things than they require. Don’t show off everyday, or you will stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keep up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talent.
Associate with those you can learn from. Make your friends your teachers, and blend the usefulness of learning with the pleasure of conversation. Enjoy the company of people of understanding, what you say will be rewarded with applause, what you hear you hear with learning.
Don’t be tiresome. Brevity is pleasure and flattering, and it get more done. Good things ,if brief ,twice good. Badness ,if short ,isn’t so bad. Well said is quickly said.
Plan for bad fortune while your fortune is good. In the summer, it is wise to provide for winter, and it is easier to do so. Favors are less expensive, and friendship abound. Keep a following of friends and grateful. Someday you will value what now seems unimportant.
Don’t talk about yourself. You must either praise yourself, which is vanity, or criticize yourself, which is meekness. You show a lack of good judgment and become a nuisance to others.
The wise do sooner what fools do later. There is only one good way to see the light: as soon as possible. Otherwise, you do out of necessity what you might have done with pleasure. The wise size up immediately what has to be done. Sooner or later, and do it with pleasure, enhancing their reputation.
Never complain. Complaints will always discredit you. Rather than compassion, they provoke insolence and encourage others to behave like those we complaint about. It’s better to praise others, so as to win still more favors of them.
Don’t be made of glass. Some people break very easily, revealing how fragile they are. They fill up with resentment, and fill others with annoyance. More sensitive than pupils of the eyes, they are full of themselves, and slaves to their own taste.
Don’t live in a hurry. If you know how to organize things, you will know how to enjoy them. Many people want to devour in a day what they could hardly digest in a lifetime. Show moderation, so that things known won’t be badly knowly. Be quick to act, slow to enjoy.
Follow through on your victories. Some people do everything to begin and nothing to end. Fickle characters, they start but don’t persist. This shows either inconstancy or having rashly attempted the impossible. What is worth doing is worth finishing. If it isn’t worth finishing, why begin at all? The wise don’t merely stalk the prey, they make the kill.
Quit while you are head. All the best gamblers do. A fine retreat matters as much as a stylish attack. Lady Luck grows tired when she has to carry someone on her back for a long time. Be careful the way you end things, and devote more attention to successful exit than a favorable entrance. What matters isn’t being applauded when you arrive, but being missed when you leave!
