勿遭人烦。若你只重复一个话题,纠缠在某件事上,就容易让人厌烦。话语简洁令人愉悦,且更容易成事。简洁虽显得有点草率,但却让人感到亲切。好事简洁,则好上加好。抓住事物的本质,比混杂一堆细节更有效。健谈之人处理事物常常缺才少智,这为人所共知。有些人不能增添光彩,却爱做绊脚石,挡在每个人的路上。明智之人应避免招人讨厌,尤其是别让大人物厌烦——大人物日理万机,打扰这种人比打扰其他人更糟糕。说话高明即说话简洁。
Don't be a bore. The man of one business or of one topic is apt to be tiresome. Brevity flatters and does better business; it gains by courtesy what it loses by curtness. Good things, when short, are twice as good. The quintessence of the matter is more effective than a whole farrago of details. It is a well-known truth that talkative folk rarely have much sense whether in dealing with the matter itself or its formal treatment. There are people who serve more for stumbling-stones than centrepieces, useless lumber in everyone's way. The wise avoid being bores, especially to the great, who are fully occupied: it is worse to disturb one of them than all the rest. Well said is soon said.