知道你最大的缺点。任何人都有一个缺点与其最大的优点相伴,如果任缺点滋长,它就会如暴君一般主宰你。向它开战吧,让谨慎做你的盟军。你首先要做的事就是写公开檄文,因为邪恶一旦被人了解,很快就会被征服,尤其是当受折磨的人如旁观者一般注视它的时候。要主宰自己,就得了解自己。要让最大的缺点向你投降,其他的缺点就会望风而降。
Know your chief fault. There lives none that has not in himself' a counterbalance to his most conspicuous merit: if this be nourished by desire it may grow to be a tyrant. Commence war against it, summoning prudence as your ally, and the first thing to do is the public manifesto, for an evil once known is soon conquered, especially when the one afflicted regards it in the same light as the onlookers. To be master of oneself one should know oneself. If the chief imperfection surrender, the rest will come to an end.