求精深重于求广博。优秀在质,而非量。最好的事物往往十分稀有——物以稀为贵。人亦如此,往往巨人也是侏儒。某些书以其形式厚重而获得人们的赞誉,似乎此书是要锻炼臂力而非智力。只有广博决不能超越平庸,那些可怜的所谓通才总是试图门门精通,却总是样样不通,这是他们的不幸。精深方可卓越。如若专精于要事,则可享誉盛名。
Prize intensity more than extent. Excellence resides in quality not in quantity. The best is always few and rare: much lowers value. Even among men giants are commonly the real dwarfs. Some reckon books by the thickness, as if they were written to try the brawn more than the brain. Extent alone never rises above mediocrity: it is the misfortune of universal geniuses that in attempting to be at home everywhere, are so nowhere. Intensity gives eminence, and rises to the heroic in matters sublime.