Sublime

il suo astenersi dal rimproverare apertamente colui che lo merita, e il non essere mai stati gli amici suoi costretti a scrutare la sua volontà, manifesta invece a tutti.

The key to power, then, is the ability to judge who is best able to further your interests in all situations. Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.

Among the living, though, let’s not choose those who spout a great onrush of words, spinning out all the clichés and talking for the crowd even when they are at home. Instead, let’s call in those who teach by their manner of living. After saying what one ought to do, they prove it by doing so themselves; when they say one ought to avoid something,

Esta forma de relativismo se parece mucho a lo que pensaba Montaigne: él era crítico con los errores propios y no solo con los ajenos; estaba atento a lo que pensaban los demás para saber qué podía aprender, y, en la defensa de sus ideas, estaba siempre abierto a la posibilidad de estar equivocado.

But it is only a well-founded reputation that lasts permanently.

la sabiduría no es comunicable. La sabiduría que un sabio intenta comunicar a otros suena siempre a locura.

People will think you’re a prophet, when in truth you just pay attention and know the people to whom you are preaching.

The remedy against this extreme is to moderate your brilliance. Be extraordinary in your excellence, if you like, but be ordinary in your display of it.