雙語智慧書·選擇你的朋友

156．選擇你的朋友
　　選擇你的朋友。經過實踐和命運的考驗的朋友才算合格。合格不僅體現(xiàn)在情感方面，還體現(xiàn)在洞察力方面。盡管這是人生第一要事，但世人對此并不上心。只有少數(shù)人用智力擇友，而更多的則靠機遇。人們總是根據(jù)所交朋友來判斷一個人的為人，因為智者永遠不會與傻瓜有共鳴。同樣，和某人交往很開心，并不意味著和他很親密，可能只是喜歡與之為伴時的快樂，但未必信賴他的才能。有的友誼合法，有的則違法；后者是為了娛樂，前者卻能產生思想和動力。大部分"朋友"看上你，不是因為你本人，而是因為你的境遇。眾人的友好往往還抵不過一個摯友的真知灼見。因此，交友要精挑細選，而不應單純依靠機緣。明智的友人驅走憂愁，愚昧的朋友讓你煩憂。此外，別期盼朋友運氣太好，可能你會就此失去他們。


156．Select your friends
　Select your friends. Only after passing the matriculation of experience and the examination of fortune will they be graduates, not only in affection but in discernment. Though this is the most important thing in life, it is the one least cared for. Intelligence brings friends to some, chance to most. Yet a man is judged by his friends, for there was never agreement between wise men and fools. At the same time, to find pleasure in a man's society is no proof of near friendship: it may come from the pleasantness of his company more than from trust in his capacity. There are some friendships legitimate, others illicit; the latter for pleasure, the former for their fecundity of ideas and motives. Few are the friends of a man's self, most those of his circumstances. The insight of a true friend is more useful than the goodwill of others: therefore gain them by choice, not by chance. A wise friend wards off worries, a foolish one brings them about. But do not wish them too much luck, or you may lose them.