贤者、弱者和伟大者[1]

普通人往往会为小的冒犯所激怒，但却在大的冒犯面前保持沉默，无动于衷。[2]

主导者的唯一定义是：如果你努力试图成为主导者，那你永远也成不了主导者。

那些没什么要证明的人，从来不说他们没什么要证明。

弱者展示力量，掩饰弱点；伟大者展示弱点，就像展示饰品一样。

要是能变得睿智而又不无聊该有多好，变得无聊却又不睿智是多么糟糕。[3]

让我尊重的特质包括博学，以及在别人顾忌名誉的场合挺身而出的勇气。任何白痴都可以很聪明。

普通人更容易为说出的话而不是沉默后悔，比较杰出的人更容易为沉默而不是说出的话后悔，伟大者没什么可后悔的。

只要请普通人吃若干顿饭，他就会替华盛顿的美联储撒谎、偷窃、杀人甚至卖命；伟大者永远不会。

社会科学意味着发明出一种我们能理解的“人类”定义。

跟地位相当的人说“祝你好运”时，弱者的想法正好相反，强者无所谓，只有伟大者才是真心的。

在过去，只有一部分男人有生育权，但是所有的女人都有生育权。平等对女人而言更为自然。

伟大者只相信他听到的一半东西，但是双倍相信他说的东西。

口头威胁是能力不足的最好证明。

历史上最著名的两位勇敢者并不是荷马史诗里的战士，而是地中海东部的两个人，他们为自己的观点而死，甚至可以说是故意寻死。

弱者不可能是好人，或者说，只有在太过全面、毫无遗漏的法律系统里，他才能是个好人。

无论如何，尽量避免说话——威胁，抱怨，解释，叙述，重复，恳求，试图赢得争论的胜利——尽量避免说话！

按照萨摩萨塔的卢西恩的记载，哲学家泽莫纳克斯阻止一名斯巴达人殴打他的仆人：“你这样做等于把他变成了跟你对等的人。”

古人最怕的是不光荣的死亡，现代人最怕的就是死亡。

[1]在亚里士多德的《尼各马科伦理学》中，“伟大者”是指“灵魂伟大”的人，他们认为自己配得上伟大的事物，清楚自己在生活中的位置，遵守排除一切渺小行径的伦理体系。“灵魂伟大”的概念尽管被提倡谦卑的基督徒置换掉了，但在黎凡特文化中仍然保留着。“伟大者”具有许多特点，其中包括走路很慢。

[2] 想想人们对银行和经济组织的反应。

[3]看看美联储主席本·伯南克的样子。

THE SAGE, THE WEAK, AND THE MAGNIFICENT

Mediocre men tend to be outraged by small insults but passive, subdued, and silent in front of very large ones.

The only definition of an alpha male: if you try to be an alpha male, you will never be one.

Those who have nothing to prove never say that they have nothing to prove.

The weak shows his strength and hides his weaknesses; the magnificent exhibits his weaknesses like ornaments.

How superb to become wise without being boring; how sad to be boring without being wise.

The traits I respect are erudition and the courage to stand up when half-men are afraid for their reputation. Any idiot can be intelligent.

The mediocre regret their words more than their silence; finer men regret their silence more than their words, the magnificent has nothing to regret.

Regular men are a certain varying number of meals away from lying, stealing, killing, or even working as forecasters for the Federal Reserve in Washington; never the magnificent.

Social science means inventing a certain brand of human we can understand.

When expressing "good luck" to a peer, the weak wishes the opposite, the strong is mildly indifferent; but only the magnificent means it.

In the past, only some of the males, but all of the females, were able to procreate. Equality is more natural for females.

The magnificent believes half of what he hears and twice what he says.

A verbal threat is the most authentic certificate of impotence.

The two most celebrated acts of courage in history aren't Homeric fighters, but two Eastern Mediterranean fellows who died, even sought death, for their ideas.

The weak cannot be good; or, perhaps, he can only be good within an exhaustive and overreaching legal system.

By all means, avoid words——threats, complaints, justification, narratives, reframing, attempts to win arguments, supplications; avoid words!

According to Lucian of Samosata, the philosopher Demonax stopped a Spartan from beating his servant. "You are making him your equal", he said.

The classical man's worst fear was inglorious death; the modern man's worst fear is just death.