123．避免矫揉造作

避免矫揉造作。越是才华横溢之人，越不会矫揉造作，任何东西只要矫饰，就会变得庸俗。它不但让别人厌烦，亦使自己烦恼。他们因处处小心而受尽折磨，沦为谨小慎微的牺牲品。若装腔作势，就算高才也会大打折扣，因为那样会让他们显得傲慢做作而不自然，自然的东西总比不自然的东西更让人心生愉悦。在世人看来，刻意显示美德的人其实根本没有美德。你越是在某件事上努力，越应隐藏自己付出的东西，这样才能很自然地显出你是天性使然。当然，你也不要为了避免矫饰而装作不矫饰，那样反而显得造作。明智之人从不表现出知道自己的长处——只有你不注意自己的优点，别人才会注意到你的优点。除自己之外，别人都认为完美的人倍加伟大——通过两条相反的途径，他赢得了世人的赞誉。

123．Avoid affectation

Avoid affectation. The more merit, the less affectation, which gives a vulgar flavour to all. It is wearisome to others and troublesome to the one affected, for he becomes a martyr to care and tortures himself with attention. The most eminent merits lose most by it, for they appear proud and artificial instead of being the product of nature, and the natural is always more pleasing than the artificial. One always feels sure that the man who affects a virtue has it not. The more pains you take with a thing, the more should you conceal them, so that it may appear to arise spontaneously from your own natural character. Do not, however, in avoiding affectation fall into it by affecting to be unaffected. The sage never seems to know his own merits, for only by not noticing them can you call others' attention to them. He is twice great who has all the perfections in the opinion of all except of himself; he attains applause by two opposite paths.