208.不要死于愚蠢
不要死于愚蠢。聰明之人總是在失去理智之后死去,愚蠢之人總是在找到理智之前死去。為愚蠢之人擔心而死,就是死于過度思慮。有的人因為思慮太多、感觸太多而死去;有的人根本不知思考,不知感觸,卻好好地活著。前者愚蠢,他們死于憂慮;后者同樣愚蠢,因為他們沒有憂慮。因為懂得太多而死,實在愚蠢。這樣,一些人因懂得太多而死;另一些人因懂得不多而活。盡管有許多人像傻瓜一樣死去,而那些傻瓜卻很少會死。
208.Do not die of the fools' disease
Do not die of the fools, disease. The wise generally die after they have lost their reason; fools before they have found it. To die of the fools' disease is to die of too much thought. Some die because they think and feel too much; others live because they do not think and feel. These are fools because they do not die of sorrow, the others because they do. A fool is he that dies of too much knowledge; thus some die because they are too knowing, others because they are not knowing enough. Yet though many die like fools, few die fools.