不要比上司更耀眼。所有的成功都会引起嫉恨，若超过上司，更是愚蠢，甚至是致命的。优越者总是引起他人的憎恨，更别说超过位高权重之人。人要善于将自己的优势深藏不露。举个例子，姣好的面容可以用不经意的装束来遮掩。也许有人不在乎你有好的运气或是温良的秉性，但是没人会乐意——尤其是君主——你在判断力上超过他，因为优秀的判断力是王者特有的能力，你一定要僭越，便是对其不敬。身为君主，自然希望在判断力这一最高贵之特质上远胜一筹。他们可以允许旁人辅佐，却不允许有人超越；要让他们采纳建议，就要像是帮他们回想起忘掉的东西，而不是指引他们去找其久寻不得之物。天上的星辰教会了我们这种愉快的处世策略：它们是太阳之子，并且与太阳一样光亮，却从不与太阳争辉。
avoid victories over superiors. all victories breed hate, and that over your superior is foolish or fatal. superiority is always detested, let alone superiority over superiority caution can gloss over common advantages; for example, good looks may be cloaked by careless attire. there are some that will grant you precedence in good luck or good temper, but none in good sense, least of all a prince; for good sense is a royal prerogative, any claim of superiority in that is a crime against majesty. they are princes, and wish to be so in that most princely of qualities. they will allow a man to help them but not to surpass them, and will have any advice tendered them appear like a recollection of something they have forgotten rather than as a guide to something they cannot find. the stars teach us this finesse with happy tact: though they are his children and brilliant like him, they never rival the brilliancy of the sun.
