活着并非全为自己，也不是全为他人。这两种说法都专制得不可取。如果只为自己而活，就会想占有所有的东西。这种人不愿作出丝毫让步，也不想损失一点点舒适。他们极少感恩，只靠自己的运气，但他们的支柱往往会倒塌。有时，应该考虑一下别人，以便日后别人也考虑你。担公职之人就应做公仆，要么放弃职位不干，要么勇挑重担——一位老妪曾这样对哈德良(1)说过。相反，有些人完全为别人而活，这很愚蠢，愚蠢常常走极端。没有哪天、哪个钟点属于他们自己。他们始终为别人而活，简直成了所有人的奴隶。甚至在求知方面，也是如此。有的人对别人的事情无所不知，对自己的事情却一无所知。你若精明，就应明白：别人找你并非要找你这个人，而是为了在你身上找到好处，或是通过你找到好处。
neither belong entirely to yourself nor entirely to others. both are mean forms of tyranny. to desire to be all for oneself is the same as desiring to have all for oneself. such persons will not yield a jot or lose a tittle of their comfort. they are rarely beholden, lean on their own luck, and their crutch generally breaks. it is convenient at times to belong to others, so that others may belong to us. and he that holds public office is no more nor less than a public slave, or let a man give up both berth and burden, as the old woman said to hadrian. on the other hand, others are all for others, which is folly, that always flies to extremes, in this case in a most unfortunate manner. no day, no hour, is their own, but they have so much too much of others that they may be called the slaves of all. this applies even to knowledge, where a man may know everything for others and nothing for himself. a shrewd man knows that others, when they seek him, do not seek him, but their advantage in him and by him.
(1) 罗马皇帝（117—138在位），“罗马五贤君”之一。据说，曾有一老妇人向哈德良申诉某事，皇帝说没有时间处理，老妇人于是说：“那么你就别占着位子。”哈德良觉得妇人说得有理，当场审结了那个案子。
