91.對做某事審慎與否有疑慮,就別著手去做
對做某事審慎與否有疑慮,就別著手去做。行事之人只擔心失敗,旁觀者卻已確認失敗,尤其當旁觀者為你的對手時。如果你的判斷在當初沖動的情緒中已搖擺不定,那么待稍后冷靜思考后,你會責備自己,那樣做無比愚蠢。如果你對行事是否慎重還有所懷疑時就開始行動,那將是十分危險的,最好把它放到一邊去。明智之人不會依賴"可能",他們始終在高度的理智控制下前進。當一件事在萌芽之時就遭到了判斷力的質疑,那么,它怎么能成功呢?經(jīng)內心法庭一致通過的決議還常常沒有好結局,我們又怎么能指望懷有疑感的理智和搖擺不定的判斷所辦的事情呢?
91.Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts of its prudence
Never set to work at anything if you have any doubts of its prudence. A suspicion of failure in the mind of the doer is proof positive of it in that of the onlooker, especially if he is a rival. If in the heat of action your judgment feels scruples, it will afterwards in cool reflection be condemned as a piece of folly. Action is dangerous where prudence is in doubt: better leave such things alone. Wisdom does not trust to probabilities; it always marches in the midday light of reason. How can an enterprise succeed which the judgment condemns as soon as conceived? And if resolutions passed nem. con. by inner court often turn out unfortunately, what can we expect of those undertaken by a doubting reason and a vacillating judgment?