雙語智慧書·做一個有深度的人至關重要

48．做一個有深度的人至關重要
　　做一個有深度的人至關重要。一個人的內涵至少與外表一樣重要。有人只是空有一具好皮囊，就像一間房子，因資金不足而只裝飾了表面，門廊像宮殿，而里屋卻如茅草房。深入到他們的頭腦之中，你將一無所獲。盡管他們會來打擾你，在最初的寒暄過后，他們就無話可說了。與人初次見面，他們的寒暄敏捷如西西里的駿馬，不過隨即便陷入沉默。因為，沒有思想的源泉，言語會很快枯竭。淺薄之人可能會被這種人蒙蔽，但是，明智之人能夠一眼看透，知道他們的內心空無一物，除了一些可作笑柄的材料。

48．So much depends on being a person of depth
　So much depends on being a person of depth. The interior must be at least as much as the exterior. There are natures all frontage, like houses that for want of means have the portico of a palace leading to the rooms of a cottage. It is no use boring into such persons, although they bore you, for conversation flags after the first salutation. They prance through the first compliments like Sicilian stallions, but silence soon succeeds, for the flow of words soon ceases where there is no spring of thoughts. Others may be taken in by them because they themselves have but a view of the surface, but not the prudent, who look within them and find nothing there except material for scorn.