Source text in English | Translation by Billy Brown (#9479) |
I remember reading once that some fellows use language to conceal thought, but it's been my experience that a good many more use it instead of thought. A businessman's conversation should be regulated by fewer and simpler rules than any other function of the human animal. They are: Have something to say. Say it. Stop talking. Beginning before you know what you want to say and keeping on after you have said it lands a merchant in a lawsuit or the poorhouse, and the first is a short cut to the second. I maintain a legal department here, and it costs a lot of money, but it's to keep me from going to law. It's all right when you are calling on a girl or talking with friends after dinner to run a conversation like a Sunday-school excursion, with stops to pick flowers; but in the office your sentences should be the shortest distance possible between periods. Cut out the introduction and the peroration, and stop before you get to secondly. You've got to preach short sermons to catch sinners; and deacons won't believe they need long ones themselves. Give fools the first and women the last word. The meat's always in the middle of the sandwich. Of course, a light butter on either side of it doesn't do any harm if it's intended for a man who likes butter. Remember, too, that it's easier to look wise than to talk wisdom. Say less than the other fellow and listen more than you talk; for when a man's listening he isn't telling on himself and he's flattering the fellow who is. Give most men a good listener and most women enough note-paper and they'll tell all they know. Money talks -- but not unless its owner has a loose tongue, and then its remarks are always offensive. Poverty talks, too, but nobody wants to hear what it has to say. | 我記得曾經讀過某篇文章,描述有些人假借言語來掩蔽他們的思維,然而我的經驗是為數更多的人言語的時候根本不假思索。一個商人的話語應該節制,如果跟人類這種動物所擁有的其他官能相較,他講話時只有更少且更單調的規則可以應用。這些規則是: 有話要說時。 表達出來。 適時封口。 尚未斟酌措辭之前就貿然開口,而且不懂得適時閉嘴的下場就是讓商賈落得官司纒身或棲身救濟院,而官司會讓你更快進住救濟院。我在我的公司裡設立了法律部門,所費不貲,但是它卻能防止我吃上官司。 當你跟一位少女互通電話或是跟朋友晚餐後閒聊的時候,用主日學郊遊的聊天方式 – 沿途隨興駐足採花 – 並無大礙,但是在辦公室的時候,你應該惜言如金,力求言簡意賅。省略前言和結尾,並且在論及“第二點”之前停頓一下。要讓罪人幡然悔悟,講道必須簡短有力,同時教會執事本身也不認為一席長篇大論有其必要。讓無知之徒聽開場白,讓女流之輩聽結尾。說話的重點和三明治的肉片一樣:精華永遠都放在最中間。不可諱言的,在開場白還有結尾的部分說些討喜的話也無傷大雅 – 如果你說話的對象就是喜歡被灌迷湯的話。 你也要銘記在心,裝出一副智者的模樣要比口出“慧”語更容易。 話要說的比別人少,多聽少說,因為當你洗耳恭聽的時候,才不會自暴其短,這時反而可以讓那位正在自暴其短的仁兄覺得他備受尊崇。 給大多數男人一個全神貫注的聆聽者,送大多數女人充足的記事本,他們就會知無不言,言無不盡。“財大聲音大”– 但並非全然如此,除非是財主自己大嘴巴,果真如此,那他出口就會傷人。貧民也想要出聲,但是大家充耳不聞。 |