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弗朗西斯·培根:随笔·摘录 3

弗朗西斯·培根《随笔》· Essays · 领导 · 行动

For the second, which is dissimulation; it followeth many times upon secrecy, by a necessity; so that he that will be secret, must be a dissembler in some degree. For men are too cunning, to suffer a man to keep an indifferent carriage between both, and to be secret, without swaying the balance on either side. They will so beset a man with questions, and draw him on, and pick it out of him, that, without an absurd silence, he must show an inclination one way; or if he do not, they will gather as much by his silence, as by his speech. As for equivocations, or oraculous speeches, they cannot hold out long. So that no man can be secret, except he give himself a little scope of dissimulation; which is, as it were, but the skirts or train of secrecy.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/575
定位:Excerpt 3 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

培根说,第二层“掩饰”常常是保密带来的必然结果。一个人如果想保守秘密,就多少得会掩饰。因为别人太精明了,不会允许你保持中立、不偏不倚地沉默。他们会用问题包围你、引你开口、从你身上套话,你要么只能极不自然地沉默,要么就得表现出某种倾向;就算你不说,他们也会从你的沉默里得出和说话一样多的信息。含糊其辞、模棱两可的话也撑不了多久。所以想保密的人,必须给自己一点掩饰的余地,掩饰就像是保密的裙边或拖尾。

上下文

培根分析保密为何必然带来一定程度的掩饰,指出完全中立的沉默在现实中很难维持。

今日一问

当别人追问我不想透露的事情时,我有没有比生硬沉默更好的应对方式?

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