186．认识缺点，不管其地位有多高

识别缺点，不管其地位有多高。邪恶无法掩藏其本质，哪怕它穿绸披锦，甚或头戴金冠，终究会被正直之人识破。无论奴隶制怎样炫耀君王与主人的高贵，都无法减少其本质的卑劣。恶人可以站在高处，自拔其高，但他们依然卑下。人们能看到许多伟人有重大的过失，但却不知道伟人之所以伟大并非因为其过失。有些崇高的榜样外表美丽得很，甚至可以掩藏其缺陷；谄媚之人受其感染，认识不到高位所掩藏的东西如果失去其地位，将令人生厌。

186．Recognize faults, however high placed

Recognize faults, however high placed. Integrity cannot mistake vice even when clothed in brocade or perchance crowned with gold, but will not be able to hide its character for all that. Slavery does not lose its vileness, however it vaunt the nobility of its lord and master. Vices may stand in high place, but are low for all that. Men can see that many a great man has great faults, yet they do not see that he is not great because of them. The example of the great is so specious that it even glosses over viciousness, till it may so affect those who flatter it that they do not notice that what they gloss over in the great they abominate in the lower classes.