242．做事要有始有终

做事要有始有终。有些人在起初就使出全部力气，却不能坚持到底。他们有想法，却从不付诸实践。这种人总是敷衍了事。他们不能将比赛进行到底，因此得不到任何荣誉。他们做事，一遇到挫折就停止。有些是因为没有耐心，这是西班牙人的弱点；而富有耐心，却是比利时人的特长。后者做事善始善终，前者做事半途而废。他们奋力拼搏，克服了困难，却就此满足，不明白怎样去坚持胜利。他们证明自己有能力做事，只是不愿意做而已。这说明他们要么不能胜任，要么不可靠。如果是好事，为什么不完成？如果是坏事，为什么要做呢？如果你聪明，就要捉住猎物，而非仅仅满足于把它赶出藏身之地。

242．Push advantages

Push advantages. Some put all their strength in the commencement and never carry a thing to a conclusion. They invent but never execute. These be paltering spirits. They obtain no fame, for they sustain no game to the end. Everything stops at a single stop. This arises in some from impatience, which is the failing of the Spaniard, as patience is the virtue of the Belgian. The latter bring things to an end, the former come to an end with things. They sweat away till the obstacle is surmounted, but content themselves with surmounting it: they do not know how to push the victory home. They prove that they can but will not. This proves always that they cannot, or have no stability. If the undertaking is good, why not finish it? If it is bad, why undertake it? Strike down your quarry, if you are wise; be not content to flush it.