276．知道如何完善自己的品性

知道如何完善自己的品性。常言道：人之性情七年一变。让这一变化朝着更好的方向发展，让你的品味也变得更高雅。过了第一个七年，你开始懂事。在之后的每一发展阶段，都要用新的优点为自己增光。观察这个变化以促进它，也希望有所长进于别的方面。因此，当很多人改变自身地位或职业之时，他们的行为也跟着改变了。有时，这种改变不被察觉，直至其完成之时。一个人，二十如孔雀，三十如狮子，四十如骆驼，五十如蛇精，六十如狗，七十如猴，到八十岁，便什么都不像了。

276．Know how to renew your character

Know how to renew your character, with the help both of Nature and of Art. Every seven years the disposition changes, they say. Let it be a change for the better and for the nobler in your taste. After the first seven comes reason, with each succeeding lustre let a new excellence be added. Observe this change so as to aid it, and hope also for betterment in others. Hence it arises that many change their behaviour when they change their position or their occupation. At times the change is not noticed till it reaches the height of maturity. At twenty Man is a Peacock, at thirty a Lion, at forty a Camel, at fifty a Serpent, at sixty a Dog, at seventy an Ape, at eighty nothing at all.