在理智上，人们大概愿意接受\"兼听则明，偏信则暗\"、\"忠言逆耳利于行\"等一类古老的真理，或者乐于信服老子说的\"美言不信，信言不美\"的哲理。但在行为上，人们又时常背离这些古训，不愿意听或听不进\"逆耳\"之言，\"最终犯下严重的过失。
We have a natural tendency for favored comments, against the harsh words. A man, especially one occupying an important position, should be broad-minded and generous enough to lend a willing ear to the offensive truth so that wisdom will be drawn from them, which can only be achieved by cultivation of the characters and the self-discipline to overcome human weaknesses. Otherwise, they will be the prey of those flatters and opportunists, hurting only outspoken loyal people. Intellectually, we are probably willing to believe in the ancient truths that we should be wise if we listen to both sides of the issue and we will be benighted if we heed only one side, that honest advice, though unpleasant to the ear, benefits conduct. Also, we are delightfully convinced of Laozi that the trustworthy words are not embellished and the embellished words are not trustworthy. However, we often deviate from those ancient maxims that still we turn a cold shoulder to the stern and hard-swallowed truths until eventually blunders are committed.
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