人們通常喜歡聽好聽的話，一聽到拂耳之言就容易產(chǎn)生不悅甚至慍怒。一個(gè)人特別是身居要職的人要能夠心悅誠服地傾聽逆耳之良言并從中獲得智慧，就需要一種容忍和大度的雅量，而這往往依賴于人們的心性修養(yǎng)和對(duì)人性缺陷的克制；否則，就會(huì)給那些善于運(yùn)用花言巧語和投其所好的人提供可乘之機(jī)，并傷害那些直言不諱的忠誠之人。

在理智上，人們大概愿意接受“兼聽則明，偏信則暗”、“忠言逆耳利于行”等一類古老的真理，或者樂于信服老子說的“美言不信，信言不美”的哲理。但在行為上，人們又時(shí)常背離這些古訓(xùn)，不愿意聽或聽不進(jìn)“逆耳”之言，”最終犯下嚴(yán)重的過失。

We tend to hear words pleasant to the ear but have displeasure and resentment at words harsh to the ear. A man, especially one occupying an important position, needs tolerance and magnanimity to lend an ear to truthful yet offensive words with heartfelt admiration so as to gain wisdom from them, and those qualities can be only cultivated through the nurturing of the soul and the restraint in human weaknesses. Otherwise, opportunities are exploited to the advantage of those with sweet words on the lips to tickle the ear of others, only to hurt those loyal people outspoken in their remarks.

Intellectually, we are probably willing to believe in the ancient truths that we’ ll be enlightened if we listen to both sides 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 Laotzi’s philosophy that true words are not embellished and the embellished words are not true. However, in our behaviours, we tend to depart from those estabilished maxims, reluctant to accept and follow those uncomfortable truths until eventually grave errors are committed.