Source text in English | Translation by Goran Stamenkovic (#10387) |
I remember reading once that some fellows use language to conceal thought, but it's been my experience that a good many more use it instead of thought. A businessman's conversation should be regulated by fewer and simpler rules than any other function of the human animal. They are: Have something to say. Say it. Stop talking. Beginning before you know what you want to say and keeping on after you have said it lands a merchant in a lawsuit or the poorhouse, and the first is a short cut to the second. I maintain a legal department here, and it costs a lot of money, but it's to keep me from going to law. It's all right when you are calling on a girl or talking with friends after dinner to run a conversation like a Sunday-school excursion, with stops to pick flowers; but in the office your sentences should be the shortest distance possible between periods. Cut out the introduction and the peroration, and stop before you get to secondly. You've got to preach short sermons to catch sinners; and deacons won't believe they need long ones themselves. Give fools the first and women the last word. The meat's always in the middle of the sandwich. Of course, a light butter on either side of it doesn't do any harm if it's intended for a man who likes butter. Remember, too, that it's easier to look wise than to talk wisdom. Say less than the other fellow and listen more than you talk; for when a man's listening he isn't telling on himself and he's flattering the fellow who is. Give most men a good listener and most women enough note-paper and they'll tell all they know. Money talks -- but not unless its owner has a loose tongue, and then its remarks are always offensive. Poverty talks, too, but nobody wants to hear what it has to say. | Sećam se da sam jednom pročitao kako neki ljudi koriste jezik ne bi li sakrili svoje misli, ali iz sopstvenog iskustva znam da ga dobrano veći broj njih koristi kao zamenu za razmišljanje. Poslovni razgovor bi trebalo regulisati s manje brojnim i jednostavnijim pravilima nego bilo koju drugu funkciju životinje koju nazivamo čovekom. Pravila su sledeća: Smisli šta hoćeš da kažeš. Kaži to što si smislio. Ućuti. Trgovac koji započinje s pričom pre no što i sam zna šta želi da kaže i nastavlja je nakon što izgovori ono što je smislio završava pred sudom ili u sirotištu, pri čemu je ovo prvo samo prečica do drugog. Ja ovde imam svoj pravni odsek, koji me košta gomilu novca, ali me zato čuva da ne dopadnem pod udar zakona. Sve je u najboljem redu kad telefonom nazoveš devojku ili nakon večere ćaskaš s prijateljima čisto razgovora radi, kao na izletu o blagdanima, dok zastajkuješ da nabereš stručak cveća; ali zato bi na radnom mestu tvoje rečenice trebalo da predstavljaju najkraće moguće rastojanje između tačaka. Izbaci uvod i zaključak, zaćuti pre no što uopšte dođeš do ovog drugog. Grešnike moraš loviti na kratke propovedi, a čak ni đakone nećeš ubediti da su im potrebne dugačke besede. Uvodnu reč prepusti budalama, a poslednju ženama. Meso je uvek u sredini sendviča. Naravno, ovlašni premaz putera s obeju strana neće škoditi, pod uslovom da je sendvič namenjen čoveku koji voli puter. Upamti, takođe, da je lakše mudro izgledati nego mudro govoriti. Govori manje od drugih i više slušaj nego što pričaš; jer, kad čovek sluša on sebe ne razotkriva i ujedno laska onome ko to čini. Daj većini muškaraca dobrog slušaoca, a većini žena dovoljno pisaćeg papira, pa će ti istrtljati sve što znaju. Novac govori hiljadu jezika -- ali samo ako je njegov vlasnik brbljivac, a čak i onda su njegove opaske gotovo uvek uvredljive. I sirotinja zna da govori, ali niko ne želi da čuje to što ona ima da kaže. |