One day a father was teaching his son and said, "The keys to your success are keeping your word and cleverness. Once you give somebody a promise, you must carry it out on matter what will happen. This is called 'keeping one's words.'
"What is cleverness? asked his son.
"Cleverness is that you'll never make such a promise, " the father answered.
一天,父亲教育儿子说:“一个人成功的关键就是严守诺言和足够聪明。一旦你给了别人承诺,无论发生什么事,你都得实现它,这个就叫‘守诺言’。”
儿子问:“那么什么是聪明呢?”
父亲回答:“聪明就是任何时候都别做这样的承诺。”