剑鞘保护剑的锋利，自己却满足於它自己的迟钝。

作者吴真指出，这场“暗斗”的“暗”，一方面指在敌占区“暗处”进行，另一方面也点出面对的敌人是不明确的，必须处处提防、事事小心。

我当时在纽约一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聪明的人，我的老板也很有智慧，我很羡慕他。我告诉我的老板我想开办一家在网上卖书的公司。他带我在中央公园漫步良久，认真地听我讲完，最后说："听起来真是一个很好的主意，但是对那些目前没有谋到一份好工作的人来说，这个主意会更好。"这一逻辑对我而言颇有道理，他说服我在最终作出决定之前再考虑48小时。那样想来，这个决定确实很艰难，但是最终，我决定拼一次。我认为自己不会为尝试过后的失败而遗憾，倒是有所决定但完全不付诸行动会一直煎熬着我。在深思熟虑之后，我选择了那条不安全的道路，去追随我内心的热情。我为那个决定感到骄傲。

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people， and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park， listened carefully to me， and finally said， "That sounds like a really good idea， but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job." That logic made some sense to me， and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light， it really was a difficult choice， but ultimately， I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I'd regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration， I took the less safe path to follow my passion， and I'm proud of that choice.