Stanza 54

Original Old Norse:

Meðalsnotr

skyli manna hverr

æva til snotr sé

þeim er fyrða

fegrst at lifa

er vel mart vitut

Auden & Taylor:

It is best for man to be middle-wise, 

Not over cunning and clever:

The learned man whose lore is deep 

Is seldom happy at heart.

Bellows:

A measure of wisdom | each man shall have,

But never too much let him know;

The fairest lives | do those men live

Whose wisdom wide has grown.

Bray:

Wise in measure let each man be;

but let him not wax too wise; 

for never the happiest of men is he

who knows much of many things.

Chisholm:

Middle wise should each man be

and not over wise.

The fairest life is had

by the one who knows many things well.

Hollander:

Middling wise every man should be:

beware of being too wise;

happiest in life most likely he

who knows not more than is needful.

Terry:

Moderately wise a man should be --

don't wish for too much wisdom;

the men who live the fairest lives

know not too much.

Thorpe:

Moderately wise

should each one be,

but never over-wise:

of those men

the lives are fairest,

who know much well.

It's awfully cold and lonely at the top of the organization, the top of the ladder. More so at the top of Mount Noos (mind). To be at the top means to have your head in the clouds and to know the future, but be unable to shape it, and that's where the loneliness comes from. All throughout history, in every culture, you see the wise-man, the shaman, the monk, those who know soo much more than the average layman. They are always on their own, living deep in the forest/woods/moutnains, alone in their knowledge. Read the melancholic writings of Philip K Dick and other prophets to see this misery incarnate: they are not especially cheerful people. They tend more towards the 'darker' the 'melancholic'. The anti-pode of this (of dwelling on the top of Mount Noos) is living on the Plains of Phusis (physical), living in the 'now', 'the present', 'living for the moment'. The people who live on the Plains of Phusis are happy, but dumb. Hence the stanza says: 'it is most pleasant to live when they don't know a great many things.'