Please explain the line,

"Be prompt without being stubborn,refuse without arguments,clothe weighty matters in a motley garb."

If you need clarity for specific words, use this site to look them up. Click on Reference at the right and use a dictionary and the thesaurus to make absolutely sure you know what all the words mean. (PS - "motley garb" is a specific reference to the court jesters in medieval/renaissance times in Europe.)

Each part of the series is setting up a seeming contradiction, but you'll need to decide if the author of this really intends these contradictions or if the seeming contradictions are there to emphasize ideas.