投资 · 创业者自述

塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯:节俭·摘录 119

塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯《节俭》· Thrift · 投资

"Let me state, for it seems to be very much the fashion to draw dolorous pictures of the condition of the labouring classes, that from the close of the first year in which I worked as a journeyman until I took final leave of the mallet and chisel, I never knew what it was to want a shilling; that my two uncles, my grandfather, and the mason with whom I served my apprenticeship--all working men--had had a similar experience; and that it was the experience of my father also. I cannot doubt that deserving mechanics may, in exceptional cases, be exposed to want; but I can as little doubt that the cases _are_ exceptional, and that much of the suffering of the class is a consequence either of improvidence on the part of the competently skilled, or of a course of trifling during the term of apprenticeship, quite as common as trifling at school, that always lands those who indulge in it in the hapless position of the inferior workman."

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14418
定位:Excerpt 119 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

作者引用一位工匠的自述:人们总爱把劳工阶层描绘得凄惨,但他说,从做雇工的第一年年底到放下锤凿,他从没缺过一先令;他的两个叔叔、祖父、学徒时的石匠师傅,都是工人,经历也一样;他父亲也是如此。他不否认有本事的技工也可能遇到困难,但坚信那是例外;这个阶层的许多苦难,要么是技能熟练者自己不节俭,要么是学徒期间吊儿郎当——这跟上学混日子一样常见,最终让人沦为低等工匠。核心是:多数困境不是命不好,而是早年不努力、平时不节俭。

上下文

斯迈尔斯《节俭》中一位工匠的自述,反驳当时流行的劳工阶层悲惨论调。

今日一问

你现在的困境,有多少是环境造成,有多少是早年或平时松懈留下的?

公版作品;原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg,仅摘录段落并附全书链接。

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