投资 · 创业者自述
塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯：节俭·摘录 494
塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯《节俭》· Thrift · 投资
This false and demoralizing habit arises from the overweening estimate which is formed of two things, well enough in their place,--rank and wealth. Everybody struggles to rise into some superior class. The spirit of caste is found as keenly at work among the humblest as among the highest ranks. At Birmingham, there was a club of workmen with tails to their coats, and another without tails: the one looked down upon the other. Cobbett, so felicitous in his nicknames, called his political opponent, Mr. Sadler, "a linendraper." But the linendraper also has plenty of people beneath him. The linendraper looks down on the huckster, the huckster on the mechanic, and the mechanic on the day labourer. The flunkey who exhibits his calves behind a baron, holds his head considerably higher than the flunkey who serves a brewer.
出处：
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14418
定位：Excerpt 494 · 核对日期：2026-10-19 · 核验：短摘录
白话
这种虚伪又败坏风气的习惯，源于对地位和财富这两样东西的过度看重。这两样本身没错，但人人争着往上爬，连最底层也讲究等级。伯明翰有工人俱乐部，一伙人穿燕尾服，另一伙不穿，互相看不起。科贝特把政敌萨德勒叫“布商”，可布商也瞧不起小贩，小贩瞧不起技工，技工瞧不起日工。男仆跟着男爵，就比跟着酿酒师的男仆头抬得高。要改，就得警惕自己心里那点“比下有余”的优越感，平等看待不同职业的人。
上下文
斯迈尔斯在《节俭》中批评英国社会根深蒂固的等级观念，用伯明翰工人俱乐部和科贝特的绰号等例子说明攀比无处不在。
今日一问
我是否也曾因为职业或收入而看低别人或抬高自己？
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