投资 · 创业者自述

塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯:节俭·摘录 499

塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯《节俭》· Thrift · 投资

Of this mean and miserable spirit of class and caste, women are the especial victims. They are generally brought up with false notions of life, and are taught to estimate men and things rather by their external appearances than by their intrinsic worth. Their education is conducted mainly with the view of pleasing and attracting the admiration of others, rather than of improving and developing their qualities of mind and heart. They are imbued with notions of exclusiveness, fashion, and gentility. A respectable position in society is held up to them as the mark to be aimed at. To be criminal or vicious is virtually represented to them as far less horrible than to be "vulgar." Immured within the bastile of exclusivism, woman is held captive to all the paltry shifts and expediencies of convention, fashion, gentility, and so forth. The genuine benevolence of her nature is perverted; her heart becomes contracted; and the very highest sources of happiness--those which consist in a kindly sympathy with humanity in all ranks of life--are as a well shut up and a fountain sealed.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14418
定位:Excerpt 499 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

女性是阶级和门第观念的特别受害者。她们从小被灌输错误的人生观,被教导主要根据外表而非内在价值来评价人和事。她们的教育主要着眼于取悦他人、吸引赞赏,而不是提升和发展心智与心灵的品质。她们满脑子都是排外、时尚和文雅的观念,社会地位被当作追求目标。犯罪或邪恶被说成远不如“粗俗”可怕。女性被禁锢在排外主义的堡垒中,受制于习俗、时尚、文雅等琐碎权宜之计。她本性的真正仁慈被扭曲,心胸变得狭窄,而最高幸福之源——对各个阶层的人怀有善意同情——就像被堵住的井、被封住的泉。

上下文

塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯是19世纪英国作家,著有《自助》《节俭》等书,倡导勤奋、节俭与自我提升。这段话出自《节俭》,批评当时英国中上层社会的阶级偏见对女性的束缚。

今日一问

今天我们在评价自己和他人时,是否仍会不自觉地更看重外表、标签或社会地位,而忽略内在品质?

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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