投资 · 创业者自述
P.T. 巴纳姆:赚钱的艺术·摘录 3
P.T. 巴纳姆《赚钱的艺术》· The Art of Money Getting · 投资
My friend, you need not take that trouble; you can easily prove that you are "as good as he is;" you have only to behave as well as he does; but you cannot make anybody believe that you are rich as he is. Besides, if you put on these "airs," add waste your time and spend your money, your poor wife will be obliged to scrub her fingers off at home, and buy her tea two ounces at a time, and everything else in proportion, in order that you may keep up "appearances," and, after all, deceive nobody. On the other hand, Mrs. Smith may say that her next-door neighbor married Johnson for his money, and "everybody says so." She has a nice one-thousand dollar camel's hair shawl, and she will make Smith get her an imitation one, and she will sit in a pew right next to her neighbor in church, in order to prove that she is her equal.
出处:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8581
定位:Excerpt 3 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录
白话
朋友,你不用费那个劲去证明你“和他一样好”,你只要做得和他一样好就行;但你没法让别人相信你和他一样有钱。再说,你要是摆阔,浪费时间和金钱,你可怜的妻子就得在家擦地板擦到手指磨破,买茶叶只能一次买两盎司,其他东西也按比例缩减,就为了让你维持“面子”,结果还骗不了任何人。反过来,史密斯太太可能会说隔壁邻居嫁给约翰逊是为了钱,“大家都这么说”。她有一千美元的驼毛披肩,就要让史密斯给她买条仿的,还要在教堂坐在邻居旁边,证明自己不比她差。核心是:攀比和虚荣只会让你更穷,不如踏实过日子。
上下文
巴纳姆在书中批评当时美国社会模仿欧洲贵族、讲究排场攀比的风气,劝人量入为出。
今日一问
你最近有没有为了面子而花掉本可以不花的钱?
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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