It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses of others.
奇怪之處就在于,我們本身的過錯似乎往往比他人的要輕的多。
I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others.
在我認(rèn)為,這是因為我們了解關(guān)于自己犯錯的一切,這才使得我們易于原諒自己,卻無法諒解他人。
We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them, find it easy to condone them.
我們會習(xí)慣性地忽視自己的缺點(diǎn),而當(dāng)我們泥足深陷到不得不去面對,我們要寬恕自己也輕而易舉。
For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
在我看來,這樣做是對的。每個人都會有瑕疵,我們無法只接受好的而拒絕壞的,只因它們都是自身我們的一部分。
But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them,
但當(dāng)轉(zhuǎn)換到他人時,評判標(biāo)準(zhǔn)則完全不同。
but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left our everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world.
這時我們是用一種形象思維來進(jìn)行判斷,而不是通過真實的自我,我們會完全將所有在蕓蕓眾生眼中可能損害自己的虛榮或得體的東西從這種自我形象中剔除掉。
To take a trivial instance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie;
舉例來說:我們會特別鄙視一個被我們覺察到說謊的人!
but who can say that he has never told not one, but a hundred?
但,誰又可以篤定自己從未說過謊?可能一百次都不止吧。
There is not much to choose between men.
人和人之間其實并無太大的差異。
They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and tininess, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness.
他們都同時混雜著偉大與渺小,善良與邪惡,高貴與低俗這些品質(zhì)。
Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity,
有些人擁有堅毅的性格,也具備較多的機(jī)會,
and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but potentially they are the same.
因此或這方面或那方面,能夠更自如的展現(xiàn)自己,但每個人的潛能其實都是一樣的。
For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people,
而我本人,認(rèn)為自身并沒有好于或差于大多數(shù)人,
but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity.
但我深知,假使我把所有的生活細(xì)節(jié)和所有涌現(xiàn)過在我腦海的想法都記錄下來,這樣世界就會認(rèn)定我是一個邪惡的怪物。
The knowledge that these reveries are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others.
任何人都會存在一些古怪的想法,而這樣的認(rèn)知應(yīng)使我們在寬容自己的同時寬恕他人。
It is well also if they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most eminent and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.
假若因此,我們可以用幽默的心態(tài)對待他人,即便是最杰出最令人敬佩的人,并且如若我們因此可以將自己看得不那么過于重要,那肯定因此受益良多。