王爾德語錄

王爾德語錄：只有淺薄的人才了解自己王爾德，是英國著名的作家、詩人和劇作家，記得張愛玲對他頗為推崇，連行事風格都被視為相似。這位唯美主義藝術的倡導者，對生活的各種細節有著非常獨到鮮明的思考，下面的語錄句句警醒，有不少早已成了我們的口頭禪。When one is in love, one always begins by deceiveing one』s self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what would calls a romance.愛，始於自我欺騙，終於欺騙他人。這就是所謂的浪漫。The very essence of romance is uncertainty.浪漫的精髓就在於它充滿種種可能。Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.人是理性動物，但當他被要求按照理性的要求行動時，可又要發脾氣了。My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has to go.我和我的牆紙即將展開生死決鬥，所以我們中的一個必須得走。——1900年11月30日，於左岸旅店，他的遺言。No man is rich enough to buy back his own past.-An Ideal Husband (1895)沒有人富有到可以贖回自己的過去。–改編自《理想的丈夫》The truth is rarely pure and never simple.-The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)真相很少純粹，也決不簡單。——《不可兒嬉》To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.愛自己是終身浪漫的開始。——愛自己就是開始延續一生的羅曼史。We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.我們都生活在陰溝里，但仍有人仰望星空。Most people discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one』s mistakes.大多數人發現他們從未後悔的事情只是他們的錯誤，但發現時已經太晚了。What is the chief cause of divorce? Marriage.什麼是離婚的主要原因？結婚。When a love comes to an end, weaklings cry, efficient ones instantly find another love and wise already had one in reserve.當愛情走到盡頭，軟弱者哭個不停，有效率的馬上去尋找下一個目標，而聰明的早就預備了下一個。No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did he would cease to be an artist.偉大的藝術家所看到的，從來都不是世界的本來面目。一旦他看透了，他就不再是藝術家。I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.我給你們講述的是所有你們沒勇氣去犯的罪孽。One can always be kind to people one cares nothing about.一個人總是可以善待他毫不在意的人。We Irish are too poetical to be poets; we are a nation of brilliant failures, but we are the greatest talkers since the Greeks.我們愛爾蘭人太詩意以至不能做詩人，我們的國家裡充滿才華橫溢的失敗者，可我們是自希臘人以來最偉大的說空話之人。What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise看似痛苦的試煉的往往是偽裝的祝福。The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray.情感的好處就是讓我們誤入歧途。Over the piano was printed a notice: Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.Personal Impressions of America (Leadville) (1883)鋼琴上貼著一條告示：請不要槍殺鋼琴師，他已經儘力了。The heart was made to be broken.心是用來碎的。The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.公眾驚人地寬容。他們可以原諒一切，除了天才。Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.宗教一旦被證明是正確時就會消亡。科學便是已消亡宗教的記錄。Why was I born with such contemporaries為什麼我會和這樣同時代的人一塊出生呢？A poet can survive everything but a misprint.詩人可以從任何事件中存活，印刷錯誤除外。Only the shallow know themselves.只有淺薄的人才了解自己。The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it… I can resist everything but temptation.擺脫誘惑的唯一方式是臣服於誘惑……我能抗拒一切，除了誘惑。Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation不滿是個人或民族邁向進步的第一步。I like to do all the talking myself. It saves time, and prevents arguments.我喜歡自言自語，因為這樣節約時間，而且不會有人跟我爭論。Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.格言是智慧耐用的替代品。A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.夢想家只能在月光下找到前進的方向，他為此遭受的懲罰是比所有人提前看到曙光。Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.每個聖人都有過去，每個罪人都有未來。To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.生活是世上最罕見的事情，大多數人只是存在，僅此而已。I have nothing to declare except my genius.除了我的天才，我沒什麼好申報的。I like men who have a future and women who have a past我喜歡有未來的男人和有過去的女人。Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.悲觀主義者是這種人：當他可以從兩種罪惡中選擇時，他把兩種都選了。Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.社會僅僅以一種精神概念而存在，真實世界中只有個體存在。What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing一個憤世嫉俗的人知道所有東西的價格，卻不知道任何東西的價值。I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.我喜歡人甚於原則，此外我還喜歡沒原則的人甚於世界上的一切。It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution給我們赦免的，是懺悔而不是牧師。I don』t want to earn my living; I want to live.我不想謀生；我想生活。Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.適度是極其致命的事情。過度帶來的成功是無可比擬的。The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.世上只有一件事比被人議論更糟糕，那就是沒有人議論你。When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers-An Ideal husband, 1893當神想懲罰我們時，他們就回應我們的祈禱。-《一個理想的丈夫》「Life is never fair…And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.」-An Ideal Husband，1893生活從來不是公平的……而且，或許對我們大多數人來說，這是件好事。-《一個理想的丈夫》How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.女人如何能期望會從男人那裡獲得幸福，如果他堅持把她當作一個完全正常的人。All charming people, I fancy, are spoiled. It is the secret of their attraction我想所有迷人的人都是被溺愛的，這是他們吸引力來源的秘密。Nothing is so aggravating than calmness.沒有比冷靜更讓人惱火的。Popularity is the one insult I have never suffered.聲望是我從未經受的侮辱之一。Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.奚落是庸才對天才的頌歌。To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual什麼也不做是世上最難的事情，最困難並且最智慧。A true friend stabs you in the front.真朋友才會當面中傷你。Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.平常的財寶會被偷走，而真正的財富則不會。你靈魂里無限珍貴的東西是無法被奪走的。The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.教養良好的人處處和他人過不去，頭腦聰明的人處處和自己過不去。Hatred is blind, as well as love.恨是盲目的，愛亦然。Looking good and dressing well is a necessity. Having a purpose in life is not.注意穿著打扮是必要的。而擁有生活目標卻並非如此。Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much.永遠寬恕你的敵人，沒有什麼能比這個更讓他們惱怒的了。Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes, they forgive them孩子最初愛他們父母，等大一些他們評判父母；然後有些時候，他們原諒父母。There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.生活中只有兩種悲劇:一個是沒有得到我們想要的，另外一個是得到我們想要的。——世上只有兩類悲劇，有些人總是不能遂願，而有些人總是心想事成。A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone』s feelings unintentionally.紳士就是從不無心傷害別人感覺的人。Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative談論天氣是無趣人類最後的避難所。One』s real life is often the life that one does not lead.真實生活就通常就是我們無法掌控的生活。Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others邪惡是善良的人們編造的謊言，用來解釋其他人的特殊魅力。Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography現在每個偉人都有自己的信徒，而他們的傳記總由叛徒來寫。The world has been made by fools that wise men should live in it.愚人創造了這個世界，智者不得不活在其中。Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious; both are disappointed.男人因疲倦而結婚，女人因好奇而結婚；最終他們都會失望。The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married.已婚者的快樂來自那些他沒有娶的人。Twenty years of romance make a woman look like a ruin; but twenty years of marriage make her look like a public building.20年的韻事使女人變成一片廢墟，20年的婚姻使女人變成一座公共建築。When a woman marries again,it is because she detested her first husband.When a man marries again,it is because he adored his first wife.女人再嫁是因為憎惡前夫，男人再娶是因為太愛前妻。——女人再嫁是因為討厭原來的丈夫，男人再娶是因為太愛原來的妻子。Men become old, but they never become good.人們越長越老，但絕不會越變越好。The evolution of man is slow. The injustice to man is great.人類的進化很緩慢。他們遭受的不公待遇顯而易見。Rich bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others.對富有的單身漢應該客以重稅。讓某些人比其他人更快樂是不公平的。The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray, and the advantage of science is that it is not emotional.情感的好處就是讓我們引入歧途，而科學的好處是不感情用事。I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.我敬佩簡單的快樂，那是複雜的最後避難所。Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.除了感官，什麼也不能治靈魂的創痛，同樣，感官的饑渴也只有靈魂解除得了。A good name, like good will, is got by many action and lost by one.一個好的名聲，就像好的意向一樣，在很多個舉動的形成，在一個舉動中失去。It is absurd to divide people in to good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.-Lady Windermere』s Fan, 1892, Act I把人分成好的與壞的是荒謬的，人要麼迷人，要麼乏味。-《溫夫人的扇子》Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood.-The Sphinx Without a Secret女人是用來被愛的，不是用來被理解的。-《沒有秘密的斯芬克斯》Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.藝術並非模仿生活，而是生活在模仿藝術。Everyone is born king, and most people die in exile.每個人生來都是君王，但大多數在流亡中死去。When I was young , I used to think that money was the most important thing in life , now that I am old , I know it is.我年青時以為金錢至上，而今年事已邁，發現果真如此。Don』t be afraid of the past. If people tell you that it is irrevocable, don』t believe them.不要懼怕過去。如果人們告訴你說過去的事情無可挽回，別相信他們。An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.一個思想若稱不上危險，那麼它就不值得被稱作思想。Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion.爭論是俗不可耐的，因為道德社會裡每個人都持完全相同的觀點。Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away.死亡和庸俗是十九世紀僅有的無法用巧辯逃避的東西。Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.愛國是惡人的美德。Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.每次人們贊同我的時候，我都覺得自己一定錯了。I am not at all romantic. I am not old enough. I leave romance to my seniors.我一點都不浪漫。我還不算太老。還是把浪漫留給比我老的人吧。Wicked women bother one. Good women bore one. That is the only difference between them.壞女人給我麻煩。好女人令我厭煩。這就是她們唯一的不同。　　Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.每個人犯了錯誤，都自稱是經驗。——經驗是一個人給自己所犯的錯誤取的名字。　　And, after all, what is a fashion? From the artistic point of view, it is usually a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.Literary and Other Notes I, Woman』s World (November 1887)時尚是一種讓人難以忍受的醜陋，以至於我們不得不每六個月就更改一次。——時裝醜陋得完全令人無法容忍，以至於我們必須每6個月就改變它的樣式。　　A man』s face is his autobiography. A woman』s face is her work of fiction.男人的面孔是他的自傳，女人的面容是她的幻想作品。　　There is only one real tragedy in a woman』s life. The fact that her past is always her lover, and her future invariably her husband.女人的生活中只有一個真正的悲劇：她總在緬懷過去，卻必須活在未來。 [待繼續潤色]We teach people how to remember, we never teach them how to grow.我們教給人們如何記憶，卻從來不教他們如何成長。Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend』s success.-The Soul of Man under Socialism (1881)任何人都能對朋友的不幸感到同情，但要消受一個春風得意的朋友，則需要非常優良的天性。-《社會主義下人的靈魂》「If a woman can』t make her mistakes charming, she is only a female.」-Lord Arthur Savile』s Crime如果一個女人不能讓她犯的錯誤變得迷人，她就只是一個雌性動物。-《亞瑟·薩維爾勛爵的罪行》「Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. Our Guildensterns play Hamlet for us, and our Hamlets have to jest like Prince Hal. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.」-Lord Arthur Savile』s Crime大多數男人和女人被強迫扮演他們沒有能力扮演的角色。我們的吉爾登斯吞為我們演哈姆雷特，而我們的哈姆雷特必須像霍爾王子一樣來說笑。這個世界是個舞台，但角色被分配得很糟糕。–《亞瑟·薩維爾勛爵的罪行》*註：吉爾登斯吞，霍爾王子均為莎士比亞作品中人物A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.不夠真誠是危險的，太真誠則絕對是致命的。A man can』t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.一個人在選擇他的敵人時，再小心也不為過。All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That』s his.所有女人都會變得像她們的母親一樣，這是女人的悲劇。但沒有男人變得像他們的父親，這是男人的悲劇。America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.美國是唯一一個直接從野蠻進入頹廢、中間沒有經過文明階段的社會。Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.要避免爭論，爭論總是俗不可耐，而且常常令人信服。As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.只要一個女人看上去比她自己的女兒小十歲，她就一定會心滿意足。Bad artists always admire each other』s work.糟糕的畫家總是欣賞彼此的作品。Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.男女之間不可能存在友誼，有的只是愛恨情仇。Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.良心和怯懦其實是一回事。Dammit sir, it』s your duty to get married. You can』t be always living for pleasure.該死，先生，結婚是你的職責，你不能總是逍遙快活。Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.民主就是指人民用人民的大頭棒打擊人民。Don』t give a woman advice; one should never give a woman anything she can』t wear in the evening.不要給女人忠告；決不要給女人任何她晚上不能穿戴的東西。Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.教育是一件可敬的事，但要時刻牢記，沒有什麼值得知道的事是教得會的。I adore political parties. They are the only place left to us where people don』t talk politics.我喜歡政治晚會，這是唯一人們不談政治的地方。I am not young enough to know everything.我還沒有年輕到什麼都懂的地步。I am so clever that sometimes I don』t understand a single word of what I』m saying.我簡直太聰明了，有時連我自己都不知道自己在說什麼。I have made an important discovery…that alcohol, taken in sufficient quantities, produces all the effects of intoxication.我有一個重大發現——如果攝入足量酒精，就會產生各種陶醉的效果。I like talking to a brick wall, it』s the only thing in the world that never contradicts me.我喜歡對一堵牆說話，世界上只有它不會反駁我。I love acting. It is so much more real than life.我喜歡演戲。與人生相比，演戲更真實。I often take exercise. Why only yesterday I had breakfast in bed.我經常鍛煉。只是昨天我是在床上吃的早飯。I think that God, in creating Man, somewhat overestimated his ability.我想，上帝在創造人類時高估了他的能力。I was working on the proof of one of my poems all morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.我整個早上都在校對自己的一首詩，我去掉了一個逗號。下午我又把它加上去了。Ignorance is like a delicate flower: touch it and the bloom is gone.無知就像是一朵精緻的花朵：摸一下，它就消失了。It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information.這是一件很悲哀的事——如今幾乎沒有無用的信息。It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly.美麗要比善良好，善良要比難看強。It is characteristic of all deep human problems that they are not to be approached without some humor and some bewilderment.所有人類的重大問題都有一個共同點：沒有點幽默和瘋狂是沒辦法解決的。It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue.爭論者損失的只是智力。It is very easy to endure the difficulties of one』s enemies. It is the successes of one』s friends that are hard to bear.來自敵人的困難可以忍，來自朋友的成功則無可忍。Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.人生就是一件蠢事追著另一件蠢事而來，而愛情則是兩個蠢東西追來追去。Like dear St Francis of Assisi I am wedded to Poverty: but in my case the marriage is not a success.就像親愛的聖芳濟一樣，我也和貧窮聯姻，但我的婚姻並不成功。Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.結婚是想像戰勝了理智，再婚是希望戰勝了經驗。Music makes one feel so romantic—at least it always gets on one』s nerves, which is the same thing nowadays.音樂讓人感覺非常浪漫，至少讓人感覺不安，如今兩者是一回事。No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.沒有女人應該對她的年齡十分準確。這顯得有些精於算計。One should never trust a woman who tells her real age. If she tells that, she』ll tell anything.一個人決不應該相信說出自己真實年齡的女人。如果她把這都說出來了，那她什麼都會說。Tell the cook of this restaurant with my compliments that these are the very worst sandwiches in the whole world, and that when I ask for a watercress sandwich I do not mean a loaf with a field in the middle of it.請轉告我對這家飯店廚師的讚譽，這是全世界最糟糕的三明治了，還有，我點的是豆瓣菜三明治，我並不是要麵包片中夾一塊菜田。The basis of optimism is sheer terror.樂觀的基礎完全是恐懼。The Book of Life begins with a man and a woman in a garden…It ends with Revelations.《生命之書》始於一座花園裡的一男一女……它最後以《啟示錄》告終。The difference between journalism and literature is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.報紙和文學的區別是，報紙沒法讀，而文學則沒人讀。The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.對於忠告，你所能做的，就是把它奉送給別人，忠告從來就不是給自己準備的。The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.擺脫誘惑的唯一方法是屈服於它。The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster.演出相當成功，但觀眾則是一場災難。This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.懸念是可怕的。我希望它一直延續下去。Time is a waste of money.時間是一種對金錢的浪費。Thirty five is a very attractive age; London society is full of women who have of their own free choice remained thirty-five for years.三十五歲是一個非常有吸引力的年齡；倫敦社交圈內滿是這樣好多年一直保持三十五歲的女人，她們可以自由地挑來選去。To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.失去一個父母可以看成是一種不幸；失去雙親看上去就像是一種粗心了。When good Americans die they go to Paris. When bad Americans die they go to America.當美國的好人死了，他們就去巴黎。當美國的壞蛋死了，他們就去美國。All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.所有糟糕的詩歌都源於真情實感。自然化的作品其內涵是顯而易見的，而顯而易見的內涵並不藝術。Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes.恭維話從來沒有讓女人繳械，但可以讓男人繳械。這就是性別差異。Women have a much better time than men in this world. There are far more things forbidden to them.女人在世上的日子要比男人好過得多。她們有太多禁忌。Women love men for their defects; if men have enough of them women will forgive them everything, even their gigantic intellects.女人因為男人的缺點而愛男人；如果男人的缺點足夠多，女人什麼事都可以原諒他們，哪怕是他們的智力。Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals.女人代表著物質戰勝了理智，正如男人代表著理智戰勝了道德。A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.一個人倘若不為自己思考，那就從未思考過。Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot.年輕人想有信仰，但他們卻沒有；老年人不想有信仰，但卻辦不到。Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.雄心壯志是失敗最後的避難所。An excellent man; he has no enemies; and none of his friends like him.一個極其優秀的人。他沒有敵人，而他的朋友也沒有一個喜歡他的。藝術作品是獨特脾性的獨特結果。所有的藝術都是沒什麼用的。我只想指出這麼一個一般性的原則，就是生活模仿藝術的程度遠勝過藝術模仿生活的程度。你的錯誤不是你對生活所知甚少，而是你知道得太多了。你已把童年時期的曙光中所擁有的那種精美的花朵，純潔的光，天真的希望的快樂遠遠地拋在後面了。你已迅捷地奔跑著經過了浪漫進入了現實。愛是不能在市場上公開買賣的，商販的天平對之也毫無用途。愛的快樂，就像思想的快樂一樣，在於感覺到它的存在。愛的目的就是愛，不多也不少。萬一我在世界上一個朋友也沒有了，萬一出於憐憫給我住的房子一間也沒有了，萬一我不得不接受赤貧者的百衲襤褸之衣，只要我能夠繼續擺脫所有的憎恨、冷酷和嘲弄，我就會比我身穿華麗的紫袍和漂亮的亞麻衣而靈魂卻為憎恨纏繞更能平靜地充滿信心地面對生活。靠愛，而且只靠愛，我們就能按照理想的方式理解處於現實關係中的其他人。虛榮心是年輕人佩戴的一朵優雅的花。拒絕或放棄自己的經歷就是要阻止自己的發展，否認自己的經歷就是自己對自己撒彌天大謊，這無異於否定靈魂。真正的傻瓜，如上帝所嘲弄、毀滅的那些人，是不了解自己的人。最大的罪惡是淺薄。一切被認識到的東西都是對的。在生活中確實沒有什麼小大之分，一切事物都有同等的價值。人們在生活中所犯的致命的錯誤不是由於人的不理智——不理智的時刻也許是人最美好的時刻——而是因為人是有邏輯性的。只有聰明的女人才會犯駭人聽聞的錯誤。人生的首要責任是盡量虛偽。至於第二責任是什麼，至今尚無人發現。倘若窮人有鮮明的個性，解決貧困問題就不會困難重重。看出靈魂與肉體區別的人既無肉體，也無靈魂。精心製作的鈕孔是藝術與自然的唯一紐帶。現實中發生的任何事情都不是無關緊要的。空虛預示著嚴肅時代的到來。在所有不重要的事物當中，風格，而非真誠，是基本的。說真話的人遲早要被揭穿。享樂是人們活著的唯一目標。什麼也沒幸福短暫。一個人只有竭力賴帳才有希望被商業階層銘記。犯罪不是庸俗，但所有的庸俗都是犯罪。庸俗是他人的行為。時間是浪費金錢。人總要有點怪僻。所有好的決定都有其致命的弱點，那就是都決定得太匆忙。要補償偶然的一點過分注重衣飾，唯一的方法是一直接受絕對的過分教育。超前才會完美。關心行為的正確與否表明理智的發展已停滯不前。six多於一人相信時，真理便不再是真理
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