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There's a belief that philosophy, when properly done,
有一种观点认为，如果哲学研究的很好，
should sound dense, forbidding, a little confusing,
那它听起来应该是晦涩的、令人生畏的、有点扑朔迷离的，
as if it might have been awkwardly translated from the German.
就像是很粗糙地从德语翻译过来一样。
But at the dawn of the Modern age, lived a French philosopher
但在现代的早期，生活着一位法国哲学家，
who trusted in a very different way of presenting his thoughts;
他以一种完全不同的方式表达自己的思想；
a man who wrote a very slim book, barely sixty pages long,
他写了一本极薄的只有60页的书，
that can deservedly be counted as one of the true masterpieces of philosophy.
而这本书却成为当之无愧的哲学杰作之一。
The book is a compendium of acerbic, melancholy observations about the human condition;
这本书主要概述了对人类现状的尖刻而忧郁的观察；
each of them only a sentence or two long
每一篇都只有一两句话，
which nevertheless present an exceptional number of timely, wise, and oddly consoling lessons for our morally confused and wildly distracted age.
然而却为我们这个道德混乱且注意力很分散的时代提供了大量充满智慧、宽慰人心的教训。
The Duke de La Rochefoucauld was born in Paris in 1613.
拉·罗什福科公爵1613年生于巴黎。
And despite his many initial advantages:
尽管他含着金勺子出生：
wealth, connections, good looks, and a very beautiful and ancient name,
他拥有财富、人脉、俊朗的外表，还有一个美丽而古老的名字，
he had a thoroughly difficult and often miserable life.
但他的生活艰难且悲惨。
He fell in love with a couple of duchesses who didn't treat him well.
他与几位女公爵相爱，但她们并未善待他。
He ended up in prison after some bungled but honourable political maneuvering.
因为一些目的高尚却以失败告终的政治行为，他最终进了监狱。
He was forced into exile from his beloved Paris on four occasions.
他曾四次被迫离开他深爱的巴黎。
He never advanced as far as he wanted at court.
他在朝廷上一直没得到自己想要的位置。
He got shot in the eye during a rebellion and almost went blind.
他在一次叛乱中眼睛中枪，差点失明。
He lost most of his money,
他损失了大部分的钱，
and some enemies published what they falsely purported to be his memoirs
他的宿敌出版了一些书，谎称是他的回忆录，
full of insults against people whom he liked and depended upon:
里面充满了对他所喜欢和依赖的人的侮辱：
who then turned against him and refused to believe in his innocence.
这些人与他反目，拒绝相信他的清白。
After all this betrayal, imprisonment, impoverishment, injury, plagiarism, and libel,
在经历了所有这些背叛、监禁、贫穷、伤害、抄袭和诽谤之后，
La Rochefoucauld can readily be forgiven when he declared that he'd had enough of the act of life
拉·罗什福科宣称自己受够了这种生活，
and would henceforth retreat to quieter, contemplative pursuits instead.
决定自此隐居，追求更加安静地思考，这很容易理解。
So he hung up his sword
于是，他挂起剑，
and spent his time in the living rooms of two leading intellectual figures of his day:
在当时两位主要知识分子在客厅里消磨时光：
the Marquise de Sable and the Comtesse de Lafayette who regularly invited writers and artists to sit with them in their Parisian salons
塞布尔侯爵夫人和拉斐特伯爵夫人经常邀请作家和艺术家参加自己的沙龙，
in order to discuss the great themes of existence
讨论关于存在的伟大主题，
often over lemonade and light snacks.
讨论时也会喝点柠檬水，吃点零食。
The salons rewarded wit and spark.
沙龙是展现智慧和才华的舞台
They weren't lecture halls or seminar rooms.
与演讲和研讨会不同。
There was no tolerance for lead nurse or pomposity here.
沙龙里容不下领导者或装腔作势的人
So winning over listeners required particular skills
因此，要赢得听众的支持，就必须具备一些技巧，
that came to shape La Rochefoucauld's mind and work.
这些技巧塑造了拉·罗什福科的思想和作品。
It was in the salons that La Rochefoucauld developed the literary genre for which he has become known:
正是在沙龙里，拉·罗什福科发展了他广为人知的文学体裁：
that of the maxim or aphorism,
格言
a pithy statement that deftly captures a dark insight into the human soul,
这是一种精练的说法，能够巧妙地捕捉对人类灵魂的深刻洞察，
reminding us of a wise and often uncomfortable truth.
提醒我们明智的，却往往令人不安的真理。
In good hands, an aphorism should deliver its punch in less than three seconds.
如果写得好，一则格言应该能在不到三秒的时间内就会出现点睛之笔。
One might be competing with the arrival of an asparagus tart.
当然，有人可能会拿它和芦笋馅饼相比
In the salons, La Rochefoucauld perfected and honed the 504 aphorisms, which made his name.
在沙龙里，拉·罗什福科完善雕琢了504条格言，并因此成名。
He watched how his fellow guests reacted and tweaked his work accordingly.
他观察其他客人的反应，并相应地调整了作品。
His aphorisms covered all manner of psychological topics;
他的格言涵盖了各种各样的心理学主题；
though issues of envy, vanity, love, and ambition were recurring themes.
而嫉妒、虚荣、爱情和野心是反复出现的主题。
A typical La Rochefoucauld aphorism begins by addressing the reader with a we or one,
一句典型的拉·罗什福科的格言是以“我们”或“一个人”开头，
inviting consent with gentle coercion.
以温和的胁迫来征求读者认同。
The aphorism then subverts an accepted piety about human nature in a cynical or skeptical direction.
格言然后以愤世嫉俗的怀疑态度颠覆了人们对人性的虔诚信仰。
It's in the last third of the sentence that the sting is generally delivered,
讽刺经常出现在话的最后三分之一处，
and it often makes us laugh as can happen when we're forced to acknowledge the falsity of a previously sentimental or hypocritical position.
它经常使我们发笑，也使我们被迫承认曾经的感情用事或虚伪立场是错误的。
Perhaps the most classic and perfect of all La Rochefoucauld's aphorism is,
拉罗什福科的格言中最经典、最完美的一句也许是：
"We all have strength enough to bear the misfortunes of others."
“我们都有足够的力量去承担他人的不幸。”
It's closely followed by the equally effective,
下面这句格言也很实在，
"There are some people who would never have fallen in love, if they hadn't heard there was such a thing."
“从未听说过爱情的人，永远不会坠入爱河。”
And the no less accomplished,
同样精彩的还有
"He that refuses praise the first time it's offered
“听到表扬却第一时间说自己当不起，
does it because he would like to hear it a second."
只是因为还想再听一遍。”
Voltaire said that (italics) La Rochefoucauld's maxims was the book that had most powerfully shaped the character of the French people;
伏尔泰说，拉·罗什福科的格言是塑造法国人性格最有力的一本书，
giving them their taste for psychological reflection, precision, and cynicism.
使他们对心理反思、精确性和愤世嫉俗产生兴趣。
Behind almost every one of the maxims lies a challenge to an ordinary, flattering view of ourselves.
在几乎每一条格言的背后，都隐藏着一种挑战，那就是对我们自己的普通又自以为是的看法。
La Rochefoucauld relishes revelations of the debt that kindness owes to egoism
拉·罗什福科揭示出善良是由利己主义造成的，
and insists that we're never far from being vain, arrogant, selfish, and petty
并坚持认为我们永远不会远离虚荣、傲慢、自私和小气，
and in fact never nearer than when we trust in our own goodness.
事实上，即使当我们觉得自己善良时，我们离这些恶劣品性也很近。
Having suffered unduly in its name,
拉·罗什福科遭受了不适当的爱情的苦，
La Rochefoucauld was particularly suspicious of romantic love.
他特别怀疑浪漫的爱情。
"The reasons lovers never tire of one another's company is because they never talk of anything but themselves."
“情侣们永远不会对彼此的陪伴感到厌倦，因为他们在一起时只谈论彼此。”
"If one were to judge of love according the greatest part of the effects it produces,
“如果要根据爱情所产生的最大影响来判断爱情，
it might very justly pass for hatred rather than kindness."
那么人们很有可能将它误认为仇恨而不是善良。”
"To say that one never flirts
“说一个人从不打情骂俏
is in itself a form of flirtation."
本身就是一种打情骂俏。”
La Rochefoucauld wrote as he did because he wanted his ideas to persuade people whom he knew had little time and wouldn't necessarily be on his side.
拉罗什福科这样写道，因为他想让自己的想法去说服那些他知道时间不多，而且不一定站在他这边的人。
If most philosophers since have, with the odd exception,
如果说大多数哲学家，除了个别例外，
felt no need to write with his elegance, wit, and concision,
都觉得没有必要用他的优雅、机智和简洁的方式来写作，
it's because they've trusted, wrongly, that so long as one's ideas are important, the style in which one delivers them is of no issue.
那是因为他们错误地相信，只要一个人的思想是重要的，那么他表达思想的风格就没有问题。
La Rochefoucauld knew otherwise.
拉·罗什福科却不这么认为。
Most of us are so distracted if someone wants to get a point across to us,
如果有人想让我们明白一个观点，我们大多数人都会分心，
they must use all the devices of art and writing to seize our attention,
他们必须使用所有的艺术和写作手段来吸引我们的注意力，
and burn them into our memories.
将它们烙进我们的记忆。
The history of Philosophy would have been so different
如果哲学家都想象自己是在巴黎一个闲聊的沙龙里，
if its practitioners had all imagined themselves to be writing for an impatient, non-professional audience
为一群心不在焉的非专业观众写作，
with meandering minds in the midst of a chatty Parisian salon.
那么哲学的历史就会大不相同。
But history offers us a new chance.
但历史给了我们一个新的机会。
The 140 characters of our own digital salons now offer us a second chance
我们自己的数字沙龙的140个字符现在为我们提供了第二次机会，
to try to put La Rochefoucauld genius into action.
试图把拉·罗什福科的天才思想付诸行动。
