Russell: In Praise of Idleness 悠闲颂
By Bertrand Russell
I
Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do.” Being a highly virtuous child, I believed all that I was told and acquired a conscience which has kept me working hard down to the present moment. But although my conscience has controlled my actions, my opinions have undergone a revolution. I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. Every one knows the story of the traveler in Naples who saw twelve beggars lying in the sun (it was before the days of Mussolini), and offered a lira to the laziest of them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim it, so he gave it to the twelfth. This traveler was on the right lines. But in countries which do not enjoy Mediterranean sunshine idleness is more difficult, and a great public propaganda will be required to inaugurate it. I hope that after reading the following pages the leaders of the Y. M. C. A. will start a campaign to induce good young men to do nothing. If so, I shall not have lived in vain.
像大多数同代人那样,我受过这句谚语的教诲:“恶魔总捉弄懒汉”。作为一个循规蹈矩的孩子,我深信所受的一切教诲,并具有一种促使我勤恳工作至今的良心。这种良心虽然支配着我的行动,但我的观念与过去却有天壤之别。我想在当今世界上工作过于繁重,工作即美德这一信念导致了极大的危害,现代工业国家需要宣扬的东西与历来所宣扬的截然不同。大家都知道一个到那不勒斯旅行的人的故事,当他看到12个乞丐躺着晒太阳时(这是发生在墨索里尼时代之前),想施舍一个里拉给其中最懒的一个。当场 11 个名丐一跃而起求对,于是,他把里拉给了第 12 个。这位旅行者所作所为当然无可厚非。在那些享用不到地中海阳光的国家,悠闲非同小可,需要大加广泛宣传方能开此先河。我希望基督教青年会的领袖们读了以下篇章后,开展一场运动,劝导善良的年轻人无所事事。倘若如此,我总算不会虚度此生。
Before advancing my own arguments for laziness, I must dispose of one which I cannot accept. Whenever a person who already has enough to live on proposes to engage in some everyday kind of job, such as school-teaching or typing, he or she is told that such conduct takes the bread out of other people’s mouths, and is, therefore, wicked. If this argument were valid, it would only be necessary for us all to be idle in order that we should all have our mouths full of bread. What people who say such things forget is that what a man earns he usually spends, and in spending he gives employment. As long as a man spends his income he puts just as much bread into people’s mouths in spending as he takes out of other people’s mouths in earning. The real villain, from this point of view, is the man who saves. If he merely puts his savings in a stocking, like the proverbial French peasant, it is obvious that they do not give employment. If he invests his savings the matter is less obvious, and different cases arise.
在陈述我的懒惰主张之前,我必需排除一种无法接受的看法。当一个人已经可以维持生活所需,他仍筹划着从事某项日常的工作,如教员或打字员,人们就会告诉他(她):这样做等于从他人口中夺走饮食,因而是不义之举。如果这一论点可以成立,那我们只消游手好闲就可能饱食终日了。这样说的人忘记了一个事实:一个人所赚来的通常供他花费,而其消费之行为又为别人提供了就业机会。只要一个人不断将其收入用于消费,那他为别人提供糊口之食的数量就与他从别人口里夺得的数量一般多。如此看来,真正的罪人是节俭者。就像众所周知的法国农民那样,假如他把节约下来的钱放进袜筒里,显而易见这钱并不提供就业的可能;如果他这钱用来投资,情况就不会如此简单,结果也将完全不同。