西洋幽默语录(之四十七)
埃萨哥德堡 (GOLDBERG, Isaac), 1887-1938
美国评论家, 散文作家, 传记作者, 和短篇小说作家
Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest thing in the nicest way.
外交是以最好的方式去做和说最恶劣的事.
A gigolo is a fee-man.
人妖是收费的男人*. (*注: Fee-male与 Female 谐音)
The Good, the True, the Beautiful! Alas, the Good is so often untrue, the True is so often unbeautiful, the Beauty so often not good.
真善美! 天啊, 善常不那么真, 真常不那么美, 美常不那么善.
We spend half our lives unlearning the follies transmitted to us by our parents, and the other half transmitting our own follies to our offspring.
我们浪费我们一半的人生去重新学习我们的家长传给我们的错误, 然后又浪费我们一半的人生把我们的错误传给我们的下一代.
Grammar school never taught me anything about grammar.
文法学校从不教我有关文法的东西.
I do not believe today everything I believed yesterday; I wonder will I believe tomorrow everything I believe today.
我今天不相信我昨天相信的一切; 我不知道明天我会否相信我今天相信的一切.
奥利华哥德斯密 (GOLDSMITH, Oliver), 1728-1774
英国诗人, 小说家, 和剧作家
As for disappointing them, I should not so much mind; but I can’t abide to disappoint myself.
至於令他们失望, 我并不特别在意; 但我无法忍受令自己失望.
Every absurdity has a champion to defend it.
每个妄诞总会有个拥护者出来为它辩护.
I always get the better when I argue alone.
当我孤独一人时, 我常辩才无碍.
People seldom improve when they have no model but themselves to copy.
人往往难以进步, 如果他们没有模范对象, 而只是一味重复他们自己的话.
Silence has become his mother tongue.
沉默成了他的母语.
There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not at some time been said by some philosophers.
没有什么比一些哲学家有时讲的话更妄诞无稽的了.
The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.
演讲的真正用途不在於表达我们的要求, 而是如何掩盖它们.
艾蒙龚阁 (GONCOURT, Edmond de), 1822-1896
法国作家和艺术家
Genius is the talent of a man who is dead.
天才是已过世的一个有天资的人.
