On the Decay of the Art of Lying by Mark Twain [Sameul Clemens]
我爱钓鱼ESSAY, FOR DISCUSSION, READ AT A MEETING OF THE HISTORICAL
AND ANTIQUARIAN CLUB OF HARTFORD, AND OFFERED FOR THE
猫咪卡通
THIRTY-DOLLAR PRIZE.[*]
[*] Did not take the prize.无纸化办公
Obrve, I do not mean to suggest that the _custom_ of lying has suffered any decay or interruption--no, for the Lie, as a Virtue, A Principle, is eternal; the Lie, as a recreation, a solace, a refuge in time of need, the fourth Grace, the tenth Mu, man's best and surest friend, is immortal, and cannot perish from the earth while this club remains. My complaint simply concerns the decay of the _art_ of lying. No high-minded man, no man of right feeling, can contemplate the lumbering and slovenly lying of the prent day without grieving to e a noble art so prostituted. In this veteran prence I
naturally enter upon this theme with diffidence; it is like an old maid trying to teach nurry matters to the mothers in Israel. It would not become to me to critici you, gentlemen--who are nearly all my elders--and my superiors, in this thing--if I should here and there _em_ to do it, I trust it will in most cas be more in a spirit of admiration than fault-finding; indeed if this finest of the fine arts had everywhere received the attention, the encouragement, and conscientious practice and development which this club has devoted to it, I should not need to utter this lament, or shred a single tear.
适合创业的项目I do not say this to flatter: I say it in a spirit of just and appreciative recognition. [It had been my intention, at this point, to mention names and to give illustrative specimens, but indications obrvable about me admonished me to beware of the particulars and confine mylf to generalities.]
No fact is more firmly established than that lying is a necessity of our circumstances--the deduction that it is then a Virtue goes without saying.
面料大全No virtue can reach its highest ufulness without careful and diligent cultivation--therefo给自己看病
re, it goes without saying that this one ought to be taught in the public schools--even in the newspapers. What chance has the ignorant uncultivated liar against the educated expert? What chance have I
against Mr. Per--against a lawyer? _Judicious_ lying is what the world needs.
I sometimes think it were even better and safer not to lie at all than to lie injudiciously. An awkward, unscientific lie is often as ineffectual as the truth.
Now let us e what the philosophers say. Note that venerable proverb:
Children and fools _always_ speak the truth. The deduction is plain--adults and wi persons _never_speak it. Parkman, the historian, says, "The principle of truth may itlf be carried into an absurdity." In another place in the same chapters he says, "The saying is old that truth should not be spoken at all times; and tho whom a sick conscience worries into habitual violation of the maxim are imbeciles and nuisances." It is strong language, but true. None of us could _live_ with an habitual truth-teller; but thank goodne
ss none of us has to. An habitual truth-teller is simply an impossible creature; he does not exist; he never has existed. Of cour there are people who _think_ they never lie, but it is not so--and this ignorance is one of the very things that shame our so-called civilization. Everybody lies--every day; every hour;
awake; asleep; in his dreams; in his joy; in his mourning; if he keeps his tongue still, his hands, his feet, his eyes, his attitude, will convey deception--and purpoly. Even in rmons--but that is a platitude.
水煎鸡蛋In a far country where I once lived the ladies ud to go around paying calls, under the humane and kindly pretence of wanting to e each other;
and when they returned home, they would cry out with a glad voice, saying, "We made sixteen calls and found fourteen of them out"--not meaning that they found out anything important against the fourteen--no, that was only a colloquial phra to signify that they were not at home--and their manner of saying it expresd their lively satisfaction in that fact. Now their pretence of wanting to e the fourteen--and the other two whom they ha
d been less lucky with--was that commonest and mildest form of lying which is sufficiently described as a deflection from the truth. Is it justifiable?泡面过期还能吃吗
Most certainly. It is beautiful, it is noble; for its object is, _not_ to reap profit, but to convey a pleasure to the sixteen. The iron-souled truth-monger would plainly manifest, or even utter the fact that he didn't want to e tho people--and he would be an ass, and inflict totally unnecessary pain.
And next, tho ladies in that far country--but never mind, they had a thousand pleasant ways of lying, that grew out of gentle impuls, and were a credit to their intelligence and an honor to their hearts. Let the particulars go.
The men in that far country were liars, every one. Their mere howdy-do was a lie, becau _they_ didn't care how you did, except they were undertakers. To the ordinary inquirer you lied in return; for you made no conscientious diagnostic of your ca, but answered at random, and usually misd it considerably. You lied to the undertaker, and said your health was failing--a wholly commendable lie, since it cost you nothing and ple
ad the other man.
