《乌合之众·第一编·群体的心理·群体的情感与道德》第3节
This mobility of crowds renders them very difficult to govern, especially when a measure of public authority has fallen into their hands. Did not the necessities of everyday life constitute a sort of invisible regulator of existence, it would scarcely be possible for democracies to last. Still, though the wishes of crowds are frenzied they are not durable. Crowds are as incapable of willing as of thinking for any length of time. A crowd is not merely impulsive and mobile. Like a savage, it is not prepared to admit that anything can come between its desire and the realisation of its desire. It is the less capable of understanding such an intervention, in consequence of the feeling of irresistible power given it by its numerical strength. The notion of impossibility disappears for the individual in a crowd. An isolated individual knows well enough that alone he cannot set fire to a palace or loot a shop, and should he be tempted to do so, he will easily resist the temptation. Making part of a crowd, he is conscious of the power given him by number, and it is sufficient to suggest to him ideas of murder or pillage for him to yield immediately to temptation. An unexpected obstacle will be destroyed with frenzied rage. Did the human organism allow of the perpetuity of furious passion, it might be said that the normal condition of a crowd baulked in its wishes is just such a state of furious passion.
注释摘要
勒庞在此要论证的是，群体一旦形成，便丧失了延迟满足的能力。像他所谓的“原始人”一样，聚集起来的群众拒绝承认欲望与实现欲望之间存在任何障碍。他从这种心理机制出发，解释为什么群众在掌握部分公共权力后会变得极度危险。个体独处时知道自己势单力薄，即便有纵火劫掠的冲动，也多半会克制；可是一旦融入人群，意识到数目带来的无可抵挡之力，“不可能”这个观念就消失了。只要有人…