《股票作手回忆录·第十四章·游戏永不变·人性永不变》第5节
I nerved myself and went to see my creditors. It was a mighty difficult thing for me to do, for all that most of them were personal friends or old acquaintances. I explained the situation quite frankly to them. I said: “I am not going to take this step because I don’t wish to pay you but because, in justice to both myself and you, I must put myself in a position to make money. I have been thinking of this solution off and on for over two years, but I simply didn’t have the nerve to come out and say so frankly to you. It would have been infinitely better for all of us if I had. It all simmers down to this: I positively cannot be my old self while I am harassed or upset by these debts. I have decided to do now what I should have done a year ago. I have no other reason than the one I have just given you.” What the first man said was to all intents and purposes what all of them said. He spoke for his firm. “Livingston,” he said, “we understand. We realise your position perfectly. I’ll tell you what we’ll do: we’ll just give you a release. Have your lawyer prepare any kind of paper you wish, and we’ll sign it.”
注释摘要
这段文字堪称整部回忆录中最具人性张力的一幕。利文斯顿，也就是杰西·利弗莫尔的化身，正面临他人生中最不情愿却又不得不做出的决定——像一个败军之将那样，走到那些曾信任他的债权人面前，请求法律意义上的豁免。在1900年代到1910年代的华尔街，个人破产远不是今天这种被法律程序化、某种程度上甚至被“财务重组”这个中性词美化过的概念。彼时的商业文化深受清教徒伦理影响…