《道德情操论·卷三·论评判自己情感与行为的基础·三·论良心的影响与权威》第17节
The never-failing certainty with which all men, sooner or later, accommodate themselves to whatever becomes their permanent situation, may, perhaps, induce us to think that the Stoics were, at least, thus far very nearly in the right; that, between one permanent situation and another, there was, with regard to real happiness, no essential difference: or that, if there were any difference, it was no more than just sufficient to render some of them the objects of simple choice or preference; but not of any earnest or anxious desire: and others, of simple rejection, as being fit to be set aside or avoided; but not of any earnest or anxious aversion. Happiness consists in tranquillity and enjoyment. Without tranquillity there can be no enjoyment; and where there is perfect tranquillity there is scarce any thing which is not capable of amusing. But in every permanent situation, where there is no expectation of change, the mind of every man, in a longer or shorter time, returns to its natural and usual state of tranquillity. In prosperity, after a certain time, it falls back to that state; in adversity, after a certain time, it rises up to it. In the confinement and solitude of the Bastile, after a certain time, the fashionable and frivolous Count de Lauzun recovered tranquillity enough to be capable of amusing himself with feeding a spider. A mind better furnished would, perhaps, have both sooner recovered its tranquillity, and sooner found, in its own thoughts, a much better amusement.
注释摘要
斯密在这一段里推进的是一个看似简单、实则牵动全书道德心理学根基的观察：人对任何永久处境的适应能力，几乎是一种不可阻挡的心理规律。他用的动词是 accommodate——不是消极忍受，也不是刻意说服自己，而是心灵在时间的推移中，自动地、不加外力地使自己的感受趋近于一种平常的宁静状态。这个观察并不来自哲学推演，而是从日常经验和他所认为的历史事实中提炼出来的。在…