《道德情操论·卷四·论效用对赞同感的作用·一·论效用的外观赋予器物的美》第5节
But though this splenetic philosophy, which in time of sickness or low spirits is familiar to every man, thus entirely depreciates those great objects of human desire, when in better health and in better humour, we never fail to regard them under a more agreeable aspect. Our imagination, which in pain and sorrow seems to be confined and cooped up within our own persons, in times of ease and prosperity expands itself to every thing around us. We are then charmed with the beauty of that accommodation which reigns in the palaces and oeconomy of the great: and admire how every thing is adapted to promote their ease, to prevent their wants, to gratify their wishes, and to amuse and entertain their most frivolous desires. If we consider the real satisfaction which all these things are capable of affording, by itself and separated from the beauty of that arrangement which is fitted to promote it, it will always appear in the highest degree contemptible and trifling. But we rarely view it in this abstract and philosophical light. We naturally confound it in our imagination with the order, the regular and harmonious movement of the system, the machine or oeconomy by means of which it is produced. The pleasures of wealth and greatness, when considered in this complex view, strike the imagination as something grand and beautiful and noble, of which the attainment is well worth all the toil and anxiety which we are so apt to bestow upon it.
注释摘要
刚刚结束的那一大段，是全书最出名的段落之一。那个被野心驱使的穷人之子，用一辈子追逐财富与地位，到老才发现这些东西不过是些琐细的玩具，比收藏小工具的玩家腰间的镊子盒强不到哪里去，还更加累赘。疾病和疲惫把这些幻想撕碎，让人看清权力与财富无非是庞大精巧的机器，费一生之力去建造维护，随时可能崩碎，把主人压在废墟下。那是一种斯密称之为"脾脏哲学"的眼光，在身体不适或…