《道德情操论·卷六·论德性的品质·三·论自制》第27节
The words vain and vanity are never taken in a good sense. We sometimes say of a man, when we are talking of him in good humour, that he is the better for his vanity, or that his vanity is more diverting than offensive; but we still consider it as a foible and a ridiculous feature in his character. The words proud and pride, on the contrary, are sometimes taken in {230} a good sense. We frequently say of a man, that he is too proud, or that he has too much noble pride, ever to suffer himself to do a mean thing. Pride is, in this case, confounded with magnanimity. Aristotle, a philosopher who certainly knew the world, in drawing the character of the magnanimous man, paints him with many features which, in the two last centuries, were commonly ascribed to the Spanish character: that he was deliberate in all his resolutions; slow, and even tardy, in all his actions; that his voice was grave, his speech deliberate, his step and motion slow; that he appeared indolent and even slothful, not at all disposed to bustle about little matters, but to act with the most determined and vigorous resolution upon all great and illustrious occasions: that he was not a lover of danger, or forward to expose himself to little dangers, but to great dangers; and that, when he exposed himself to danger, he was altogether regardless of his life. The proud man is commonly too well contented with himself to think that his character requires any amendment. The man who feels himself all-perfect, naturally enough despises all further improvement. His self-sufficiency and absurd conceit of his own superiority, commonly attend him from his youth to his most advanced age; and he dies, as Hamlet says, 'with all his sins upon his head, unanointed, unanealed.'
注释摘要
斯密在此处做的是一个语言与道德判断之间的精微辨析：虚荣和骄傲在日常用法里从来就不对等，前者永远带着贬义，后者却时常被当作褒义使用。他说，我们谈起某人的虚荣，哪怕口气再轻松，说这人"有点儿虚荣反而更可爱"，骨子里还是把它当成一种小毛病、一种可笑的特征。可是一转到骄傲，话锋就变了——我们会说一个人"太骄傲了，不屑于做卑下的事"，这里的骄傲就成了"高贵的傲气"，…