《瓦尔登湖·第一章·经济篇·Economy》第65节
Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind. Nay, it is greatly overrated; and it is our selfishness which overrates it. A robust poor man, one sunny day here in Concord, praised a fellow-townsman to me, because, as he said, he was kind to the poor; meaning himself. The kind uncles and aunts of the race are more esteemed than its true spiritual fathers and mothers. I once heard a reverend lecturer on England, a man of learning and intelligence, after enumerating her scientific, literary, and political worthies, Shakespeare, Bacon, Cromwell, Milton, Newton, and others, speak next of her Christian heroes, whom, as if his profession required it of him, he elevated to a place far above all the rest, as the greatest of the great. They were Penn, Howard, and Mrs. Fry. Every one must feel the falsehood and cant of this. The last were not England’s best men and women; only, perhaps, her best philanthropists.
注释摘要
梭罗在这一段里对慈善事业提出了他全书中最为尖锐的批评之一。他不是反对帮助他人，而是反对把慈善变成一种道德表演，更反对以此排定人的价值等级。他先做了一个判断：慈善几乎是唯一被人类充分赏识的美德，不仅被赏识，而且被大大高估了。高估的动力来自我们的自私——这个说法需要稍微拆解。梭罗的意思是，接受慈善的人因为自己得到了好处而赞美施舍者，施舍者则从这种赞美中获得道德…