伦 理
要是你需要理由来解释为什么你跟某人是朋友，那你们就不算是朋友。
我对现代化最不满的地方，或许就是“合乎伦理”跟“合法”越来越不是同一回事。[1]
生活之美：别人对你做出的最充满善意的举动，或许恰恰是不求回报的。[2]
我们最愿意帮助的，偏偏是那些最不需要我们的人。
要衡量一个人的价值，考虑一下你第一次见到他时的印象，跟最近一次见到他时的印象有多大的差别。
冥想是一种不用伤害别人的自恋方式。
真正的谦卑意味着你能让自己比别人更吃惊；别的要么是羞涩，要么是巧妙的自我宣传。
如果某个人吹嘘自己的成就，会让我们感到恶心，但如果国家吹嘘自己的成就，则被称为“民族自豪感”。
你只能说服那些认为自己能通过被说服获益的人。
伟大始于用有礼貌的鄙夷取代仇恨。
那些躺着或是站着赚钱谋生的人，比坐着赚钱谋生的人更值得信任。
美德的悲剧在于，一条谚语越是明显、无聊、人云亦云、充满说教意味，它就越难实现。
就连最小气的人也可以在建议方面宽宏大度。
要是你朝我撒谎，那就一直撒谎，不要突然讲真话来伤害我。
别信任需要维持一笔收入的人——除非那是最低工资限额。 [3]
你或许会因为年老而失去力量，但不会失去智慧。
弱者行动是为了满足自己的需求，强者行动是为了履行自己的义务。
宗教和伦理的进化轨迹：从保证如果你做好事就会上天堂，到在你做好事时保证让你上天堂，再到让你保证做好事。
尽量别把那些别无选择的人称为英雄。
有些人会为了你给予他们的而感激你，有些人会为了你没有给予他们的而怪罪你。
信守伦理的人根据信仰选择职业，而不是根据职业选择信仰。而自中世纪以来，这样的人越来越少了。
我信任所有人，除了那些告诉我他们值得信任的人。
人们往往需要生活中有一个自己不必给他留下深刻印象的人，这就解释了为什么许多人养狗。
帮助忘恩负义的人，这才是纯粹的慷慨。否则帮助别人都是为了自己。[4]
我不知道骗子能不能想明白，诚实的人可能比他们更精明。
普鲁斯特笔下有一个角色名叫莫埃尔，他把借给他钱的犹太人尼西姆·伯纳德当成是魔鬼，甚至变成了一名反犹太主义者，只是为了摆脱感恩的情绪。
因为别人做了好事而祝福他会碰上好运，这听起来像是行贿；或许这是远古荒蛮时代道德观的孑遗。
伟大跟骄傲之间的区别，体现在没人的时候你会做什么。
民族国家：无须犯政治错误的种族隔离。
在100个人中，50%的财富、90%的想象力、100%的智慧会集中在一个人身上——但这三项未必会集中在同一个人身上。
就像染头发让老男人看起来更缺乏魅力一样，你越是掩饰自己的弱点，就越会欲盖弥彰。
对于士兵，我们有“雇佣兵”这种说法，但对于雇员们，我们却说“人人都需要谋生”。
有些人的骄傲表现为对强者的不屑，有些人的骄傲表现为对小人物的蔑视。
如果你所在的社会阶层有一个人变穷了，会比别的社会阶层里成千上万的穷人更让你受到触动。
[1]美国前财政部长“银行流氓”罗伯特·鲁宾或许是历史上最大的窃贼，但他并没有犯法。在复杂的社会体系中，“合乎伦理”跟“合法”之间的差异会越来越大……最终让体系垮台。
[2]反之亦然：别人对你做出的最让你痛苦的举动，或许恰恰是因为关心你。
[3]那些为企业所奴役的人会为了“养家糊口”做任何事情。
[4]这是康德提出的伦理观。
ETHICS
If you find any reason why you and someone are friends, you are not friends.
My biggest problem with modernity may lie in the growing separation of the ethical and the legal.
Life's beauty: the kindest act toward you in your life may come from an outsider not interested in reciprocation.
We are most motivated to help those who need us the least.
To value a person, consider the difference between how impressive he or she was at the first encounter and the most recent one.
Meditation is a way to be narcissistic without hurting anyone.
True humility is when you can surprise yourself more than others; the rest is either shyness or good marketing.
We find it to be in extremely bad taste for individuals to boast of their accomplishments; but when countries do so we call it "national pride."
You can only convince people who think they can benefit from being convinced.
Greatness starts with the replacement of hatred with polite disdain.
Trust people who make a living lying down or standing up more than those who do so sitting down.
The tragedy of virtue is that the more obvious, boring, unoriginal, and sermonizing the proverb, the harder it is to implement.
Even the cheapest misers can be generous with advice.
If you lie to me, keep lying; don't hurt me by suddenly telling the truth.
Don't trust a man who needs an income——except if it is minimum wage.
You may outlive your strength, never your wisdom.
Weak men act to satisfy their needs, stronger men their duties.
Religions and ethics have evolved from promising heaven if you do good, to promising heaven while you do good, to making you promise to do good.
Avoid calling heroes those who had no other choice.
There are those who will thank you for what you gave them and others who will blame you for what you did not give them.
Ethical man accords his profession to his beliefs, instead of according his beliefs to his profession. This has been rarer and rarer since the Middle Ages.
I trust everyone except those who tell me they are trustworthy.
People often need to suspend their self-promotion, and have someone in their lives they do not need to impress. This explains dog ownership.
Pure generosity is when you help the ingrate. Every other form is self-serving.
I wonder if crooks can conceive that honest people can be shrewder than they.
In Proust there is a character, Morel, who demonizes Nissim Bernard, a Jew who lent him money, and becomes anti-Semitic just so he can escape the feeling of gratitude.
Promising someone good luck as a reward for good deeds sounds like a bribe; perhaps the remnant of an archaic, pre-deontic pre-classical morality.
The difference between magnificence and arrogance is in what one does when nobody is looking.
The nation-state: apartheid without political incorrectness.
In a crowd of a hundred, fifty percent of the wealth, ninety percent of the imagination and a hundred percent of the intellectual person will reside in a single person——not necessarily the same one.
Just as dyed hair makes older men less attractive, it is what you do to hide your weaknesses that makes them repugnant.
For soldiers, we use the term "mercenary"; but we absolve employees of responsibility with "everybody needs to make a living".
English does not distinguish between arrogant-up, irreverence towards the temporarily powerful and arrogant-down, directed at the small guy.
Someone from your social class who becomes poor affects you more than thousands of starving ones outside of it.