The Moon And Sixpence 14.3

Strickland chuckled. He didnot seem discouraged. He was independent of the opinion of his fellows.

And it was just that whichhad most disconcerted me in my dealings with him. When people say they do notcare what others think of them, for the most part they deceive themselves.Generally they mean only that they will do as they choose, in the confidencethat no one will know their vagaries; and at the utmost only that they arewilling to act contrary to the opinion of the majority because they aresupported by the approval of their neighbours. It is not difficult to beunconventional in the eyes of the world when your unconventionality is but theconvention of your set. It affords you then an inordinate amount ofself-esteem. You have the self-satisfaction of courage without theinconvenience of danger. But the desire for approbation is perhaps the mostdeeply seated instinct of civilised man. No one runs so hurriedly to the coverof respectability as the unconventional woman who has exposed herself to theslings and arrows of outraged propriety. I do not believe the people who tellme they do not care a row of pins for the opinion of their fellows. It is thebravado of ignorance. They mean only that they do not fear reproaches forpeccadillos which they are convinced none will discover.

But here was a man whosincerely did not mind what people thought of him, and so convention had nohold on him; he was like a wrestler whose body is oiled; you could not get agrip on him; it gave him a freedom which was an outrage. I remember saying tohim:

"Look here, if everyoneacted like you, the world couldn't go on. "

"That's a damned sillything to say. Everyone doesn't want to act like me. The great majority areperfectly content to do the ordinary thing. "

And once I sought to besatirical.

"You evidently don'tbelieve in the maxim: Act so that every one of your actions is capable of beingmade into a universal rule. "

"I never heard itbefore, but it's rotten nonsense. "

"Well, it was Kant whosaid it. "

"I don't care; it'srotten nonsense. "

思特里克兰德咯咯地笑起来。他似乎一点也没有灰心丧气。别人的意见对他是毫无影响的。

在我同他打交道的时候，正是这一点使我狼狈不堪。有人也说他不在乎别人对他的看法，但这多半是自欺欺人。一般说来，他们能够自行其是是因为相信别人都看不出来他们的怪异的想法；最甚者也是因为有几个近邻知交表示支持，才敢违背大多数人的意见行事。如果一个人违反传统实际上是他这一阶层人的常规，那他在世人面前作出违反传统的事倒也不困难。相反地，他还会为此洋洋自得。他既可以标榜自己的勇气又不致冒什么风险。但是我总觉得事事要邀获别人批准，或许是文明人类最根深蒂固的一种天性。一个标新立异的女人一旦冒犯了礼规，招致了唇枪舌剑的物议，再没有谁会象她那样飞快地跑去寻找尊严体面的庇护了。那些告诉我他们毫不在乎别人对他们的看法的人，我是绝不相信的。这只不过是一种无知的虚张声势。他们的意思是：他们相信别人根本不会发现自己的微疵小瑕，因此更不怕别人对这些小过失加以谴责了。

但是这里却有一个真正不计较别人如何看待他的人，因而传统礼规对他一点也奈何不得。他象是一个身上涂了油的角力者，你根本抓不住他。这就给了他一种自由，叫你感到火冒三丈。我还记得我对他说：

“你听我说，如果每个人都照你这样，地球就运转不下去了。”

“你说这样的话实在是太蠢了。并不是每个人都要象我这样的。绝大多数人对于他们做的那些平平常常的事是心满意足的。”

我想挖苦他一句。

“有一句格言你显然并不相信：凡人立身行事，务使每一行为堪为万人楷模。”

“我从来没听说过，但这是胡说八道。”

“你不知道，这是康德说的。”

“随便是谁说的，反正是胡说八道。”