Chapter 1

 The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death.

 

Women are made to be loved, not to be understood.

 

It is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. Moren than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.

 

Women, as someone says, love with their ears, just as men love with their eyes, if they ever love at all.

 

It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly.

 

Nothing looks so like innocence¹ as an indiscretion.

 

Misfortunes one can endure, they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one's faults—ah! there is the sting of life.

 

Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds² follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity³.

 

Questions are never indiscreet; answers sometimes are.

 

Twenty years of romance make a woman look like a ruin; but twenty years of marriage make her something like a public building.

 

The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes.

 

Anyone can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend's success.

 

Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live: and unselfishness is letting other people's lives alone, not interfering⁴ with them.

 

A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.

 

Nowadays people seem to look on life as a speculation⁵. It is not a speculation. It is a sacrament. Its ideal is love. Its purification is sacrifice.

 

In old days nobody pretended to be a bit better than his neighbour. In fact, to be a bit better than one's neighbour was considered excessively vulgar and middle class. Nowadays, with our modern mania⁶ for morality, everyone has to pose as a paragon⁷ of purity, incorruptibility, and all the other seven deadly virtues⁸. And what is the result? You all go over like ninepins—one after the other.

 

All sympathy is fine, but sympathy with suffering is the least fine mode.

 

If you pretend to be good the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad it doesn't. Such is the astounding¹⁰ stupidity of optimism.

 

It is most dangerous nowadays for a husband to pay any attention to his wife in public. It always makes people think that he beats her when they're alone. The world has grown so suspicious of anything that looks like a happy married life.

 

Actors are so fortunate. They can choose whether they will appear in tragedy or in comedy, whether they will suffer or make merry, laugh or shed tears. But in real life it is different. Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualifications. The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

 

Men know life too early; women know life too late-that is the difference between men and women.

 

He who stands most remote from his age is he who mirrors it best.

 

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

 

Life is not governed by will or intention. Life is a question of nerves and fibres and slowly built-up cells, in which thought hides itself and passion has its dreams.

 

Man is a being with myriad¹¹ lives and myriad sensations, a complex, multiform creature that bears within itself strange legacies¹² of thought and passion, and whose very flesh is tainted¹³ with the monstrous¹⁴ maladies of the dead.

 

As long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter she is perfectly¹⁵ satisfied.

 

There is always something infinitely¹⁶ mean about other people's tragedies.

 

Public and private life are different things. They have different laws and move on different lines.

 

When one is placed in the position of guardian¹⁷ one has to adopt a very high moral tone on all subjects. It's one's duty to do so.

 

I have always been of opinion that a man who desires to get married should know either everything or nothing.

 

An engagement should come on a young girl as a surprise, pleasant or unpleasant, as the case may be. It is hardly a matter that she could be allowed to arrange for herself.

 

If the lower classes don't set us a good example what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility.

 

If a woman cannot make her mistakes charming she is only a female.

 

The world was made for men and not for women.

 

It is always with the best intentions that the worst work is done.

 

If you wish to understand others you must intensify¹⁸ your own individualism.

 

Why do you talk so trivially about life? Because I think that life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.

 

What a pity that in life we only get our lessons when they are of no use to us.

 

It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.

 

Relations are simply a tedious pack of people who haven't got the remotest knowledge of how to live nor the smallest instinct about when to die.

 

Charity creates a multitude of sins.

 

My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better they don't know anything at all.

 

Truth is a very complex thing and politics is a very complex business. There are wheels within wheels. One may be under certain obligations to people that one must pay. Sooner or later in political life one has to compromise. Everyone does.

 

Men can love what is beneath them—things unworthy, stained, dishonoured¹⁹. We women worship when we love; and when we lose our worship we lose everything.

 

The proper basis for marriage is a mutual²⁰ misunderstanding.

 

The one advantage of playing with fire is that one never gets even singed²¹. It is the people who don't know how to play with it who get burned up.

 

There are moments when one has to choose between living one's own life fully²², entirely²³, completely, or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy²⁴ demands.

 

When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.

 

Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed²⁵. The poor should be practical and prosaic²⁶.

 

An acquaintance that begins with a compliment is sure to develop into a real friendship. It starts in the right manner.

 

The truths of metaphysics are the truths of masks.

 

Science can never grapple with the irrational²⁷. That is why it has no future before it in this world.

 

The happy people of the world have their value, but only the negative value of foils. They throw up and emphasise²⁸ the beauty and the fascination²⁹ of the unhappy.

 

In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. The last is much the worst—the last is a real tragedy.

 

Disobedience in the eyes of anyone who has read history is man's original virtue⁹. It is through disobedience that progress has been made—through disobedience and rebellion.

 

It is not wise to find symbols in everything that one sees. It makes life too full of terrors.

 

Comfort is the only thing our civilisation³⁰ can give us.

 

Politics are my only pleasure. You see nowadays it is not fashionable to flirt³¹ till one is forty or to be romantic till one is forty-five, so we poor women who are under thirty, or say we are, have nothing open to us but politics or philanthropy. And philanthropy seems to me to have become simply the refuge of people who wish to annoy their fellow-creatures. I prefer politics. I think they are more ... becoming.

1 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

2 creeds   

（尤指宗教）信条，教条( creed的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• people of all races, colours and creeds 各种种族、肤色和宗教信仰的人
• Catholics are agnostic to the Protestant creeds. 天主教徒对于新教教义来说，是不可知论者。

3 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

4 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

5 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

6 mania   

n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好

参考例句：

• Football mania is sweeping the country.足球热正风靡全国。
• Collecting small items can easily become a mania.收藏零星物品往往容易变成一种癖好。

7 paragon   

n.模范，典型

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• Man is the paragon of animals.人是万物之灵。

8 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

9 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

10 astounding   

adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词)

参考例句：

• There was an astounding 20% increase in sales. 销售量惊人地增加了20%。
• The Chairman's remarks were so astounding that the audience listened to him with bated breath. 主席说的话令人吃惊，所以听众都屏息听他说。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

12 legacies   

n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症

参考例句：

• Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind. 书是伟大的天才留给人类的精神财富。 来自辞典例句
• General legacies are subject to the same principles as demonstrative legacies. 一般的遗赠要与指定数目的遗赠遵循同样的原则。 来自辞典例句

13 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 monstrous   

adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的

参考例句：

• The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
• Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人！

15 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

16 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

17 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

18 intensify   

vt.加强；变强；加剧

参考例句：

• We must intensify our educational work among our own troops.我们必须加强自己部队的教育工作。
• They were ordered to intensify their patrols to protect our air space.他们奉命加强巡逻，保卫我国的领空。

19 dishonoured   

a.不光彩的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• You have dishonoured the name of the school. 你败坏了学校的名声。
• We found that the bank had dishonoured some of our cheques. 我们发现银行拒绝兑现我们的部分支票。

20 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

21 singed   

v.浅表烧焦( singe的过去式和过去分词 )；（毛发）燎，烧焦尖端[边儿]

参考例句：

• He singed his hair as he tried to light his cigarette. 他点烟时把头发给燎了。
• The cook singed the chicken to remove the fine hairs. 厨师把鸡燎一下，以便去掉细毛。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

22 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

23 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

24 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

25 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

26 prosaic   

adj.单调的，无趣的

参考例句：

• The truth is more prosaic.真相更加乏味。
• It was a prosaic description of the scene.这是对场景没有想象力的一个描述。

27 irrational   

adj.无理性的，失去理性的

参考例句：

• After taking the drug she became completely irrational.她在吸毒后变得完全失去了理性。
• There are also signs of irrational exuberance among some investors.在某些投资者中是存在非理性繁荣的征象的。

28 emphasise   

vt.加强...的语气，强调，着重

参考例句：

• What special feature do you think I should emphasise? 你认为我该强调什么呢？
• The exercises heavily emphasise the required readings.练习非常强调必须的阅读。

29 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

30 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

31 flirt   

v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者

参考例句：

• He used to flirt with every girl he met.过去他总是看到一个姑娘便跟她调情。
• He watched the stranger flirt with his girlfriend and got fighting mad.看着那个陌生人和他女朋友调情，他都要抓狂了。