I cannot assent to your proposal that I should accompany the ambassador to —. I do not love subordination; and we all know that he is a rough, disagreeable person to be connected with. You say my mother wishes me to be employed. I could not help laughing at that. Am I not sufficiently employed? And is it not in reality the same, whether I shell peas or count lentils? The world runs on from one folly to another; and the man who, solely from regard to the opinion of others, and without any wish or necessity of his own, toils after gold, honour, or any other phantom, is no better than a fool.
你勸我跟公使到×地去的想法,我還不打算同意。我不大喜歡聽人差遣,加之此公又是位眾所周知的討厭的人。你信上說,我母親希望看見我有所作為。這使我感到好笑。難道我眼下不也是在做事么?歸根到底,不管我是摘豌豆還是摘扁豆,不也一樣么?世界上的一切事情,說穿了全都無聊。一個人要是沒有熱情,沒有需要,僅僅為了他人的緣故去逐利追名,苦苦折騰,這個人便是傻瓜。