王爾德（Oscar Wilde）名言摘鈔

〈跟王爾德學英文〉
（莊坤良 Kunliang Chuang）
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!qy8GXOCZBRlxOuFJCX7RLKsGdiE-/article?mid=6071

愛爾蘭大作家王爾德(Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900)是個爭議性的人物，他提倡唯美主義，力唱藝術只為藝術而藝術(art for art’s sake)。他能說善道，言語機峰，盡諷喻之能事，看似詼諧，卻又洞澈人心，常叫人拍案叫絕。他是英國維多利亞時期最受歡迎的劇作家，以The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Salome (1891) The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)等作品傳世。他因同性戀，被迫入獄，以46歲的壯年，客死異鄉巴黎。

王爾德幽默機智，他的劇本顛覆傳統男女之間的性別刻版印象，他嘲弄男女之間的權力關係，也透過他的生花妙筆，臧匹人生。舞文弄墨，他的文體，呈現一種特別的風格。他擅長拐彎抹角，指東說西，文句沒讀到最後一個字，還說不準他的意圖，常常是最後的關鍵字顛覆了整句話的原意，瞬間反轉，腦筋不快的還跟不上他的思維。最絕的是，有時還用盡讚美的言詞來挖苦一個人，讀來痛快。

台灣孩子學英文，常習慣直接表述，缺少間接委婉的修辭訓練，文章泰半乏味。王爾德的英文，幽默睿智，文體迴轉，常出奇峰，頗有可觀，正好可以拿來給學子們觀摩學習。

以下我選一些王爾德的的文句來和大家分享。我把他們分幾類，分別就其修辭技巧，說明其微妙之處。

（1）“Except” 和“ but”
「除了…之外」和「但是」有逆轉文章、顛覆前文之效。這兩個字看似簡單，但要用得好用得妙，不容易。王爾德說：

I can resist everything except temptation.
我可以抗拒誘惑以外的任何事物。

大部分的學生會說：I cannot resist temptation. 我無法抗拒誘惑。這種直述法，失去了語言盤旋回味的空間。王爾德巧妙用一個except，顛覆resist 和temptation對抗關係，形成語言的張力，文字的趣味自然而生。

王爾德進美國海關時，對官員說：
I have nothing to declare except my genius.
除了我的天才外，我沒有什麼東西要申報。

這句話用的是相同的策略，把最重要的genius排除在外。他先說nothing，讓讀者放下心防，再以except調轉關係，使得nothing 和genius對比，形成一種弔詭。這是標準的反面論述，但反而有趣有力。下一句也是採取類似的手法：

There is no sin except stupidity.
愚純是最大的罪過。

王爾德同樣以反面出發，先宣稱不是罪，再以except倒轉關係，使得最後一個字「愚蠢」變成了比前者更大的罪。其他的例子，包括

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
大家生活在臭水溝，但有些人還滿懷希望，看著星光。
A poet can survive everything but a misprint.
詩人渡盡劫難，唯不可忍受印刷錯誤。

（2）Only, most, always
我們學英文，通常容易忽視副詞的運用。王爾德對量詞或頻率副詞的運用，也別有蹊蹺。碰到他的這些詞，讀者要特別小心。例如，他說：

1. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
大多數的人都別人。他們想的是別人的想法，他們模仿別人的生活，他們引用別人的情緒。王爾德用統包的詞most說大家都是別人（other），沒有真正自己的想法與感覺，只是替代性地過著別人的生活。他把we 和other 對立起來，並將之倒轉，譏諷失去自我的人，只不過是別人的影子。

2. Only the shallow know themselves. 只有膚淺的人才自以為是。我們要花一輩子的功夫去瞭解自己，駕馭自己的脾氣習性。終其一生，多數人還是做不到。膚淺的人，不懂世事。但王爾德轉個彎說，他們盲目得以為自己什麼都懂，就嘲諷味十足了。

3. There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. 世上只有一件事比被人議論更糟，那就是無人議論你。

4. The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself. 對忠告的最好作法就是把它傳下去，因為它從未對你起任何作用。

這三句都用唯一的數量詞only，但這個字和前述的most正好相反。王爾德以此字當作「盲點」，點撥膚淺的不自知，彰顯八卦對議論的必要性，認識忠告的本質。

5. Bad artists always admire each other's work. 差勁的藝術家總是互相欣賞。

6. Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. 永遠要原諒你的敵人，因為再也沒有什麼東西比這叫他們更懊惱了。
總是（always）是個蘋率最高的副詞，但也可用來作負面說法。互相欣賞是美德，但是不好的人之間互相欣賞，就不是了。原諒敵人是好事，但對好戰的敵人而言，失去對手，沒了目標，生活只有懊惱。

（3）Paradox
文字裡有許多表面看似矛盾的敘述，卻透露出深層結構裡的互相牽連，這樣的表達，似是而非，反而意義更深遠。例如：

1. Whenever people agree with me, I always feel I must be wrong.大家都同意我時，我總覺得我可能錯了。大家都愛聽好話，但同意你，不代表你就是對的。王爾德看透這種虛榮，藉著agree的正面意義，表達謙虛自省之必要。

2. Women have a much better time than men in this world. There are far more things forbidden to them. 這世上，女人比男人過得好，因為他們比男人有更多禁忌的事。人們的快感來自打破禁忌，所謂犯罪的快感，當是如此。王爾德的反面邏輯，禁忌多，當然快樂也多。

3. A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies. 一個人必須慎選敵人。我們常說要慎選朋友，但慎選敵人，也同樣重要。要和某人為敵，也要先衡量自己的斤量，看看惹得起惹不起。

4. How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being. 如果男人堅持把女人當作是一個正常完美的人，那女人怎麼會快樂呢？王爾德對男女關係的互動，有其深入的觀察。也常發人所未言，而成經典。

5. All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. 所有不好的詩也都是真情之作。真情作詩，但仍有高下之分。

（4）Irony and contrast
1. I am not young enough to know everything. 我不再像年輕時，以為自己什麼都知道。王爾德說教不帶髒字，但反諷為十足。

2. I love acting. It is so much more real than life.我喜歡演戲，因為演戲比生活還真實。戲如人生，或人生如戲。王爾德對比人生與戲，說出戲的虛構反而真實。我們總以為演戲是人生的模擬再現，殊不知再現的人生，刻意演出，五色目眩，誇張其情，比真實的還精彩。

3. The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster.戲很棒，但觀眾卻遭透了。王爾德比較觀眾與戲，批觀眾水準太差，無法欣賞原著之美，憾事一樁。讚美戲劇本身的同時，還損了觀眾一下。

4. One should never trust a woman who tells her real age. If she tells that, she'll tell anything.我們不能相信女人的年紀。如果她告訴你她的真實年紀，那她甚麼話都會對你說的。年紀是女人最大的秘密，如果年紀都可以告訴你，那她對你還有什麼好保留的呢？

5. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. 書本沒有道德或不道德的問題，只好好壞的問題而已。王爾德批假道學，文以載道的虛構性，不足一提。

6. A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal. 不夠真誠有危險，太真誠則會致命。王爾德比較危險與致命兩字，雖然不夠真誠，不足為訓，但是凡事過於熱情投入，遇事無還轉餘地，反有焚身致命之危。

7. In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.世間兩件悲劇：一是得到你想要的，一是得不到。例如，愛情。愛不到，苦。愛上了，也苦。王爾德玩one 和the other對比的遊戲，說明兩頭皆空的苦惱。

8. Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other. 生命的蠢事，一件接一件。然而愛情卻是兩個蠢蛋，互相追逐。王爾德以數目字作遊戲，一與二對比，指出差異，戲諷結婚的人。

9. Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience. 第一次結婚是想像戰勝理智。第二次結婚則是希望壓過經驗。這句也一樣比較第一次和第二次，同樣是對人生犀利的觀察。

10. Young men want to be faithful, and are not; old men want to be faithless, and cannot. 年輕人想要忠實卻作不到。老年人像要不忠實，也同樣作不到。這句像俏皮話，以年輕和年老對比，以忠實和背叛相對，彰顯兩對情境的相異性與相似性。

11. Men marry because they are tired, women because they are curious; both are disappointed. 男人因為累了所以才結婚，女人因為好奇而結婚。雙方都感到失望。王爾德的劇本裡有許多對男女關係的詮釋，觀點特殊，為人傳頌。他這句話把男女對結婚的出發點作一對比，無法各取所需，當然以失望結束。

12. The difference between journalism and literature is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read. 新聞與文學的差別在於：新聞不忍卒讀，但文學卻無人讀。

13. Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes. 女人從不對恭維繳械，男人面對恭維，總是棄械投降。這就是男性與女性的差別。

反諷是高明的修辭，一般人缺少幽默感也學不來。王爾德利用對比的策略，倒是創造了不少精彩幽默睿智的話來。台灣學生應該正視幽默，這不僅對人際溝通重要，對語文能力的提升，也同樣重要。

（5）Etymology
我們對許多的事物都有一定的刻板印象，文字的定義或解釋，也經常習以為常而陷入盲目接受的無感狀態。王爾德從字詞出發，重新給定義，倒是提出許多新鮮有趣的說法。例如：

1. Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. 經驗就是我們所犯的錯誤。

2. A true friend stabs you in the front. 真正的朋友會當著你的面給你難堪。

3. The heart was made to be broken. 有心，自然會心碎。

4. A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. 一個尖酸玩世的人，只知事物的價格，不知其價值。

5. Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.流行醜得不可忍，所以需要半年就換一種。

好的英文表達，不只是要有「內容」(content)，還要有好的表達「形式」 (form)。內容可以載道，但卻需要好的修辭技巧來包裝，創造效果。台灣學生學英文，缺少修辭的訓練，因此大多語言乏味。文字用來「表情達意」，我們的英語教學大都關心「達意」，「表情」的訓練被忽略了。大家只注意「說什麼」(what)，較少研究「怎麼說」(how)。但所謂的文字素養或美感，大抵來自對「形式」的追求，也就是對修辭的鑽研。王爾德的例子，提供一個我們觀摩學習的機會。

當然如果看了這篇短文後，覺得有意思，那找王爾德的原著來讀，那就收穫更大了。

［下為摘鈔］

Nothing should be out of the reach of hope. Life is a hope.

The soul is born old but grows young. That is the comedy of life.
And the body is born young and grows old. That is life’s tragedy.

Talk to every woman as if you loved her, and to every man as if he bored you, and at the end of your first season you will have the reputation of possessing the most perfect social tact.

People nowadays are so absolutely superficial that they don’t understand the philosophy of the superficial.

One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that, would tell one anything.

I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex.

The clever people never listen, and the stupid people never talk.

Intellectual generalities are always interesting, but generalities in morals mean absolutely nothing.

To get into the best society, nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people - that is all!

When one is in love one begins by deceiving oneself. And one ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Ah! don't become quite perfect all at once. Do it gradually!

Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely if ever do they forgive them.
- Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

优秀

An excellent man; he has no enemies; and none of his friends like him.

一个优秀的人没有敌人，但他的朋友也没有一个喜欢他。

妒忌

It is very easy to enduce the difficulties of one's enemies. It is the successes of one's friends that are hard to bear.

敌人造成的困难很容易忍受，朋友取得的成功却让人很难忍受。

欲望

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants. and the others is getting it.

人生的悲剧只有两种：世上只有两类悲剧，有些人总是不能遂愿，而有些人总是心想事成。

生活

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.

生活是世上最罕见的事情。大多数人只是存在，仅此而已。

时尚

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter is every six months.

时尚总是丑得难以容忍，所以每隔六个月我们都只好改一次。

社交圈

Thirty five is a very attractive age; London society is full of women who have of their own free choice remained thirty-five for years.

三十五岁是一个非常有吸引力的年龄；伦敦社交圈内全是这种女人，多年来她们一直都是三十五岁，她们可以自由地挑来选去。

鸡汤

The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.

对于建议，你所能做的，就是把它转送给别人，建议从来就不是给自己准备的。

庸俗时代

Why was I born with such contemporaties?

为什么我会和这样一些人生活在同一时代？

吃瓜群众

The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.

公众惊人地宽容。他们可以原谅一切，除了天才。

炒作

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

世界上只有一件事比被人议论更糟糕，那就是没人议论你。

已婚男人

The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married.

已婚男人的快乐来自那些他没有娶的人。

备胎

When a love comes to an end, weakings cry, efficient ones instantly find another love and wise already had one in reserve.

当爱情走到尽头，软弱者哭个不停，有效率的马上去寻找下一个目标，而聪明的早就预备了下一个。

再婚

Marriage is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. Second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience.

结婚是想象战胜了理智，再婚是希望战胜了经验。

女人的情商

If a woman can't make her mistake charming, she is only a female.

如果一个女人不能把自己的错误变得迷人，那她就只是一个雌性动物。

人性

One can always be kind to people one cares nothing about.

一个人总是可以善待他毫不在乎的人。

化妆

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.

男人的脸是自传，女人的脸是小说。

男女

I like men who have a future and women who have a past.

我喜欢有未来的男人和有过去的女人。

借钱

Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back.

借钱就要向悲观主义者借，因为他们不会期待你还钱。

婚姻

What is the cheif cause of divorce? Marriage.

离婚的主要原因是什么？结婚。

敌人

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

要原谅你的敌人，没有什么事比这更让他们抓狂的了。

爱自己

To love oneself is the begining of a lifelong romance.

爱自己是终身浪漫的开始。

钱

When I was young, I used to think that money was the most important thing in life, now that I am old, I know it is.

我年轻时以为金钱是世界上最重要的东西，等到老了才知道，原来真的是这样。

诱惑

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. I can resist anything but temptation.

摆脱诱惑的唯一方法就是服从它。除了诱惑，我可以抵抗任何东西。

Oscar Wilde - "Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. "

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.

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

One should always be a little improbable.

Truth, in the matters of religion, is simply the opinion that has survived.
Consistency is the last refuge of unimaginative.

Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.

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

When a truth becomes a fact it loses all its intellectual value.

I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.

Friendship is far more tragic than love. It lasts longer.

Only the shallow know themselves.

Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes his biography.



The only difference between a caprice and a life-long passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer.
逢場作戲和終身不渝之間的區別只在於逢場作戲稍微長一些。

When one is in love, one always begins by deceiveing one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what world calls a romance.
愛，始於自我欺騙，終於欺騙他人。這就是所謂的浪漫。
——戀愛總是以自欺開始，以欺人結束。

No man is rich enough to buy back his own past.
-An Ideal Husband (1895)
没有人富有到可以赎回自己的过去。
——改编自《理想的丈夫》

The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
-The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
真相很少纯粹，也决不简单。
——《不可儿嬉》

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.
爱自己是终身浪漫的开始。
——爱自己就是开始延续一生的罗曼史。

Most people discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
大多数人发现他们从未后悔的事情只是他们的错误，但发现时已经太晚了。

When a love comes to an end, weaklings cry, efficient ones instantly find another love and wise already had one in reserve.
当爱情走到尽头，软弱者哭个不停，有效率的马上去寻找下一个目标，而聪明的早就预备了下一个。

No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did he would cease to be an artist.
伟大的艺术家所看到的，从来都不是世界的本来面目。一旦他看透了，他就不再是艺术家。

One can always be kind to people one cares nothing about.
一个人总是可以善待他毫不在意的人。

It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution
给我们赦免的，是忏悔而不是牧师。

I don't want to earn my living; I want to live.
我不想谋生；我想生活。

When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers
-An Ideal husband, 1893
当神想惩罚我们时，他们就回应我们的祈祷。
-《一个理想的丈夫》

A true friend stabs you in the front.
真朋友才会当面中伤你。

The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
教养良好的人处处和他人过不去，头脑聪明的人处处和自己过不去。

Hatred is blind, as well as love.
恨是盲目的，爱亦然。

Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes, they forgive them
孩子最初爱他们父母，等大一些他们评判父母；然后有些时候，他们原谅父母。

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.
生活中只有两种悲剧:一个是没有得到我们想要的，另外一个是得到我们想要的。
——世上只有两类悲剧，有些人总是不能遂愿，而有些人总是心想事成。

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.
绅士就是从不无心伤害别人感觉的人。

Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative
谈论天气是无趣人类最后的避难所。

The world has been made by fools that wise men should live in it.
愚人创造了这个世界，智者不得不活在其中。

Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious; both are disappointed.
男人因疲倦而结婚，女人因好奇而结婚；最终他们都会失望。

The happiness of a married man depends on the people he has not married.
已婚者的快乐来自那些他没有娶的人。

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
除了感官，什么也不能治灵魂的创痛，同样，感官的饥渴也只有灵魂解除得了。

It is absurd to divide people in to good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.
-Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892, Act I
把人分成好的与坏的是荒谬的，人要么迷人，要么乏味。
-《温夫人的扇子》

Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood.
-The Sphinx Without a Secret
女人是用来被爱的，不是用来被理解的。
-《没有秘密的斯芬克斯》

Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.
艺术并非模仿生活，而是生活在模仿艺术。

Everyone is born king, and most people die in exile.
每个人生来都是君王，但大多数在流亡中死去。

When I was young , I used to think that money was the most important thing in life , now that I am old , I know it is.
我年青时以为金钱至上，而今年事已迈，发现果真如此。

Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.
每个人犯了错误，都自称是经验。
——经验是一个人给自己所犯的错误取的名字。

We teach people how to remember, we never teach them how to grow.
我们教给人们如何记忆，却从来不教他们如何成长。

A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.
不够真诚是危险的，太真诚则绝对是致命的。

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.
美国是唯一一个直接从野蛮进入颓废、中间没有经过文明阶段的社会。

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.
男女之间不可能存在友谊，有的只是爱恨情仇。

Conscience and cowardice are really the same things.
良心和怯懦其实是一回事。

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.
教育是一件可敬的事，但要时刻牢记，没有什么值得知道的事是教得会的。

I adore political parties. They are the only place left to us where people don't talk politics.
我喜欢政治晚会，这是唯一人们不谈政治的地方。

I love acting. It is so much more real than life.
我喜欢看戏。与人生相比，戏剧更加真实。

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.
我整个早上都在校对自己的一首诗，我去掉了一个逗号。下午我又把它加上去了。

Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the sexes.
恭维话从来没有让女人缴械，但可以让男人缴械。这就是性别差异。

An excellent man; he has no enemies; and none of his friends like him.
一个极其优秀的人。他没有敌人，而他的朋友也没有一个喜欢他的。