Some of you， we all know， are poor， find it hard to live，are sometimes， as it were， gasping for breath. I have no doubt that some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners which you have actually eaten， or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing or are already worn out， and have come to this page to spend borrowed or stolen time， robbing your creditors of an hour. It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live， for my sight has been whetted by experience； always on the limits， trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt， a very ancient slough， called by the Latins aes alienum， another's brass， for some of their coins were made of brass； still living， and dying， and buried by this other's brass； always promising to pay， promising to pay， to-morrow， and dying to-day， insolvent； seeking to curry favor， to get custom， by how many modes， only not state-prison offences； lying， flattering， voting， contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility， or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity， that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes， or his hat， or his coat， or his carriage， or import his groceries for him； making yourselves sick， that you may lay up something against a sick day， something to be tucked away in an old chest， or in a stocking behind the plastering， or， more safely， in the brick bank； no matter where， no matter how much or how little.

　　I sometimes wonder that we can be so frivolous， I may almost say， as to attend to the gross but somewhat foreign form of servitude called Negro Slavery， there are so many keen and subtle masters that enslave both north and south. It is hard to have a southern overseer； it is worse to have a northern one； but worst of all when you are the slave-driver of yourself. Talk of a divinity in man！ Look at the teamster on the highway， wending to market by day or night； does any divinity stir within him？ His highest duty to fodder and water his horses！ What is his destiny to him compared with the shipping interests？ Does not he drive for Squire Make-a-stir？ How godlike， how immortal， is he？ See how he cowers and sneaks， how vaguely all the day he fears， not being immortal nor divine， but the slave and prisoner of his own opinion of himself， a fame won by his own deeds. Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself， that it is which determines， or rather indicates， his fate. Self-emancipation even in the West Indian provinces of the fancy and imagination， ―― what Wilberforce is there to bring that about？ Think， also， of the ladies of the land weaving toilet cushions against the last day， not to betray too green an interest in their fates！ As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

　　The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country， and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them， for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things

　　讀者之中，這些個情況我們都知道，有人是窮困的，覺得生活不容易，有時候，甚而至于可以說連氣也喘不過來。我毫不懷疑在本書的讀者之中，有人不能為那吃下了肚的全部飯食和迅速磨損或已經破損的衣著付出錢來，好容易忙里偷了閑，才能讀這幾頁文字，那還是從債主那里偷來的時間。你們這許多人過的是何等低卑、躲來躲去的生活啊，這很明顯，因為我的眼力已經在閱歷的磨刀石上磨利了；你們時常進退維谷，要想做成一筆生意來償清債務，你們深陷在一個十分古老的泥沼中，拉丁文的所謂aes alie num――別人的銅幣中，可不是有些錢幣用銅來鑄的嗎；就在別人的銅錢中，你們生了，死了，最后葬掉了；你們答應了明天償清，又一個明天償清，直到死在今天，而債務還未了結；你們求恩，乞憐，請求照顧，用了多少方法總算沒有坐牢；你們撒謊，拍馬，投票，把自己縮進了一個規規矩矩的硬殼里，或者吹噓自己，擺出一副稀薄如云霧的慷慨和大度的模樣，這才使你們的鄰人信任你，允許你們給他們做鞋子，制帽子，或上衣，或車輛，或讓你們給他們代買食品；你們在一只破箱籠里，或者在灰泥后面的一只襪子里，塞進了一把錢幣，或者塞在銀行的磚屋里，那里是更安全了；不管塞在哪里，塞多少，更不管那數目是如何地微少，為了謹防患病而籌錢，反而把你們自己弄得病倒了。

　　有時我奇怪，何以我們如此輕率，我幾乎要說，竟然實行了罪惡昭彰的、從外國帶進黑奴來的奴役制度。有那么多苛虐而熟練的奴隸主，奴役了南方和北方的奴隸。一個南方的監守人是毒辣的，而一個北方的監守人更加壞，可是你們自己做起奴隸的監守人來是最最壞的。談什么――人的神圣！看大路上的趕馬人，日夜向市場趕路，在他們的內心里，有什么神圣的思想在激蕩著呢？他們的最高職責是給驢馬飼草飲水！和運輸的贏利相比較，他們的命運算什么？他們還不是在給一位繁忙的紳士趕驢馬？他們有什么神圣，有什么不朽呢？請看他們匍伏潛行，一整天里戰戰兢兢，毫不是神圣的，也不是不朽的，他們看到自己的行業，知道自己是屬于奴隸或囚徒這種名稱的人。和我們的自知之明相比較，公眾輿論這暴戾的君主也顯得微弱無力。正是一個人怎么看待自己，決定了此人的命運，指向了他的歸宿。要在西印度的州省中談論心靈與想象的自我解放，可沒有一個威勃爾福司來促進呢。再請想一想，這個大陸上的婦人們，編織著梳妝用的軟墊，以便臨死之日用，對她們自己的命運絲毫也不關心！仿佛磋跎時日還無損于永恒呢。

　　人類在過著靜靜的絕望的生活。所謂聽天由命，正是肯定的絕望。你從絕望的城市走到絕望的村莊，以水貂和麝鼠的勇敢來安慰自己。在人類的所謂游戲與消遣底下，甚至都隱藏著一種凝固的、不知又不覺的絕望。兩者中都沒有娛樂可言，因為工作之后才能娛樂?？墒遣蛔鼋^望的事，才是智慧的一種表征。

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