50.不失自尊

50.不失自尊

不失自尊,也不要太过随便。要让自身的正义感成为令你正直的真正标准,使你对自己的审查比外界的一切制裁更为严格。任何不体面之事都别做,并非害怕外界的权威,而是因为自尊。注重这一点,就不需要塞涅卡所谓的“假想监督者”(1)了。

50.Never lose self-respect

Never lose self-respect, or be too familiar with oneself. Let your own right feeling be the true standard of your rectitude, and owe more to the strictness of your own self-judgment than to all external sanctions. Leave off anything unseemly more from regard for your own self-respect than from fear of external authority. Pay regard to that and there is no need of Seneca's imaginary tutor.

(1) 指良心,出自塞涅卡《道德书简》。