邻居们口中的好事有很大一部分我打心底里认为是坏事，如果我有什么要忏悔的，那很可能就是我的良好品行。我是中了什么邪要如此循规蹈矩呢？老爷子您尽管念叨最睿智的箴言——毕竟您已经活了七十岁1，处处受人尊敬——可我听到无法抗拒的声音2劝我对所有箴言敬而远之。新一代当舍弃旧一代的事业，如同抛弃搁浅的船只。
The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of any thing, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? You may say the wisest thing you can old man,—you who have lived seventy years, not without honor of a kind,—I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that. One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels.