諷刺與憐憫（irony and pity）
the more i think of the problems of our lives, the more i am persuaded that we oughtto choose irony and pity for our assessors and judges as the ancient egyptians called upon the goddess isis and the goddess nephthys on behalf of their dead.
irony and pity are both of good counsel; the first with her smiles makes life agreeable; the other sanctifies it with her tears.
the irony which i invoke is no cruel deity. she mocks neither love nor beauty. she is gentle and kindly disposed. her mirth disarms and it is she who teaches us to laugh at rogues and fools, whom but for her we might be so weak as to despise and hate.
諷刺與憐憫
我越思考人生的問題，就越覺得我們應該選擇“諷刺”和 “憐憫”作為我們的裁判者，正如古埃及人要求艾西斯女神和奈夫蒂斯女神對他們的死者所做的一樣。
諷刺和憐憫都是我們的良師益友；前者以她的微笑是人生愉悅；而後者則以她的眼淚使人生化為聖潔。
我所企求的諷刺並不是一個殘酷的神靈。她既不愛嘲笑愛，也不嘲笑美。她的性情溫和而仁慈；她的歡笑可以解除對方的武裝，教我們嘲笑惡棍和傻瓜的就是她。如果不是有她的指引，我們定會脆弱的對那些人加以輕蔑和憎恨。