THE SAYINGS OF JOHN MCCARTHY
约翰·麦卡锡语录 Vol.3
Clinton can say: in my industry 5⁄6 of the experienced men are unemployed. – jmc 1993 and earlier
克林顿可以说：在我这一行，六分之五的熟练男子都是无业的。
Oh, he’s sincere all right. The question is: what is he sincere about? – jmc after 1986, perhaps about Gorbachev
哦，他是很真挚。但问题是：他真挚地想要干什么呢？——当时我可能是在说戈尔巴乔夫
His ambition is to be the spider in the World Wide Web. – jmc 1994
他的野心是成为互联网上的一只蜘蛛。
My hobby of not attending meetings about recycling saves more energy than your hobby of recycling. – jmc 1994
我不出席关于废物回收的会议这个习惯省下的能源，比你的废物回收习惯省下的还要多。
r.a.b. Needs an FFF – frequently flamed flames, each with a sampling of exchanges, culminating in an application of Godwin’s law. [Godwin’s law is that an exchange of flames ends when one poster compares his adversary with Adolf Hitler.]
r.a.b.需要FFF（常被点燃的火焰），每个都有一份对话取样，并以援引戈德温法则而达到高潮。[戈德温法则是说，一旦一名发帖者将他的对手形容为希特勒，这次对话即告结束。]【译注：r.a.b.是rec.arts.books的缩写，麦卡锡在著名网络论坛Usenet的rec.arts.books版面非常活跃（据说本文语录中许多出自该版），还经常出席Palo Alto的r.a.b.读者定期聚餐。】
Never abandon a theory that explains something until you have a theory that explains more. – jmc 1991
没找到更有解释力的理论之前，不要放弃一个多少有些解释力的理论。
The gentlemen of the press smell blood. – jmc 1994
媒体的先生们嗅到了血腥味。
Do you wish to imprison the Native Americans in a re-invented primitive culture? – jmc 1994
你希望将美国原住民困锁在经过重新发明的原始文化中吗？
Would you vegetarians like a rule that food stamps cannot be used to purchase products containing meat? Would you vegans like to also forbid their use to purchase eggs, fish or milk products? Some years ago some of my fellow conservatives grumbled about the purchase of filet mignon with food stamps, but their motives were economic, and they were easily beaten down with the usual charges of heartlessness. Maybe you vegetarians would have better luck, since your hearts are pure.
I mention this out of my customary helpfulness. – jmc 1994
你们素食者会希望有一条规章规定食品券不能用于购买含肉产品吗？你们吃素的人也希望食品券的作用仅限于购买鸡蛋、鱼或牛奶等产品吗？几年前，我的保守派朋友们因食品券被用于购买菲列牛排的事情而抱怨，但他们这样做是出于经济方面的动机，并且他们很轻松的被“毫无心肝”这种常见的指责所击倒了。也许你们素食主义者的运气会更好一些，因为你们的心灵是纯洁的。
我这么说是因为我向来乐于助人。
The difference between a contemporary liberal and a socialist is that to a liberal the most beautiful word in the English language is “forbidden”, whereas to a socialist the most beautiful word is “compulsory”. – jmc 1994
当代自由派和社会主义者的区别是，对于自由派来说，英语中最美丽的词是“禁止”（forbidden），对于社会主义者来说，最美丽的词则是“强制”（compulsory）。
When I hear the word Heidegger I reach for my axe. He may have swiped it. – jmc 1994
当我听到“海德格尔”这个词，我便将手伸向我的斧头。他可能已经把它偷偷拿走了。
Measuring all costs in terms of energy is merely a religious exercise. – jmc 1994 and earlier.
“以能量衡量所有成本”只是一种宗教活动而已。
Suicidal terrorists may have short shelf lives. – jmc 1994
自杀式恐怖主义者的保存期限应该很短。
Of course, Third World leaders love you. By ascribing third world ills to First World sins, you absolve them of blame for their countries’ failure to advance. – jmc 1995
当然，第三世界的领袖们十分爱你。通过将第三世界的病痛归因于第一世界的罪孽，你使他们免受“无法带领国家进步”的责备。
The slogan was “Don’t trust anyone over thirty.” Sixty years later the slogan became, “Don’t trust anyone over ninety.” – jmc 1995
那时的口号是“不要相信任何30岁以上的人。”六十年后，口号变成了“不要相信任何90岁以上的人。”
In human history, the desire for revenge and the desire for loot have often been closely associated. – jmc 1995
在人类历史上，复仇的愿望和抢掠的愿望常常紧密相连。
Do you wish to do good for the Mexicans (Palestinians) or they merely a stick with which to beat the Americans (Jews)? – jmc 1995
你真的想为墨西哥人（巴勒斯坦人）做好事吗？还是说，他们只是被你当成用来痛打美国人（犹太人）的棍棒？
Compassion is contempt with a human face. – jmc 1995, modified from Christopher Lasch
所谓怜悯，是用温情的面孔做出的蔑视。——改自Christopher Lasch
Don’t try to talk anyone out of concentrating his hatred on Ayn Rand or any other dead person. It can’t harm the dead. Diverted to a living person, it might actually do harm. jmc – 1994
不要试图劝说任何人将仇恨从安·兰德或任何死去的人身上转移。仇恨不会伤害死人，但若仇恨被转移到活人身上，那就可能真的造成伤害。
In praise of philistines
It is said that man doesn’t live by bread alone. Sometimes this is unfortunate, because people who cannot live by bread alone too often kill other people in consequence of the fights they get into.
The word ‘philistine’ as a pejorative is used in a variety of senses, but a common one refers to a person interested only in money and the goods and amusements money can buy. Usually it doesn’t refer to someone who will do anything for money but rather a person who if he makes a reasonable amount of money will spend his time enjoying it without considering either the arts, the advance of science, or righting the injustices of the world — unless one of the above happens to be his job. It may not be presumed that the Philistine people of the Bible had this property any more than anyone else. Philistines do less harm than most ideologically motivated people. – jmc 1985
据说，人不只靠面包而活。有时这很不幸，因为不能只靠面包生活的人们常常会因卷入纷争而杀人。
“庸碌之士”（philistine）这个词作为一种蔑称有很多种意思，但其中一种是指仅仅对钱以及钱所能买来的商品和娱乐有兴趣的人。通常来说，它不是指那些为了钱而不择手段的人，而是指那些只要赚够一定数量的钱就会将时间用在花钱享受，不去考虑艺术、科技进步、或试图改变世界之不公正的人——除非以上情形之一恰好是他的工作。这并不是说，圣经中的非利士人（Philistine）比其他人容易变成这种人。“庸碌之士”做的坏事比绝大多数被意识形态驱使的人要少得多。
People mourn when a person dies, but no-one mourns the billions of intestinal bacteria that his death dooms. Speciesism, I calls it. – jmc 1995
人们为逝者哀悼，但没有人为了因逝者之死而毁灭的数十亿肠内菌哀悼。我把这叫作“物种主义”。
If it doesn’t work right, we can always try something else. – jmc < 1996
如果这样不行，我们总可以尝试些别的。
Once a person has killed other people on behalf of an ideology, he becomes rather devoted to it. – jmc 1997
一旦一个人以一种意识形态为名杀了人，那就表明他过于投入这种意识形态了。
Proposals to forbid golf courses have about the same motivations as proposals to forbid skate boarding, although the rationalizations are different. – jmc 1997
“禁止高尔夫球场”这类提议的动机同“禁止滑板”这类提议是相同的，虽然说辞并不一样。
Asking a critic to name his favorite book is like asking a butcher to name his favorite pig. – jmc 1997
让一个书评家选出最喜爱的书就好好比让一个屠夫选出最喜爱的猪。
Language is froth on the surface of thought. – jmc 1997
语言是浮在思维上面的泡沫。
Slogans rarely convince the unconvinced. However, they do rally the troops already on your side. – jmc 1998
口号很少能让那些不信的人相信。然而，它的确可以让已经站在你这边的人团结起来。
Hardly anyone has noticed that in the Northern Hemisphere people stir their drinks counterclockwise, whereas the same people stir their drinks clockwise when visiting the Southern Hemisphere. – jmc 1998
很少有人注意到北半球的人按逆时针的方向搅拌饮料，而当这些人到访南半球时，他们搅拌饮料的方向就成顺时针了。
Honor among thieves is the ancestor of all honor. Likewise, democracy among tyrants is the ancestor of all democracy. Think Magna Carta. – jmc 1998
窃贼之间的尊严是所有尊严的祖先。与之类似，暴君之间的民主是所有民主的祖先。想想大宪章吧。
As we have recently seen, the function of the anti-trust laws is to protect the poor little fellow with a mere $5 billion from being bullied by the big guy with $50 billion. – jmc 2002
正如我们最近看到的那样，反垄断法的作用是去保护那些仅有50亿美金资产的可怜的小家伙们不受拥有500亿美金的老大哥欺负。
If a person can be said to have the wrong attitude, there is no need to pay attention to his arguments. – jmc 2002
如果一个人的态度是错误的，那么就不用理会他的论证了。
Hard distinctions make bad philosophy. – jmc 2002
严格僵硬的区分造就糟糕的哲学。
A declining institution often experiences survival of the unfittest. – jmc 1960s
一个正在衰败的制度常常会经历“不适者生存”的状况。
With no more than six levels of misquotation, any statement can be made to say whatever you wish. – jmc 2002
在六阶误引之内，任何一句话都可以随意解读。
You don’t want to examine the basis of your computer’s morality any more than you want to see sausage being made. – jmc 2020
不要去考察计算机的道德基础，也不要去看香肠是怎么做出来的。
When I see a slippery slope, my instinct is to build a terrace. – jmc 2003
每次我看见一个滑坡，本能反应是想造一个梯田。
You don’t get to do unto others just anything you imagine they might want to do unto you.
你不应该对别人做那些你以为别人可能想对你做的事。
You attack the religious reactionaries who oppose teaching evolution. Very good. Will you also attack Greenpeace and other idealizers of nature who oppose genetic engineering? – jmc 2006
你攻击那些反对教授进化论的宗教反动派。很好。那么你会去攻击“绿色和平”以及其他反对基因工程、把自然理想化的人吗？
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense. – jmc 1970s or 1980s
不愿做计算，就只能胡扯淡。
翻译：斑马（@鹿兔马朦）
校对：慕白（@李凤阳他说）
编辑：辉格@whigzhou