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我发现我们最坏的一些品行是在很小的时候既已养成了，
而我们最重要的教育又是掌握在保姆们的手中的。

I find that our greatest vices take shape from our tenderest childhood, 
and that our most important training is in the hands of nurses. 

母亲们看到孩子以拧小鸡的脖子，或打狗踢猫为乐时，
觉得是一种消遣；
但有一些父亲看到儿子毫无道理地痛打某个农民或者不敢还手的仆人时，
境愚蠢地认为这是儿子将来必成将帅的好兆头，
还把他玩弄花招欺骗同行的行为看作是一种逗人的绝招。

It is a pastime for mothers to see a child 
wring the neck of a chicken or amuse itself by hurting adog or a cat; 
and there are fathers stupid enough 
to take it as a good omen of a martial soul 
when they see a son unjustly striking a peasant 
or a lackey who is not defending himself, 
and as a charming prank when they see him trick his playmate 
by a bit of maliclous dishonesty and deceit. 

然而，这些正是残忍，暴虐和背信弃义的种子和根子；
一旦发芽，就会在习惯的培育下成长，漫延起来。

Nevertheless these are the true seeds and roots 
of cruelty, tyranny, and treason; 
they sprout there, and afterward shoot up lustily, 
and flourish mightily in the hands of habit. 

如果我们因为孩子年幼，这些事情本身微不足道，就为他们开脱，
这种教育方式将是极其危险的。
首先，要知道，天性发言，声音越细小也就越纯真有力。

And it is a very dangerous educational policy 
to excuse our children for these uglv inclinations 
on the grounds of their tender age and the triviality of the subject. 
In the first place, it is nature speaking, 
whose voice then is all the purer and stronger because it is more tenuous. 

其次，欺骗的恶劣程度并不取决于金与针之间的差别，
而在于欺骗本身。
我觉得最好这样来看问题：“
既然他会骗针，难道他就不会骗金吗？”
而不要象有的人那样说：“无非是几根针罢了，
他决不会骗人家的金。”

Second, the ugliness of cheating 
does not depend on the difference between crown pieces and pins: 
it depends on itself. 
I find it much more just to come to this conclusion: 
"Why would he not cheat for crowns, since he cheats for pins?" 
than, as they do: "It is only for pins, he would never do it for crowns." 

我们务必认真教育孩子痛恨恶行，
让他们明白恶行的丑陋本质，
以使他们不仅行动上，更重要的是思想感情上，
能够自觉地回避恶行；
这样，不管恶行怎样伪装，
一想起来，就令人生厌。

Children must be carefully taught to hate vices for their own sake, 
and taught the natural deformity of vices, 
so that they will shun them not only in their actions 
but above all in their heart, 
so that the very thought of them may be odious, 
whatever mask they wear. 

		蒙田：《散文集》I，23《论习惯》 Montaigne, Essays, I, 23