处众人之所恶,故几于道

途遇一人,迎面相撞,骂余貌丑。余低首过之。同行者曰:”彼辱汝,不怒乎?”余曰:”彼何尝见我。所见者,余之目、鼻、口也,皆非余也。一面之间,安能识人?于理不通。”


A man walked into me on the street and called me ugly. I did not look up. My companion, who had a taste for indignation, wanted to know if I was not angry. I said I had no reason to be. The man had not seen me. He had seen a nose, a pair of eyes, a mouth. But these things are not me, any more than my coat is me. It is a curious delusion, the notion that you can know a person at a glance. It has no basis in logic, yet most people live by it.