In short, where a man has not a full possession of the language, the most important, because the most amiable, qualities of his nature have to lie buried and fallow; for the pleasure of comradeship, and the intellectual part of love, rest upon these very “elements of humour and pathos.”

一个人若不能充分驾驭语言，天性中那些最可爱、因而也最重要的品质，就只能埋没荒置；因为友伴相处的乐趣，以及爱情中精神交流的部分，正建立在这些幽默与感伤之上。