"This fall I think you're riding for - it's a special kind of fall, a horrible kind. The man falling isn't permitted to feel or hear himself hit bottom. He just keeps falling and falling. The whole arrangement's designed for men who, at some time or other in their lives, were looking for something their own environment couldn't supply them with. Or they thought their own environment couldn't supply them with. So they gave up looking. They gave it up before they ever really even got started. You follow me?"
我想像你這樣騎馬瞎跑，將來要是摔下來，可不是好玩的－－那會是非同小可的一跤。摔下來的人，都感覺不到也聽不見自己著地。只是一股腦往下摔。這整個狀況是為哪種人安排的呢？只是為某一種人，他們在一生中這一時期或那一時期，想要尋找某種他們周遭環境無法提供的東西，或者尋找只是他們認為周遭環境無法提供的東西，於是他們停止尋找。他們甚至在還未真正開始尋找之前就已停止尋找。你在聽我說嗎？
"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them - if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."
其中的一門知識就是，你將發現你並不是第一個對人類行為感到惶惑、恐懼、甚至噁心的人，在這方面你倒是一點也不孤獨，你知道後一定會覺得興奮，一定會受到鼓勵。歷史上有許許多多人都像你現在這樣，在道德上和精神上都有過徬徨的時期。幸而，他們當中有幾個將自己徬徨的經過紀錄下來了。你可以向他們學習－－只要你願意。正如有朝一日你若有什麼貢獻，別人也可以向你學習。這真是個極妙的輪迴安排。而且這不是教育。這是歷史。這是詩。
~ J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.
沙林傑，《麥田捕手》
