We cannot travel every path. Success must be won along one line. We must make our business the one life purpose to which every other must be subordinate.
我們不可能把每條路都走一遍。必須執(zhí)著于一條道路才能獲得成功。我們必須有一個終生追求的目標(biāo),其他的則從屬于這個目標(biāo)。
I hate a thing done by halves. If it be right, do it boldly. If it be wrong, leave it undone.
我痛恨做事半途而廢。如果這件事是對的,就大膽勇敢地去做;如果這件事不對,就不要去做。
The men of history were not perpetually looking into the mirror to make sure of their own size. Absorbed in their work they did it. They did it so well that the wondering world sees them to be great, and labeled them accordingly.
歷史長河中的偉人并不是靠終日瞻觀鏡中的自己來衡量自身的形象的。他們的形象來自對事業(yè)全身心的投入與追求。他們是如此的卓越超凡,于是蕓蕓眾生覺得他們很偉大,并因此稱他們?yōu)閭ト恕?br />
To live with a high ideal is a successful life. It is not what one does, but what one tries to do, that makes a man strong.“Eternal vigilance,” it has been said,“is the price of liberty.” With equal truth it may be said,“Unceasing effort is the price of success.” If we do not work with our might, others will; and they will outstrip us in the race, and pluck the prize from our grasp. Success grows less and less dependent on luck and chance. Self-distrust is the cause of most of our failures. The great and indispensable help to success is character. Character is a crystallized habit, the result of training and conviction. Every character is influenced by heredity, environment and education. But these apart, if every man were not to be a great extent the architect of his own character, he would be a fatalist, and irresponsible creature of circumstances. Instead of saying that man is a creature of circumstance, it would be nearer the mark to say that man is the architect of circumstance. From the same materials one man builds palaces, another hovel. Bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks, until the architect can make them something else. The true way to gain much is never to desire to gain too much. Wise men don’t care for what they can’t have.
為崇高的理想而活著是一種成功的生活。使人變強(qiáng)大的,不是這個人做了什么,而是他努力嘗試去做什么。有人說過,“恒久的警惕是自由的代價”,那同樣也可以說,“不懈的努力是成功的代價。”倘若我們不盡全力工作,別人會盡全力,隨后他們將在競爭中超越我們,從我們手中奪取勝利的果實。成功越來越不依賴于運(yùn)氣和巧合。喪失自信是我們失敗的主要原因。性格是取得成功不可或缺的重要助力。性格是一種固化成形的習(xí)慣,是不斷培養(yǎng)并堅信于此的結(jié)果。每個人的性格都會受到遺傳因素、環(huán)境和教育的影響。但除此之外,如果人在很大程度上不能成為自己性格的構(gòu)筑者,那么他就會淪為宿命論者,從而成為環(huán)境的失敗造物。與其說人是環(huán)境的造物,不如說人是環(huán)境的建筑師更貼切些。同樣的材料,有人能用其建造出宮殿,而有人只能建成簡陋的小屋。在建筑師將其變成他物之前,磚泥依然是磚泥。