True Nobility
真正的高貴
In a calm sea every man is a pilot.
風平浪靜之時，人人可為舵手。
But all sunshine without shade, all pleasure without pain, is not life at all. Take the lot of the happiest - it is a tangled yarn.
但是，人生絕非陽光普照而無陰暗，絕非歡樂處處而無苦難。即便是活得最幸福的人，人生猶似一團糾纏的絲線。
Bereavements and blessings, one following another, make us sad and blessed by turns. Even death itself makes life more loving. Men come closest to their true selves in the sober moments of life, under the shadows of sorrow and loss.
亡失與恩賜，接踵而至，吾人時而傷心，時而高興。甚至死亡也使人更能珍愛生命。在哀痛和傷心籠罩之下，人們才能真正清明地面對自我。
In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tells so much as character, not brains so much as heart, not genius so much as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated by judgment.
在生活和事業的紛紛擾擾裡，本性的光輝甚於智識，心性甚於機巧，經由判斷而得的自制、耐心、與紀律更甚於天賦的才華。
I have always believed that the man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without. In an age of extravagance and waste, I wish I could show to the world how few the real wants of humanity are.
我始終相信，內心愈嚴謹，外表愈質樸。在這個奢華浪費的年代裡，我真希望能夠點醒全世界，人類真正需求的其實不多。
To regret one's errors to the point of not repeating them is true repentance. There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
不貳過，真懺悔。優於他人，莫自竊喜。超越自己，高貴無比。
by Ernest Miller Hemingway
海明威
(translated by Bill Chyu, 2005)