我认为，美虽然存在于肉体，却属于精神。我从未听说过，有哪句布道词能从言辞或事实上表现出这样的精神美：
“夜晚繁星点点，湖水自由荡漾。”
北美鸠清晨的鸣唱或黄昏时天空中沙丘鹤笛鸣般的长吟，是任何赞美诗都无法媲美的。柔和的春风中弥漫着田野间矢车菊的芳香，让我的灵魂也更加高尚，这是教堂中任何焚香都无法比拟的。并非所有坚定的真理都是美好的，但“美即是真”。所有伟大的艺术都追求这样的目标，即美融合爱，也被爱所融合。它无处不在，唾手可得。它不像正义那样抽象，但美、心智的自由及正义，都和真与善融合，这便是我的思想与精神的永恒支柱。
恶是无法诉说的
On Good And Evil
卡里·纪伯伦 / Kahil Gibran
And one of the elders of the city said, Speak to us of good and evil.
And he answered:
Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil, for what is evil but good tortured1 by its own hunger and thirst? Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.
You are good when you are one with yourself. Yet when you are not one with yourself you are not evil, for a divided house is not a den of thieves; it is only a divided house. And a ship without rudder may wander aimlessly among perilous2 isles yet sink not to the bottom.
You are good when you strive to give of yourself. Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself, for when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to the earth and sucks at her breast. Surely the fruit cannot say to the root, "Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance." For to the fruit giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the root.
You are good when you are fully awake in your speech, yet you are not evil when you sleep while your tongue staggers without purpose. And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.
You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps, yet you are not evil when you go thither3 limping, even those who limp go not backward.
But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness. You are good in countless ways, and you are not evil when you ate not good, you are only loitering4 and sluggard. Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to turtles.
In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: and that longing is in all of you. But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to the sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest. And in others it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles and bends and lingers before it reaches shore.
But let not him who longs much say to him who longs little. "Wherefore you slow and halting? "
For the truly good ask not the naked. "Where is your garment?" nor the houseless, "what has befallen your house?"
城中的一位老人说：请给我们讲讲善与恶吧。
他答道：
我可以谈谈你们身上的善，却无法诉说恶。恶不就是被自己的饥渴折磨的善吗?事实上，当善饥饿时，它甚至会在黑暗的洞穴中觅食；当它口渴时，甚至会饮死亡之水。
当你们心神合一时，你们是善的。但当你们心神不一时，你们也不因此为恶。因为一间隔离的房屋并不是贼窝，它只是一间隔离的房屋。没有舵的船也只是在艰险的岛屿边沿漂浮不定，而不会沉入海底。
当你们努力地奉献自己时，你们是善的。但当你们奔波于自己的所求时，你们也不是恶的。因为当你们奔波于自己的所求时，你们只不过是紧紧缠绕着大地吮吸其乳汁的根而已。当然，果实不会对根说：“像我一样，成熟而饱满，而且乐于将自己的丰盈贡献出来。”因为对果实来说，贡献是必需的，就如接受吮吸对于根也是必需的。
当你们在谈话中保持绝对清醒时，你们是善的。但当你们在梦中口齿不清地呓语时，你们也不是恶的。即使是结结巴巴地讲话，也会使孱弱的舌头强健起来。
当你们坚定地向目标昂首阔步时，你们是善的。但当你们踉跄而行时，你们也不是恶的。因为踉踉跄跄的人并没有后退。
然而强壮而敏捷的人，你们不要认为在跛者面前跛行就是善。你们的善表现在许多方面，你们不善时也不是恶的，你们只是慵懒怠惰罢了。遗憾的是麋鹿无法让乌龟变得迅速。
当你们渴望自己的“大我”时，你们的善便已存在，而且你们每个人都有这种渴望。但你们中有些人的渴望是汹涌入海的激流，载着山峰的秘密和森林的乐曲。而其他人的渴望是平缓的小溪，在抵达海岸前就已在曲折蜿蜒或峰回路转中迷失了自我。
渴望颇多的人不要对清心寡欲的人说：“为什么你们这样迟钝呢?”
因为真正的善者不会问赤身裸体的人，“你的衣裳呢?” 也不会问无家可归的人，“你的房子怎样了?”
优于过去的自己
Being Superior to Your Previous Self
欧内斯特·海明威 / Ernest Hemingway
In a calm sea every man is a pilot.
But all sunshine without shade, all pleasure without pain, is not life at all. Take the lot of the happiest—it is a tangled1 yarn. 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 sober2 moments of life, under the shadows of sorrow and loss.
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.
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 extravagance3 and waste, I wish I could show to the world how few the real wants of humanity4 are.
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.
在风平浪静的大海上，每个人都是领航员。
但是，只有阳光而无阴影，只有欢乐而无痛苦，那就不是人生。以最幸福的人的生活为例——它是一团纠缠在一起的纱线。丧亲之痛和幸福祝愿，彼此相接，使我们悲喜交加。甚至死亡本身也会使生命更加可亲。在人生的清醒时刻，在哀痛和伤心的阴影之下，人们与真实的自我最为接近。
在人生或者职业的各种事务中，性格的作用比智力大得多，头脑的作用不如心情，天资不如由判断力所节制着的自制、耐心和规律。
我始终相信，开始在内心生活得更严肃的人，也会在外表上开始生活得更朴素。在一个奢华浪费的年代，我希望能向世界表明，人类真正需要的东西是非常少的。
悔恨自己的错误，而且力求不再重蹈覆辙，这才是真正的悔悟。优于别人，并不高贵。真正的高贵应该是优于过去的自己。
骄傲的劲敌
On Idleness
塞缪尔·约翰逊 / Samuel Johnson
Many moralists have remarked, that Pride has of all human vices the widest dominion, appears in the greatest multiplicity of forms, and lies hid under the greatest variety of disguises; of disguises1, which, like the moon' s veil of brightness, are both its luster and its shade, and betray it to others, though they hide it from ourselves.
It is not my intention to degrade Pride from this preeminence2 of mischief, yet I know not whether Idleness may not maintain a very doubtful and obstinate competition.
