火星三月

The Nobility

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’s a tangled yard. 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.

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 extravagance and waste, I wish I could show to the world how few the wants the humanity 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.
譯文

　　　　　　　真正的高貴　E. 海明威 　l899～1961



　　在平靜的海面上， 每一個人都可以成為領航員。

　　但是如果只有陽光而沒有陰影，只有歡樂而沒有痛苦，那就全然不是人生。就拿最幸福的人來說吧--他們的命運是一團糾結的紗線。痛苦和幸福輪番而至，讓我們悲喜交集。甚至死亡都讓人生更為可愛。人們在生命的嚴肅時刻，在悲傷與喪親的陰影下，最接近自我。

　　在生活和事業的各種事物中，才智的功能遠不如性格，頭腦的功能遠不如心性，天分遠不如判斷力所約束的自製、毅力與教養。

　　我始終認為，內心開始過嚴肅生活的人，他外在的生活會開始變的更為簡樸。在一個奢侈消費時代，但願我能讓世人瞭解：人類真正的需求是多麼的稀少。

　　不重蹈覆轍才是真正的悔悟。比別人優秀並無任何高貴之處。真正的高貴在於超越從前的自我。