Ernest Hemingway
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 subordinate1).
I hate a thing done by halves2). If it be right, do it boldly. If it be wrong, leave it undone.
The men of history were not perpetually3) 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 labeled4) them accordingly.
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 vigilance5),」 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 outstrip6) 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 indispensable7) help to success is character. Character is a crystallized8) habit, the result of training and conviction9). Every character is influenced by heredity10), 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 fatalist11), 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 hovel12). Bricks and mortar13) 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.
注釋
1) subordinate [sE5bC:dInEt] adj. 次要的，從屬的
2) by halves：不完全地
3) perpetually [pE5petjuElI] adv. 永恆地, 終生地
4) label [5leIbEl] v. 把……稱為
5) vigilance [5vIdVIlEns] n. 警惕，警戒
6) outstrip [7aut5strIp] v. 超過
7) indispensable [5IndIs5pensEbl] adj. 必不可少的，必需的
8) crystallized [5krIstElaIzd] adj. 成形的，定形的
9) conviction [kEn5vIkFEn] n. 堅信，確信
10) heredity [hI5redEtI] n. 遺傳
11) fatalist [5feItElIst] n. 宿命論者
12) hovel [5hCvEl] n. 茅舍，小屋
13) mortar [5mC:tE] n. 灰泥
我們不可能把每條路都走一遍。必須執著於一條道路才能獲得成功。我們必須有一個終生追求的目標，其他的則從屬於這個目標。
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。
歷史長河中的偉人並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全身心的投入與追求。他們是如此的卓越超凡，於是芸芸眾生覺得他們很偉大，並因此稱他們為偉人。
為崇高的理想而活著是一種成功的生活。使人變強大的，不是這個人做了什麼，而是他努力嘗試去做什麼。有人說過，「恆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，隨後他們將在競爭中超越我們，從我們手中奪取勝利的果實。
成功越來越不依賴於運氣和巧合。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慣，是不斷培養並堅信於此的結果。每個人的性格都會受到遺傳因素、環境和教育的影響。但除此之外，如果人在很大程度上不能成為自己性格的構築者，那麼他就會淪為宿命論者，從而成為環境的失敗造物。
與其說人是環境的造物，不如說人是環境的建築師更貼切些。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。在建築師將其變成他物之前，磚泥依然是磚泥。
想得到的多就永遠不要奢望太多。
智者不會在意他們得不到的東西。