6 True Nobility

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 happiest—it is a tangled 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 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 real wants of 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.

难词释义

bereavement [bɪˈriːvmənt] n. 丧失亲人；丧亲之痛

extravagance [ɪkˈstrævəgəns] n. 奢侈；挥霍；铺张浪费

repentance [rɪˈpentəns] n. 后悔；懊悔；忏悔

真正的高贵

欧内斯特·海明威

在风平浪静的海面上，每一个人都可以成为领航员。

但是假如只有阳光而没有阴影，只有欢乐而没有痛苦，那就全然不是人生。就拿最幸福的人来说吧——他们的命运是一团纠缠的纱线。丧亲之痛与天赐福祉接踵而至，让我们悲欢交替。甚至连死亡本身都让人生更为可爱。人们在生命的庄严时刻，在哀伤和丧亲的阴影之下，最接近真实的自我。

在生活或事业的各种事务之中，才智的效用远不如性格，头脑的效用远不如心性，天资远不如由判断力所约束的自制、耐心与教养。

我一向认为，内心开始变得更为认真的人，他外在的生活会开始变得更为简朴。在一个奢侈浪费的时代，但愿我能够向世人表明：人类真正的需求是多么的稀少。

反思自己的过错，直至不重蹈覆辙才是真正的悔悟。比他人优越并无任何高贵之处，真正的高贵在于超越过去的自我。