The True Nobility By 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 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.

在风平浪静的大海上,每个人都是领航员。但只有阳光没有阴影,只有快乐没有痛苦,根本不是真正的生活。就拿最幸福的人来说,他的生活也是一团缠结在一起的乱麻。痛苦与幸福交替出现,使得我们一会悲伤一会高兴。甚至死亡本身都使得生命更加可爱。在人生清醒的时刻,在悲伤与失落的阴影之下,人们与真实的自我最为接近。

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.

在生活和事业的种种事务之中，性格比才智更能指导我们，心灵比头脑更能引导我们，而由判断获得的克制、耐心和教养比天分更能让我们受益。我一向认为，内心生活开始更为严谨的人，他的外在生活也会变得更为简朴。在物欲横流的年代，但愿我能向世人表明：人类的真正需求少得多么可怜。反思自己的过错不至于重蹈覆辙才是真正的悔悟。高人一等并没有什么值得夸耀的。真正的高贵是优于过去的自己。