人生的格言

東年選譯 

William Blake:

For everything that lives is holy, life delights in life.

一切存在的是事物都是神聖的，生命以生命為樂。 

Bertrand Russell:

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.

In the union of love I have seen

In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision

Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

愛帶來狂喜，消除寂寞，在愛的合諧中我看到天堂預示的、夢想的神祕縮影，這是聖者和詩人想像的。

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.

I have wished to understand the hearts of people.

I have wished to know why the stars shine.

同樣於探究知識的熱情，我想認識人的感情和心性，我想明白為何星體會發光。

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,

But always pity brought me back to earth;

Cries of pain reverberated in my heart

Of children in famine, of victims tortured

And of old people left helpless.

I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,

And I too suffer.

愛和知識誘引我去天堂，但是同情總是帶我回到現實世界；我心中回響著飢餓的孩童、受害者的折磨以及老人無依無助的苦痛哀嚎。

我很想去減少罪惡，但我的力量有限，所以我陪他人一起受罪。

This has been my life; I found it worth living.

明白人生是值得活的，之後，我就一直這樣生活。 

Barry Lopez:

How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one's culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.

當他徹底意識到生命的盲力和與生俱來的恐怖，當他發覺愚昧無知不只存在於自己的教養而且存在內心深處，這時，一個人能如何實踐道德和慈悲的生活?

如果在一個階段中，個體的生命變成真誠的成熟，一定是這人理解了其中展現的反諷意義，並且願意擔當在這樣自相矛盾中生活的責任。

一個人必須生活在這樣的矛盾，因為所有的矛盾如果排除，生活就可能會崩潰。

這種異乎尋常的緊迫難題，簡直是無解的。

你這樣生活過來，會促成傾向光明的，有意義的人生。 

Abraham Lincoln:

In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

最後，有意義有價值的，不是你活了多少年，是你在有生之年中怎樣生活。 

Albert Einstein:

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

只有有益他人的生活，這樣的生活是有實質價值的。

Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.

道德標準，只不過是對人生的尊重；就是這概念，提供我做為品行的基本守則和原理。它的好處在於維護、促進和增益人生。那些破壞、傷害和限制對於生活而言，則是邪惡的。 

Anais Nin:

Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.

生活是一種變化的過程，我們必須歷經各種情況的組合。如果人選擇在失敗處繼續逗留，那會是一種死。

People living deeply have no fear of death.

深刻生活的人，不會擔憂死這事。

Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living.

願望逐漸變成行動的事實，行動阻止空想；這樣的互動，產生最有價值的生活。 

Annie Dillard:

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

我們如何生活一天，當然就會是我們如何生活一生。 

Benjamin Franklin:

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that the stuff life is made of.

如果你珍愛生活，那麼請勿荒廢時間，這會促成劣質的生活。 

Buddha:

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change.

假使我們能能夠明確領會植物開花的奇蹟，我們的生活將全部改觀。 

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:

Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment. 

時間是和我們一起旅行的同伴，他提醒我們珍惜每一個片刻。 

Carl Jung:

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

在歲月的進程中，有好多的夜晚也有好多的白天，段落都一樣長；甚至於幸福快樂的生活也必須將其中的陰鬱一起衡量。假使沒有悲哀、悲傷加以對照，幸福快樂這個字就會失去意義。 

Carl Sandburg:

Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.

生活就像剝洋蔥，每次剝去一層，而有時會流淚。 

Charlotte Bronte:

Life is so constructed that an event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation.

生命是那樣的精巧設造，以至於事實上、能力上或意願上，我們連一種情況也無法預期它的發生和進展。 

Corita Kent:

Love the moment. Flowers grow out of dark moments. Therefore, each moment is vital. It affects the whole. Life is a succession of such moments and to live each, is to succeed.

珍惜所有的片刻。

花開在黑暗的片刻，所以，每個片刻都是生命所需要的。

每個片刻都會影響全局，生活是所有的這樣片刻的連續，活過每一個片刻就會有進展和成功。 

Emily Dickinson:

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain.

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

假使我能阻止一顆心的破碎，我將就不會是白活的。

假使我能減輕一個生命的疼痛，或使痛苦冷卻，或再一次幫助一隻昏暈的知更鳥回到窩巢，我就不會是白活的。 

Helen Keller:

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

安全，通常是一種迷信，它不存在自然界，也不適合人類的子孫去體驗。

逃避危險，最後，並不會比完全面對它安全。

生命是勇敢激進的，不是微不足道的。 

Immanuel Kant:

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

科學是有系統的知識，智慧是有系統的生活。 

Jean-Paul Sartre:

Everything has been figured out, except how to live.

任何事都被弄清楚了，除了人該怎麼生活。 

Robert Byrne:

The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

有目的生活，就是生活的目的。 

William James:

These, then, are my last words to you: Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create that fact.

那麼，這是我對你們最後的話語：不要害怕生活，要相信人生是值得活的；這樣相信，有助於你這樣生活。 

Zeno:

The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.

生命的目標和自然是一致的。