真正的高貴 (A True Nobility)

在平靜的海面上，每一個人都可以成為領航員。 In a calm sea every man is a pilot. 　 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，讓我們悲喜交替；甚至連「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，最接近真實的自我。  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. 　 在生活和事業的各種事務中，才智的功能遠不如性格，頭腦的功能遠不如心性，天份遠不如由判斷力所約束的自制、毅力與修養。 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. 我始終認為，如果以個人的在在生活開始嚴肅，外在的生活就會開始變得更為簡樸。在一個奢侈浪費的時代，但願我能讓世人了解：人類真正的需求是多麼的稀少。  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. 　 後悔自己的過錯，要做到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。 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. 海明威

我會想起你，在風吹過水面的時候

斷續的曲子，最美或最溫柔的 夜，帶著一天的星。 記憶的梗上，誰不有 兩三朵娉婷，披著情緒的花 無名的展開 野荷的香馥， 每一瓣靜處的月明。 湖上風吹過，頭髮亂了，或是 水面皺起像魚鱗的錦。 四面裡的遼闊，如同夢 蕩漾著中心徬徨的過往 不著痕跡，誰都 認識那圖畫， 沉在水底記憶的倒影！ 林徽因
選自《大公報·文藝副刊》（1936年3月22日）