文明就像是一条筑有河岸的河流。河流中流淌的鲜血是人们相互残杀、偷窃、争斗的结果，这些通常就是历史学家们所记录的内容。而他们没有注意的是，在河岸上，人们建立家园，相亲相爱，养育子女，歌唱，谱写诗歌，甚至创作雕塑。——威尔杜兰《世界文明史》
我们唯一恐惧的，就是恐惧本身。------罗斯福
人生而自由，却无往不在枷锁之中。------卢梭
与怪物战斗的人，应当小心自己不要成为怪物。当你凝视深渊，深渊也凝视着你。--尼采
“我只希望政治上的平等，要做到人人享有平等的自由，而千万不要像我们目前随处可闻的人人平等的屈从于同一个主人。”--托克维尔
自修自持莫道此间非彼岸，即心即佛须知东土是西天。--东林寺藏经楼外对联
美国最高法院首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨（John Roberts）在儿子初中毕业典礼上的致辞：
From time totime in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly, so that youwill come to know the value of justice.
我希望在未来的岁月中，你能时不时地遭遇不公，唯有如此，你才能懂得公正的价值。
I hope that youwill suffer betrayal because that will teach you the importance of loyalty.
我希望你尝到背叛的滋味，这样你才能领悟到忠诚之重要。
Sorry to say,but I hope you will be lonely from time to time so that you don’t take friendsfor granted.
抱歉，我还希望你们时常感到孤独，唯有如此，你才不会视朋友为理所当然。
I wish you badluck, again, from time to time so that you will be conscious of the role ofchance in life and understand that your success is not completely deserved andthat the failure of others is not completely deserved either.
我祝你们偶尔运气不佳，这样你才会意识到机遇在人生中扮演的角色，从而明白你的成功并非天经地义，而他人的失败也不是命中注定。
And when youlose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then, your opponentwill gloat over your failure. It is a way for you to understand the importanceof sportsmanship.
当你偶尔失败时，我愿你的对手时不时地会幸灾乐祸。这样你才能懂得互相尊重的竞技精神的重要。
I hope you’ll beignored so you know the importance of listening to others.
我希望你被人无视，唯有如此，你才懂得倾听他人有多重要。
And I hope youwill have just enough pain to learn compassion.
我祝你感受足够的痛楚来学会同情。
威斯敏斯特大教堂里的无名墓碑的碑文：
Legend has itthat these words are written on the tomb of a bishop, buried in the crypts ofWestminster Abbey in London:
"When I wasyoung and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing theworld. As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so Ishortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country.
"But ittoo, seemed immovable.
"As I grewinto my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing onlymy family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.
"And now asI lie on my deathbed, I suddenly realise, If I had only changed myself first,then by example I would have changed my family.
From theirinspiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my countryand, who knows, I may have even changed the world."
"Just don'tgive up on trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love andinspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."
当我年轻的时候，我的想象力从没有受到过限制，我梦想改变这个世界。
当我成熟以后，我发现我不能改变这个世界，我将目光缩短了些，决定只改变我的国家。
当我进入暮年后，我发现我不能改变我的国家，我的最后愿望仅仅是改变一下我的家庭。但是，这也不可能。
当我躺在床上，行将就木时，我突然意识到：如果一开始我仅仅去改变我自己，然后作为一个榜样，我可能改变我的家庭；在家人的帮助和鼓励下，我可能为国家做一些事情。然后谁知道呢？我甚至可能改变这个世界。
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