书籍具有不朽的本质。它们是人类勤奋努力的最为持久的产物。寺庙和神像会倒塌朽烂，而书却经久长存。时间和伟大的思想是没有什么重大关系的，多少年前初次闪现在作者脑海里的伟大思想至今依然清新如故。书籍记载了他们的言论和思想，如今看来依然生动感人。时间唯一的作用是筛下不好的作品，因为只有真正的好作品才能历久长存。
书引导我们进入上流社会，使我们置身历代伟人巨匠之间。如闻其声，如观其行，如见其人；与他们情感交融，同欢喜，共伤悲；感同身受，我们觉得自己仿佛有些像演员，在他们所描述的场景中一块演出。
The Strenuous Life 生于忧患，死于安乐
Theodore Roosevelt 西奥多·罗斯福
A life of slothful ease，a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things，is as little worthy of a nation as an individual.
We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious efforts，the man who never wrongs his neighbor， who is prompt to help a friend，but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail，but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past. A man can be free from the necessity of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him have worked to good purpose.
If the freedom thus purchased is used aright，and the man still does actual work，though of a different kind，whether as a writer or ageneral，whether in the field of politics or in the field of exploration and adventure，he shows he deserves his good fortune.
But if he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a period，not of preparation，but of mere enjoyment，even though perhaps not of vicious enjoyment，he shows that he is simply a cumberer on the earth‘s surface；and he surely unfits himself to hold his own place with his fellows，if the need to do so should again arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life，and，above all，it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.
As it is with the individual，so it is with the nation. It is a base untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things，to win glorious triumphs，even though checkered by failure，than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much，because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
成功的人并不会在取得成就之后就马上懈怠享乐，或者说，那些勤劳奋斗的人根本不会选择这样安逸地去生活。
参考译文（刘文馨）
慵懒而安逸的人生通常是因为缺少为伟大事物奋斗的欲望与动力，这样安逸的生活其实对国家和个人都没有丝毫的益处。
我们不欣赏这种怯懦的安逸。我们赞赏那些通过努力和奋斗去追求成功的人，尊重那些能够与邻里和谐相处的人，敬佩那些毫不犹豫地及时为朋友伸出援助之手的人，但是我们并不欣赏那些靠强硬手段而胜出的人。碌碌无为虽然不会招致失败，但也抹杀了任何可能成功的机会，这比失败更加糟糕。这样的人生，我们将一无所获。我们现在之所以能够享受闲散与舒适的生活全因为曾经的艰辛奋斗。一个不用奋斗的人，要么是他在享受着曾经的劳动果实，要么就是生活在父辈的福泽之下。
如果能够好好利用这样的福泽，并且仍然不忘辛勤奋斗，那么他将在各个不同的领域中取得辉煌的成就，不论是当作家还是做将军，不论是在政界还是冒险探索领域，他都会拥有锦绣的前程。
但如果他将这种自由视为劳动力的解放，仅仅只是当做一种享受，而不是为将来作好准备，那么，即便他并没有享乐到堕落的地步，也无法改变他仅仅只是地球上无数累赘之一的现实，而且他也将失去自己的江山和同伴。成功者并不会在取得成就之后就马上懈怠享乐，或者说，那些勤劳奋斗的人根本不会选择这样安逸地去生活。
除了对个人，安逸对于国家的发展同样没有多少益处。有人说没有历史的国家才幸福，这是毫无根据的，相反，一个拥有辉煌历史的国家才是真正无比幸福的。勇敢地去迎接挑战才有可能赢得非凡的成功，哪怕道路曲折被挫折所考验，也比碌碌无为要好得多，因为他们生活在暗淡和迷茫之中，既不知胜利的甜头也不识失败的滋味。
What Will Matter 在乎你该在乎的
Ready or not，some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises，no days，no hours or minutes. All the things you collected，whether treasured or forgotten，will pass to someone else.
Your wealth，fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges，resentments，frustrations，and jealousies will finally disappear. So，too，your hopes，ambitions，plans，and to-do lists will all expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter where you came from，or on what side of the tracks you lived. It won‘t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Your gender，skin color，ethnic will be irrelevant.
So what will matter？ How will the value of your days be measured？
What will matter is not what you bought，but what you built；not what you got，but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success，but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned，but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity，compassion，courage and sacrifice that enriched，empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence，but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew，but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
