《沉思錄》，領袖們的枕邊書。
小書一本，窺見大智慧。
原來連年征戰的古羅馬王馬可．奧勒留 (Marcus Aurelius)竟是個追求內心平靜的聖人。
他就是《帝國驕雄》中，被叛逆的兒子勒死篡位的老王。
知易行難。
但我還是渴望，直到死去前，那片綠色田野般的寜靜會在我生命中出現。
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可能是我買的譯本不好，有些地方好像怪怪的。
不過，還是抗拒不了記錄一下蠻喜歡的段落。
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第二卷 五節
你要把每個行動當作最後的機會……
看看人只需掌控很少的東西，便可以平靜虔誠地度過餘生……
…if you will approach each action as though
it were your last...
See how little a man needs to master, for
his days to flow on in quietness and piety…
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第二卷 十四節
人唯一能被剝奪的東西便是現在。
既然現在才是人擁有的一切，他就不會失去他未曾擁有東西。
Our loss, therefore, is limited to that one
fleeting instant,
since no one can lose what is already past,
nor yet what is still to come –
for how can he be deprived of what he does
not possess?
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第五卷 一節
你生來就是為了舒服，而不是為了工作，為了奮鬥？
沒有行動，就不可能有收穫。
Is this the purpose of my creation,
to lie here under the blankets and keep
myself warm?
Was it for pleasure, then, that you were
born, and not for work, not for effort?
…when action is in question, you stop short
of what you could well achieve.
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第五卷 廿四節
想想世間萬物的存在，自己只是其中微乎其微的一部分；
想想古往今來的時間長河，屬於自己的又是那麼轉瞬即逝的一段，：
想想恢宏的天命，自己的命運只是其中微不足道的一部分。
Think of the totality of all Being, and
what a mite of it is yours;
Think of all Time, and the brief fleeting
instant of it that is allotted to yourself;
Think of Destiny, and how puny a part of it
you are.
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第五卷 廿五節
有人錯待我嗎？讓他自己留意吧，他清楚自己的脾氣和所作所為。
Is one doing me wrong?Let himself look to that; his humors and his actions are his own.
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第八卷 十節
高尚的人從來不後悔放過了享受的機會。由此可以斷定，享受既不高尚也對人無益。
…an opportunity of pleasure is something no
good man would ever repent of having let pass.
It follows, therefore, that
pleasure in neither good nor helpful.
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第八卷 四十三節
每個人都應該有自己的幸福。對我而言，幸福就是具有健全的自我主導能力—理性……
To each his own felicity. For me, soundness
of my sovereign faculty, reason…
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第八卷 四十七節
假如外界的事情使你感苦惱，那麼這痛苦並非來自事情本身，而是源自你對它的判斷。
你有能力隨時消除這種痛苦。
If you are distressed by anything external,
the pain is not due to the thing itself but
to your own estimate of it;
and this you have the power to revoke at
any moment.
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第八卷 五十九節
人為彼此而存在。所以，要麼提升他們，要麼就容忍他們。
Men exist for each other. Then either
improve them, or put up with them.
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第九卷 三節
只有一件事能留住你的生命，那就是和志趣相投者的深厚情誼。
一旦你想到與格格不入的人周旋是多麼的疲倦……
One thing, if any, might have held you back
and bound you to life;
the chance of fellowship with kindred
minds.
But when you contemplate the weariness of
an existence in company so discordant…
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第十卷 廿三節
你應該明白，無論身在何處，你都能夠擁有綠色田野般的寜靜。
在山上、在海邊、在任何你想去，情況都和這裡一樣。
Let it be clear to you that the peace of
green fields can always be yours,
in this, that, or any other spot;
and that nothing is any different here from
what it would be either up in the hills,
or down by the sea, or wherever else you
will.
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第十二卷 四節
我經常感到驚奇，明明人人都愛自己甚於別人，但他們卻重視別人的評價甚於自己。
I often marvel how it is that though each
man loves himself beyond all else, he should yet value his own opinion of
himself less than that of others.
