摘录：等候有掌握时再去做一件事，往往象征着永远的期待。一个人能做的最大的冒险事情，就是愿意在公共场所常常裸露自己的愚蠢。没有什么能比这样学得更快。“哎呀”, 也是一种乐趣。

1. Most of it doesn’t matter.So much of what I got excited about, anxious about, or wasted my time and energy on, turned out not to matter. There are only a few things that truly count for a happy life. I wish I had known to concentrate on those and ignore the rest.

太多我曾经为其高兴，为其焦急，亦或是浪费了我时间以及精力的事情到最后却被证实是无关紧要的。它们只是幸福生活里极其渺小的一局部。我如许生机早点晓得这些，以便能把精神都投入到这些关乎幸福的事，而不是其他。

2. The greatest source of misery and hatred in this world is clinging to past hurts.Look at all the terrorists and militant groups that hark back to some event long gone, or base their justification for killing on claims of some supposed historical right to a bit of land, or redress for a wrong done hundreds of years ago.

这个世界上苦楚与冤仇最大源泉是对从前的执迷。看看那些可怕组织和激进分子，他们总是捉住过去的一些事件不放，或把一小片土地的历史归属问题作为他们进行杀害的理由，更或是为了修改多少百年前的所谓的历史过错。

3. Waiting to do something until you can be sure of doing it exactly right means waiting for ever.One of the greatest advantages anyone can have is the willingness to make a fool of themselves publicly and often. There’s no better way to learn and develop. Heck, it’s fun too.

等候有掌握时再去做一件事，往往象征着永远的期待。一个人能做的最大的冒险事情，就是愿意在公共场所常常裸露自己的愚蠢。没有什么能比这样学得更快。“哎呀”, 也是一种乐趣。

4.Following the latest fashion, in work or in life, is spiritual and intellectual suicide.You can be a cheap imitation of the ideal of the moment; or you can be a unique individual. The choice is yours. Religion isn’t the opiate of the masses, fashion is.

盲目追赶潮流是对精力和智力的抹杀。你可以成为一个便宜的时尚木偶，也可以成为举世无双的你，这些都在于自己的抉择。信奉不是大众的鸦片，风行才是。

5. If people complain that you’re too fond of going your own way and aren’t fitting in, you must be on the right track.Who wants to live life as a herd animal? The guys in power don’t want you to fit in for your own sake; they want you to stop causing them problems and follow their orders. You can’t have the freedom to be yourself and meekly fit in at the same time.

如果有人埋怨你太特破独行，祝贺你，你正走在准确的路上。谁乐意像动物一样活着?那些强有力的家伙们不愿望你依照自己的志愿去做，他们盼望你结束给他们制作麻烦并服从他们的命令。但你得悉道，你无法做到在大义凛然的同时又能活出自我。

6. If you make your work your life, you’re making your life into hard work. Like most people,I confused myself by looking at people like artists and musicians whose life’s “work” fills their time. That isn’t work. It’s who they are. Unless you have some overwhelming passion that also happens to allow you to earn a living doing it, always remember that work should be a means to an end: living an enjoyable life. Spend as little time on the means as possible consistent with achieving the end. Only idiots live to work.

如果你将工作等同于生活，那么你将为工作而生活。和很多人一样，当看到那些艺术家和音乐家的工作简直是全体的生活，我觉得很迷惑。实在那不是工作，那是他们的自我。除非你有无法招架的豪情，凑巧也能让你从中得以营生，否则请永远记住，工作只是一种手段，而不是目的，我们的终极目的是享受生活。在实现目的的同时，尽可能地少花时间在手段上。只有傻瓜才是为工作而生涯。

7. The quickest and simplest way to wreck any relationship is to listen to gossip.The worst way to spend your time is spreading more. People who spread gossip are the plague-carriers of our day. Cockroaches are clean, kindly creatures in comparison.

损坏关联的最快最简略的方式就是听信谎言。挥霍你时间的最蹩脚方式是传布这些流言。流传风言风语的人比如瘟疫的携带者，比拟之下，甲由都比他们清洁、仁慈。

8. Trying to please other people is largely a futile activity. Everyone will be mad at you sometime.Most of the people you deal with will dislike, disparage, belittle, or ignore what you say or do most of the time. Besides, you can never really know what others do want, so a good deal of whatever you do in that regard will go to waste. Be comforted. Those who love you will probably love you regardless, and they are the ones whose opinions are worth caring about. The rest aren’t worth five minutes of thought between them.

试图取悦别人是徒劳无益的做法。总有些人会对你发飙。许多你接触的人，在良多时候也会不爱好、贬斥、鄙弃或疏忽你。另外，你永远也不知作别人真正的须要，因而你为此所做的所有努力都会付诸东流。放松些吧，爱你的人毕竟会容纳你的差错，他们才是值得咱们在乎的人。其他那些人，他们甚至都不值得花5分钟去斟酌。

9. Every winner is destined to be a loser in due course.It’s great to be up on the winner’s podium. Just don’t imagine you can stay there for ever. Worst of all is being determined to do so, by any means available.

没有永远的成功者。踏上冠军宝座是件好事情。但不要幻想着可以永恒盘踞这个地位，最糟糕的是，你正决议为达此目标而不择手腕。

10.You can rarely, if ever, please, placate, change, or mollify an asshole.The best thing you can do is stay away from every one you encounter. Being an asshole is a contagious disease. The more time you spend around one, the more likely you are to catch it and become one too.

不可能取悦、平息或改革一个混蛋。你能做的最好方法，是跟他们敬而远之。变成混蛋也能沾染，你和他们呆的时光越长，你也越有可能染上混蛋的习惯或者你就成为忘八。

11. Everything takes twiceas long as you plan for and produces results about half as good as you hoped. There’s no reason to be downhearted about this. Just allow for it and move on.

努力加倍，盼望减半。任何事情都是花掉你打算的两倍时间，最后却只换来你一半的冀望成果。没什么好为此懊丧的，(中国俗话说：事倍功半)让它去吧，你要持续前行。

12. People are oddly consistent.Liars usually tell lies. Cheaters cheat whenever it suits them. A person who confides in you has usually confided in several others first—but not got the response they wanted. A loyal friend will stay loyal under enormous amounts of thoughtless abuse.

人是奇异的偏执狂。扯谎者老是撒谎，骗子总要行骗。一个人对你倾诉的时候，通常已在其它人的眼前倾诉过，只是可能没有得到想要回应。一位忠实的友人，无论遭遇多大的冤屈仍旧虔诚。

13.However hard you try, you can’t avoid being yourself.Who else could you be? You can act and pretend, but the person acting and pretending is still you. And if you won’t accept yourself—and do the best you can with what you have—who then has any obligation to accept you?

接收自己。不论你怎么尽力，你都无法回避成为自己。除了自己，你还能成为谁呢?你能够扮演和伪装，但进行表演和假装的人仍是你本人。假如你都无奈接纳自己，不努力发掘自己已有的货色，那么谁有任务接纳你呢?

14. When it comes to blatant lies, there are none more egregious than budget figures.Time spent agonizing over them is time wasted. Even if (miracle of miracles!) yours are honest and accurate, no one else will have been so foolish.

谈到大众谣言，没有比估算数字更令人震惊的。把时间折腾在这上面，是糟蹋时间。既使(奇迹中的奇观!) 你是捕风捉影并且正确的, 其余人也不会那么笨拙。

15. The loudest noise in the world is the sound of people whining.Don’t add to it.

世界上最大的噪音是人们的抱怨。不要再增添了。