事业 · 创业者自述
爱德华·博克：爱德华·博克自传·补录 317
爱德华·博克《爱德华·博克自传》· The Americanization of Edward Bok · 领导
It has been said that Mr. Curtis banished patent-medicine advertisements from his magazine only when he could afford to do so. That is not true, as a simple incident will show. In the early days, he and Bok were opening the mail one Friday full of anxiety because the pay-roll was due that evening, and there was not enough money in the bank to meet it. From one of the letters dropped a certified check for five figures for a contract equal to five pages in the magazine. It was a welcome sight, for it meant an easy meeting of the pay-roll for that week and two succeeding weeks. But the check was from a manufacturing patent-medicine company. Without a moment's hesitation, Mr. Curtis slipped it back into the envelope, saying: "Of course, that we can't take." He returned the check, never gave the matter a second thought, and went out and borrowed more money to meet his pay-roll!
出处：
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3538
定位：Additional excerpt 317 · 核对日期：2026-10-19 · 核验：短摘录
白话
有人说柯蒂斯是在负担得起之后才禁止专利药品广告的。这不是真的，一个简单例子就能说明。早期某周五，他和博克拆邮件，正为当晚要发工资而焦虑，银行里的钱不够。一封信里掉出一张五位数的保付支票，相当于杂志五个页面的合同。这很诱人，意味着本周和接下来两周的工资都轻松解决。但支票来自一家专利药品制造公司。柯蒂斯毫不犹豫地把支票塞回信封，说：“当然，这个我们不能接。”他退回支票，没再多想，出去借了更多钱来发工资！核心是：原则不能因短期利益妥协。做法是，在诱惑面前坚守底线，哪怕代价很大。取舍是，短期更艰难，但长期赢得信任和品牌。
上下文
Bok 用亲身经历反驳外界对柯蒂斯禁专利药广告动机的质疑，展示其原则性。
今日一问
如果你面临一笔能解燃眉之急但违背原则的收入，你会怎么选？
公版传记；原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg，仅摘录段落并附全书链接。
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