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塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯:自助论·摘录 25

塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯《自助论》· Self-Help · 领导

Great men of science, literature, and art—apostles of great thoughts and lords of the great heart—have belonged to no exclusive class nor rank in life. They have come alike from colleges, workshops, and farmhouses,—from the huts of poor men and the mansions of the rich. Some of God’s greatest apostles have come from “the ranks.” The poorest have sometimes taken the highest places; nor have difficulties apparently the most insuperable proved obstacles in their way. Those very difficulties, in many instances, would ever seem to have been their best helpers, by evoking their powers of labour and endurance, and stimulating into life faculties which might otherwise have lain dormant. The instances of obstacles thus surmounted, and of triumphs thus achieved, are indeed so numerous, as almost to justify the proverb that “with Will one can do anything.” Take, for instance, the remarkable fact, that from the barber’s shop came Jeremy Taylor, the most poetical of divines; Sir Richard Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning-jenny and founder of the cotton manufacture; Lord Tenterden, one of the most distinguished of Lord Chief Justices; and Turner, the greatest among landscape painters.

出处: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/935
定位:Excerpt 25 · 核对日期:2026-10-19 · 核验:短摘录

白话

科学、文学和艺术上的伟人,伟大思想的使徒和伟大心灵的主宰,不属于任何专属阶级或阶层。他们同样来自学院、工场和农舍,来自穷人的小屋和富人的宅邸。上帝有些最伟大的使徒来自‘普通行列’。最穷的人有时占据最高位置;表面最不可克服的困难也未必挡路。许多时候,正是这些困难成了最好的帮手,激发劳动和忍耐的力量,激活本来可能沉睡的才能。这样克服障碍、取得胜利的例子多到几乎证明谚语‘有志者事竟成’。例如,最富诗意的神学家杰里米·泰勒、纺纱机发明者理查德·阿克莱特爵士、最杰出的首席法官之一坦特登勋爵和最伟大的风景画家特纳,都出自理发店。

上下文

斯迈尔斯《自助》中列举出身卑微的伟人,以证明阶层不决定成就。

今日一问

你眼下的困难,有没有可能正在逼出你还没用上的能力?

公版作品;原文逐字取自 Project Gutenberg,仅摘录段落并附全书链接。

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