The fire is not to be betrayed 生命之火永存

从一精彩的博客上看到的，我十分欣赏的人生座右铭：

Life is an Adventure; Driven by Passion,and Persistence．．．

I have to say, I've got plenty of Passion, and am still working on Persistence…

Ayn Rand 象一把火炬，用自己生命的干枯，燃烧出灿烂的思想

The fire is not to be betrayed 
 
From The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

It is not in the nature of man--nor of any living entity--to start out by giving up, by spitting in one's own face and damning existence; that requires a process of corruption whose rapidity differs from man to man. Some give up at the first touch of pressure; some sell out; some run down by imperceptible degrees and lose their fire, never knowing when or how they lost it. Then all of these vanish in the vast swamp of their elders who tell them persistently that maturity consists of abandoning one's mind; security, of abandoning one's values; practicality, of losing self-esteem. Yet a few hold on and move on, knowing that that fire is not to be betrayed, learning how to give it shape, purpose and reality. But whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a noble vision of man's nature and of life's potential. ...

天性使然, 人或者任何一个活着的生物并不会生来就要放弃, 唾弃自己, 诅咒自己的存在-人堕落到这个地步其实需要一种腐化的过程, 而且每一个人的蜕化过程都有所不同: 有些人在压力刚一出现就一触即溃; 有些人出卖了自己; 还有些人随波逐流, 每天都以不易察觉的方式在蜕化, 直到完全失去了心中的那股热情和火焰, 而且自己也不知道何时何地如何失去的. 然后这些腐化的灵魂又完全被沉浸消失在那现有的社会制度和规范的泥潭之中. 这腐化的泥潭通过老一辈人的口中,喋喋不休地在那里向他们说教－成熟需要放弃自己的思想而达到, 心理平衡需要放弃自己的价值而取得, 面对现实，实事求是需要放弃自我…

可是还是有人始终坚持着, 他们知道他们不可能放弃自己心中之火, 他们努力试图给予这燃烧的热情予以目的和形式, 将其变成现实. 无论他们的未来如何, 从出生的那一刻开始, 他们就开始了他们的旅程，去寻找那属于人类光辉的远见和生命的潜能…