"先知、神秘主义者、诗人、科学发明家,身心都被一种超越俗世的视界统占,骨子里离群索居;当此种(超世)冲动极强烈时,他们无法违背内心深切相信来屈从权威。因此他们常在当时遭受迫害,却往往得到后世极高尊崇。又恰恰是这类人,把世间之极珍贵价值带给我们——不只在信仰、艺术、科学,还有我们对他人的共情,对社会职责理解的完善,和所有其他——这一切都极大程度上有赖那些,思想和情感皆不屈于世的孤独探索者。 ...prophets, mystics, poets, scientific discoverers, are men whose lives are dominated by a vision; they "
"如果人的生命不至落满尘灰而无趣,须意识到世间尚有事物,其价值在自身不在实用。事物所以有用,因其乃实现某一‘目的’的工具,而这‘目的’,若非再度只是有用,必包含自身价值,否则所求‘有用’,又用在何为? If human life is not to become dusty and uninteresting it is important to realise that there are things that have a value which is quite independent of utility. What is useful because it is a means of"
"所有伟大的宗教引路人,所有伟大的艺术家和智性开拓者,在履行他们创造冲动时,都流露出强大的道德责任感,并在创作实现时体验到德性的升华。这情感是福音所说的对上帝责任的基础,并且(我重复一遍)和神学信仰相区分。 All great religious leaders, and also all great artists and intellectual discoverers, have shown a sense of moral compulsion to fulfil their creative impulses, and a sense of moral exaltation when "
"……随着人们变得越来越工业化和组织化,孩子当中普遍存在的那种喜悦对成年人来说变得不可能了,因为他们总是想着下一件事情而无法让自己沉浸于此刻。对任何一种审美价值来说,这种想着“下一件事情”的习惯比任何其他能想到的思考习惯都更要命,在所有重要的意义上,如果艺术要生存下去,它就不能通过建立各种庄严的学院,而是要通过重新获得那种已经差不多被谨小慎微和深谋远虑毁掉的全身心的悲喜能力来实现。 As men grow more industrialised and regimented, the kind of delight that is common in children becomes impos"