The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell. Never knew unhappiness after I read this. Highly recommended. Another one is Méditations by Marcus Aurelius. Lives by Plutarch if you have the patience.
…that 99.99% of the time is to befriend and get on with people as far as possible. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay - Just a great story about a young, bullied kid in South Africa who learns to box. Lives of the Greeks and Romans by Plutarch - shows you that human nature hasn't changed much in 2,000 years.
I would rather take Plutarch than either of them, the very tricks and manipulations described in his Lives are still what politicians still use day to day to get what they want done.
I have browsed through the The Harvard Classics [1], but totally missed Cicero. I read XII. Lives, by Plutarch, but IX. On Friendship, On Old Age & Letters, by Cicero, must have seemed like a bunch of platitudes at that time. Now I know better and will read it. [1] http://www.bartleby.com/hc/
Hmm, I dug further. The story probably comes from Plutarch (Lives), "[Crassus] would buy houses that were afire, and houses which adjoined those that were afire, and these their owners would let go at a trifling price owing to their fear and uncertainty"[1]. Plutarch…
……在发现莎士比亚的戏剧——尤其是《哈姆雷特》这个自我表现论者的乐土——其实不过是对其他作家作品的改编、霍林舍德著作的零碎摘抄、普鲁塔克《名人传》或《罗马风云录》的选段时，就会抱着这种偏见；在发现亨德尔在自己的作品里整乐章抄袭阿恩、贝多芬 C 小调交响曲的谐谑曲开头直接搬用了终乐章时……
…under this prejudice when they find that Shakespeare’s plays, and notably Hamlet, that happy hunting-ground of self-expressionists, are merely adaptations of plays by other writers, scraps of Holinshed, Lives by Plutarch, or excerpts from the Gesta Romanorum; that Handel copied out into his own works whole movements by Arne; that the Scherzo of Beethoven’s C minor Symphony begins by reproducing the Finale…
伯特兰·罗素的《幸福之路》。读完这本书后我再也没体会过不快乐。强烈推荐。另一本是马可·奥勒留的《沉思录》。如果你有耐心的话，普鲁塔克的《希腊罗马名人传》也很棒。
The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell. Never knew unhappiness after I read this. Highly recommended. Another one is Méditations by Marcus Aurelius. Lives by Plutarch if you have the patience.
……那就是 99.99% 的时候，尽量去和别人做朋友、好好相处。布莱斯·考特尼的《一的力量》——讲述一个在南非经常被霸凌的小孩学会打拳击的故事，写得太棒了。普鲁塔克的《希腊罗马名人传》——读了就会发现，两千年来人性其实根本没怎么变。
…that 99.99% of the time is to befriend and get on with people as far as possible. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay - Just a great story about a young, bullied kid in South Africa who learns to box. Lives of the Greeks and Romans by Plutarch - shows you that human nature hasn't changed much in 2,000 years.
比起他们两个，我宁愿选普鲁塔克，他在《名人传》中描写的那些权谋和手腕，至今仍是政客们为了达成目标天天在用的把戏。
I would rather take Plutarch than either of them, the very tricks and manipulations described in his Lives are still what politicians still use day to day to get what they want done.
我翻过《哈佛经典丛书》[1]，但完全漏掉了西塞罗。我读了第 12 卷普鲁塔克的《名人传》，但第 9 卷西塞罗的《论友谊·论老年·书信集》，在当时看来肯定感觉全是陈词滥调。现在我境界提高了，准备去读一读。[1] http://www.bartleby.com/hc/
I have browsed through the The Harvard Classics [1], but totally missed Cicero. I read XII. Lives, by Plutarch, but IX. On Friendship, On Old Age & Letters, by Cicero, must have seemed like a bunch of platitudes at that time. Now I know better and will read it. [1] http://www.bartleby.com/hc/
嗯，我深入挖了一下。这个故事大概出自普鲁塔克（《名人传》）：“[克拉苏] 会买下着火的房屋以及与着火房屋相邻的宅邸，而由于恐惧和前途未卜，原房主会以极其低廉的价格脱手”[1]。普鲁塔克……
Hmm, I dug further. The story probably comes from Plutarch (Lives), "[Crassus] would buy houses that were afire, and houses which adjoined those that were afire, and these their owners would let go at a trifling price owing to their fear and uncertainty"[1]. Plutarch…
……在发现莎士比亚的戏剧——尤其是《哈姆雷特》这个自我表现论者的乐土——其实不过是对其他作家作品的改编、霍林舍德著作的零碎摘抄、普鲁塔克《名人传》或《罗马风云录》的选段时，就会抱着这种偏见；在发现亨德尔在自己的作品里整乐章抄袭阿恩、贝多芬 C 小调交响曲的谐谑曲开头直接搬用了终乐章时……
…under this prejudice when they find that Shakespeare’s plays, and notably Hamlet, that happy hunting-ground of self-expressionists, are merely adaptations of plays by other writers, scraps of Holinshed, Lives by Plutarch, or excerpts from the Gesta Romanorum; that Handel copied out into his own works whole movements by Arne; that the Scherzo of Beethoven’s C minor Symphony begins by reproducing the Finale…