約翰·斯坦貝克
1962年獲得諾貝爾文學(xué)獎
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.
It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.
當(dāng)一盞燈熄滅時，比它從未亮起時要黑暗得多。
No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.
Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments.
人，與宇宙中任何其他有機或無機的事物不同，超越了他的工作，走上他的概念的樓梯，超越了他的成就。
What good's an opinion if you don't know?
如果你不知道，意見有什么用？
The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
如果沒有冬天的寒冷來賦予它甜蜜，夏天的溫暖又有什么意義呢？
The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business.
The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.
No man really knows about other human beings. The best he can do is to suppose that they are like himself.
The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.
It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.
我一直覺得奇怪……我們欽佩的那些品質(zhì)，如善良、慷慨、開放、誠實、理解和同情，在我們的體系中往往是失敗的伴隨物。而我們厭惡的那些特質(zhì)，如精明、貪婪、占有欲、卑鄙、自負(fù)和自私，卻是成功的特質(zhì)。雖然人們欽佩前者的品質(zhì)，但他們卻喜歡后者的產(chǎn)物。
I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.
"The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business."
寫作這一職業(yè)使賽馬看起來像是一項穩(wěn)固、穩(wěn)定的生意。