The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.

  • -- Niccolò Machiavelli 尼科尔·马基雅维利

诚然,想要获得更多是非常自然和常见的事情;当人们成功做到这一点时,他们总是受到赞扬而不是谴责。但当他们缺乏这样做的能力,却又想不惜一切代价获得更多时,他们的错误就应该受到谴责。

相关名言

I understand that computers, which I once believed to be but a hermaphrodite typewriter-cum-filing cabinet, offer the cyber literate increased ability to communicate. I do not think this is altogether a bad thing, however it may appear on the surface.

我明白,我曾经认为电脑不过是一台雌雄同体的打字机兼文件柜,但它为懂网络的人提供了更强的沟通能力。我不认为这完全是一件坏事,不管表面上看起来如何。

He that tries to recommend him by select quotations, will succeed like the pedant in Hierocles, who, when he offered his house to sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a specimen.

试图用精选的语录来推荐他的人,将会像希罗克勒斯的学究一样成功。当他把自己的房子拿去出售时,他的口袋里就装着一块砖作为样本。

It's traditional for an heiress to be raised in a sheltered way. No one thinks that's true of me, but it actually was.

在传统上,继承人是在有庇护的环境中长大的。没人认为我是对的,但事实确实如此。

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.

当小人物企图做大事业时,他们总是以使其沦落为平庸告终。

No great achiever - even those who made it seem easy - ever succeeded without hard work.

没有一个伟大的成功者——即使是那些让成功看起来很容易的人——是不努力就能成功的。

My talent was the uncompromising ability to feel spite.

我的天赋是毫不妥协地感受怨恨的能力。