128.要有高远的志向

128.要有高远的志向

要有高远的志向。这是成为高贵人士的必备要素之一。它能激励人们追求各种崇高的目标,它提升品味,净化心灵,振奋精神,陶冶情操,让人更受尊敬。远大的志向可以滋养拥有它的人,有时甚至能挽救厄运——命运只会通过打击人来培养人。即便不能付诸行动,雄心壮志也能在人的意志上得以体现,豪爽、慷慨及其他英雄品质皆出于此。

128.Highmindedness

Highmindedness. This is one of the principal qualifications for a gentleman, for it spurs him on to all kinds of nobility. It improves the taste, ennobles the heart, elevates the mind, refines the feelings, and intensifies dignity. It raises him in whom it is found, and at times remedies the bad turns of Fortune, which only raises by striking. It can find full scope in the will when it cannot be exercised in act. Magnanimity, generosity, and all heroic qualities recognize in it their source.