Life is a search after power; and this is an element with which the world is so
saturated2 there is no chink or crevice in which it is not lodgede3 that no honest seeking
goes unrewarded. A man should prize events and possessions as the ore in which this fine
mineral is found; and he can well afford to let events and possessions, and the breath of
the body go, if their value has been added to him in the shape of power. If he has secured
the elixir, he can spare the wide gardens from which it was distilled.
The affirmative4 class monopolize5 the homage of mankind. They originate and execute
all the great feats. What a force was coiled up in the skull of Napoleon! Of the sixty
thousand men making his army at Eylau, it seems some thirty thousand were thieves and
burglars. The men whom, in peaceful communities, we hold if we can, with iron at their
legs, in prisons, under the muskets of sentinels, this man dealt with, hand to hand,
dragged them to their duty, and won his victories by their bayonet.
This aboriginal might give a surprising pleasure when it appears under conditions of
supreme refinement, as in the proficients in high art. When Michel Angelo was forced to
paint the Sistine Chapel in fresco, of which art he knew nothing, he went down into the
Pope's gardens behind the Vatican, and with a shovel dug out ochre red and yellow , mixed
them with glue and water with his own hands, and having, after many trials, at last suited
himself, climbed his ladders, and painted away, week after week, month after month, the
sibyl and prophets. He surpassed6 his successors in rough vigor, as much as in purity of
intellect and refinement. He was not crushed by his one picture left unfinished at last.
Michel was wont to draw his figures first in skeleton, then to clothe them with flesh, and
lastly to drape them.www.021lunwen.com
"Ah!" said a brave painter to me, thinking on these things, "if a man has failed, you
will find he has dreamed instead of working. There is no way to success in our art, but to
take off your coat, grind paint, and work like a digger on the railroad, all day and every
day."
生命自身便是对力气的寻找，国际充满了这种寻找。这种寻找无处不在，而且只需一个人诚挚地追
求，就不会一无所获。因而，每个人都应珍爱自己的阅历，珍爱自己的具有，由于这些便是一笔瑰宝。
假如这笔瑰宝能转变成力气给予他，他就能继续去体会，继续去具有，生命也因而前行。假如他好好利
用了这笔瑰宝，他就能从中共享到人生中无上的趣味。
力气强壮的人们独享着人类的敬意，他们建议并完结一切巨大的豪举。拿破仑的脑海中萦绕着多么
大的力气！他要组成6万人的戎行，好像其间3万人都是小偷和匪徒。在平和的条件下，这些人或许正戴
着脚镣，在岗兵步枪的监督下，待在监狱里。但拿破仑把他们一个个拉出来，赋予他们任务，而且使用
他们的刺刀获得了成功。
这种来源的状况假如能到达高明的精巧程度或许能如通晓艺术的人相同，给人带来意外的惊喜，当
米歇尔·安吉洛被逼给西斯廷大教堂画对他来说一无所知的岩画时，他竟然走进梵蒂冈后边的教皇花园
，用铲子挖出赭色的、赤色的、黄色的土，亲手用胶和水把它们混合起来。在通过许屡次实验后，他终
于感到满足了，爬上梯子画开去，一周又一周，一月又一月，画女巫，画预言者。米歇尔精力超人，在
智力和高雅上，都胜过了他的后继者，他不会被一幅自己终究没画完的画压倒。米歇尔惯于勾勒被画者
的骨架，然后给他们加上肉体和衣服，最终用布帘盖住他们。
一个英勇的画家考虑这些事，对我感叹到：“假如一个人失利了，你会发现他一直在做梦，而不是
在作业。在艺术界，只要当你脱下外衣，磨碎颜料，像个铁路旁边的挖地工相同，每天继续作业，你才有
或许获得成功。”
注释：
1. powerful adj. 有力的，强壮的
2. saturatev. 浸透，浸透
3. lodge v. 供给住处，寄宿
4. affirmative adj. 必定的，承认的 5. monopolize v.独占，独占
6. surpassv. 胜过，超越
