The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. That was basic. If I hadn’t been able to do that, I would have collapsed and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self-confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone. That is part of it. But I mean something bigger than that: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person that somewhere in the sweeping, intricate pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.

我必須學(xué)會(huì)的最艱難的一課就是相信自己，這是基本條件。如做不到這一點(diǎn)，我的精神就會(huì)崩潰，只能坐在前門(mén)廊的搖椅中度過(guò)余生。相信自己并不僅僅指支持我獨(dú)自走下陌生的樓梯的那種自信，那是一部分。我指的是大事：是堅(jiān)信自己雖然有缺陷，卻是一個(gè)真正的有進(jìn)取心的人；堅(jiān)信在蕓蕓眾生錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的格局當(dāng)中，自有我可以安身立命的一席之地。

All my life I have set ahead of is a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good to try for something I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.

我這一輩子給自己樹(shù)立了一系列目標(biāo)，然后努力去達(dá)到，一次一個(gè)。我必須了解自己能力有限，若開(kāi)始就知道某個(gè)目標(biāo)根本達(dá)不到卻硬要去實(shí)現(xiàn)，那不會(huì)有任何好處，因?yàn)槟侵粫?huì)帶來(lái)失敗的苦果。我有時(shí)也失敗過(guò)，但一般來(lái)說(shuō)總有進(jìn)步。