這時代正同以往一樣，是一個很好的時代，只要懂得如何運用它。
－愛默生
一八三七年，美國名作家愛默生在哈佛大學學生聯誼會聲討傑克遜總統的大會上對許多學生說了上面這段話。那時候傑克遜總統正在第二屆任期的最後一年，抨擊他的人認為這位不似哈佛作風的總統幾乎破壞了美國社會以及國家信譽的基礎。在那種環境下，愛默生的見地超越一般人的看法很遠。他說一個人最好生長在革命年代，因為整個人生也只是一次又一次的革命而已。假使我們有足夠的智慧，我們可以面臨一連串的危機，而應付裕如，解決這個危機，又處置迎面而來的危機。總之，任何時代都是適於生活的只要我們懂得如何運用它。
－約翰 歐斯金
On Crises
“This time, like all other times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
－EMERSON
Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke these words in 1837, when most of his hearers at the Harvard Phi Beta Kappa meeting were fed up with Andrew Jackson. That un-Harvard-like person was at the end of his second term, having, as his critics felt, all but wrecked American society and the foundations of national credit. In the circumstances, Emerson went pretty far. He said that life is just one revolution after another, a series of crises in which we take farewell of the past, and, if we are wise, meet the future. Every time is a good time to live in, if we know what to do with it.
－JOHN ERSKINE
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