Culture improves Natural Talents
Why have not I the riches, the rank, the power, of such and such, is the common expostulation with fortune; but why have not I the merit, the talents, the wit or the beauty, of such and such others, is a reproach rarely or never made to nature.
The truth is, that nature, seldom profuse, and seldom niggardly, has distributed her gifts more equally than she is generally supposed to have done. Education and situation make the great difference. Culture improves, and occasions elicit, natural talents.
－Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield
文化與天賦
為何我沒有財富、地位、權力及其他類似的東西？－人們常常對命運發出不平的責問，但他們卻很少或從不責怪造物主：為何我沒有功績、天賦、才智或美貌以及諸如此類的東西？
事實是，造物主總是把才能公平地分給人們，比人們通常認為的更為公平合理，很少過份地慷慨大方，也很少吝嗇小氣。人們之間巨大差異是教育和環境造成的。文化能改良天賦；機遇則誘發才華。
－賈斯特菲爾德
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