ap1501adj:Ambition The Secret Passion Joseph Epstein

Ambition The Secret Passion
by Joseph Epstein

We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth of the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not ,most of us , choose to die; nor do we choose the time of conditions of our death. But within all this realm of choicelessness ,we do choose how we shall live; courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishornorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions ,these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide . we choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end , forming our own destiny is what ambition is about!

我们无法选择我们的出生，我们无法选择我们的父母，我们无法选择我们出生的历史时期和国家，以及我们的成长环境。我们（大部分人）不会选择死亡，也无法选择死亡的时间或条件，但在这些“无法选择”的领域里，我们却可以选择如何生活：是勇敢无畏还是唯唯喏喏，是光明磊落还是厚颜无耻，是目标坚定还是随波逐流。我们可以决定生活中哪些事对我们至关重要，哪些无足轻重。我们决定做什么，拒绝做什么，这些决定使得我们不同凡响。不管这个世界对我们的决定和选择是多么的不屑一顾，这些选择和决定都是我们自己做出的。我们做出决定，我们做出选择。正是在我们作出决定和选择的过程中，形成了我们的人生，说到底，决定我们的命运正是抱负的意义所在！

From <Ambition :The Secret Passion> Joseph Epstein

We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth of the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not ,most of us , choose to die; nor do we choose the time of conditions of our death. But within all this realm of choicelessness ,we do choose how we shall live; courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishornorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions ,these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide . we choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end , forming our own destiny is what ambition is about!

From <Ambition :The Secret Passion> Joseph Epstein