於是一個辯士說，請給我們談自由。
他回答說：
在城門邊，在爐火光前，我曾看見你們俯伏敬拜自己的「自由」，
甚至於像那些囚奴，在誅戮他們的暴君之前卑屈，頌讚。
噫，在廟宇的林中，在城堡的影裡，我曾看見你們中之最自由者，把自由像枷銬似的戴上。
我心裡憂傷，因為只有那求自由的願望也成了羈飾，你們再不以自由為標桿、為成就的時候，你們才是自由了。
當你們的白日不是沒有牽掛，你們的黑夜也不是沒有願望與憂愁的時候，你們才是自由了。
不如說是當那些事物包圍住你的生命，而你卻能赤裸地無牽掛地超騰的時候，你們才是自由了。
但若不是在你們瞭解的曉光中，折斷了捆綁你們晝氣的鎖鏈，你們怎能超脫你們的白日和黑夜呢？
實話說，你們所謂的自由，就是最堅牢的鎖鏈，雖然那鏈環閃爍在日光中，炫耀了你們的眼目。
「自由」豈不是你們自身的碎片？你們願意將它拋棄換得自由麼？
假如那是你們所要廢除的一條不公平的法律，那法律卻是你們用自己的手寫在自己的額上的。
你們雖燒燬你們的律書，傾全海的水來沖洗你們法官的額，也不能把它抹掉。
假如那是個你們所要廢黜的暴君，先看他的建立在你心中的寶座是否毀壞。
因為一個暴君怎能轄制自由和自尊的人呢？除非他們自己的自由是專制的，他們的自尊是可羞的。
假如那是一種你們所要拋擲的牽掛，那牽掛是你自取的，不是別人勉強給你的。
假如那是一種你們所要消滅的恐怖，那恐怖的座位是在你的心中，而不在你所恐怖的人的手裡。
真的，一切在你裡面運行的事物，願望與恐怖，憎惡與愛憐，追求與退避，都是永恆地互抱著。
這些事物在你裡面運行，如同光明與黑影成對地膠粘著。
當黑影消滅的時候，遺留的光明又變成另一種光明的黑影。這樣，當你們的自由脫去它的鐐銬的時候，它本身又變成更大的自由的鐐銬了。
14
On Freedom
And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."
And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
■ 人生的一切都是美好的，甚至連金錢也是一樣，因為它會給人們以教益。
■ 一個羞赧的失敗比一個驕傲的成功還要高貴。
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.