塞缪尔·斯迈尔斯/Samuel Smiles
"Heaven helps those who help themselves" is a well-tried maxim, embodying in a small compass the results of vast human experience. The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigour and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates.
Even the best institutions can give a man no active help. Perhaps the most they can do is, to leave him free to develop himself and improve his individual condition. But in all times men have been prone to believe that their happiness and well-being were to be secured by means of institutions rather than by their own conduct.
All nations have been made what they are by the thinking and the working of many generations of men. Patient and persevering labourers in all ranks and conditions of life, cultivators of the soil and explorers of the mine, inventors and discoverers, manufacturers, mechanics and artisans, poets, philosophers, and politicians, all have contributed towards the grand result, one generation building upon another's labors, and carrying them forward to still higher stages.
The spirit of self-help, as exhibited in the energetic action of individuals. Rising above the heads of the mass, there were always to be found a series of individuals distinguished beyond others, who commanded the public homage. But our progress has also been owing to multitudes of smaller and less known men.
Daily experience shows that it is energetic individualism which produces the most powerful effects upon the life and action of others, and really constitutes the best practical education. Schools, academies, and colleges, give but the merest beginnings of culture in comparison with it. Far more influential is the life-education daily given in our homes, in the streets, behind counters, in workshops, at the loom and the plough, in manufactories, and in the busy haunts of men.
This is that finishing instruction as members of society, which Schiller designated "the education of the human race", consisting in action, conduct, self-culture, self-control,—all that tends to discipline a man truly, and fit him for the proper performance of the duties and business of life.
In fine, human character is moulded by a thousand subtle influences; by example and precept; by life and literature; by friends and neighbors; by the world we live in as well as by the spirits of our forefathers, whose legacy of good words and deeds we inherit. But great, unquestionably, though these influences are acknowledged to be, it is nevertheless equally clear that men must necessarily be the active agents of their own well-being and well-doing; and that, however much the wise and the good may owe to others, they themselves must in the very nature of things be their own best helpers.
“天助自助者”是一句通过大量人类经验总结出的至理名言。自助的精神不仅是个人成长之本，也是立国之本，它带给一个国家活力与实力。来自外界的帮助常常是事半功倍，但是长期坚持自我援助往往会使人精神振奋。
即使是最健全的社会制度也不能给人以积极的帮助。或许人们只能尽自己的全力来促使自己成长，改善自己的生活条件。但是一直以来，人们更倾向于相信那些健全的社会制度比他们自己更能带给他们幸福和安康。
所有国家的建立都是依靠几代人的智慧与劳作。各个阶层的吃苦耐劳、坚持不懈的劳动人民——农民、探险家、发明家、商人、机械工与技工，还有诗人、哲学家和政治家，这些人共同努力，创造出了巨大的成就。后代人的成就是建立在前几代人的成果之上，并继续向未来更高的目标努力。
自助的精神，同样在个人精力充沛的行为上展现出来。一个国家的强盛是由一些不同于他人，并受到大众尊敬的先锋人士建立起来的。但是，我们的进步也不乏一些不为人知的小人物的努力。
每天的经历表明：心态积极的人可以影响生活和他人的行为，也同样具备极高的个人素质。各种学校的教育与其相比，都只是知识的基础。对我们影响最大的是社会生活——在家里、街上、柜台前、车间、织机前，田间、工厂里和人群中，我们都可以学到很多。
这样，我们就完成了一个社会成员的任务，正如席勒所说的“真正的人类教育”，勇于行动、敢于创新、具有自学及自制能力——一个人只有做到了这些，他才会更好地履行自己的职责，更好地发展事业。
总之，人类的品质是受外界许多细微的改变所影响的——通过实例与规则、生活和书籍、朋友和邻居以及我们居住的社会环境和我们传承下来的祖先的精神和优秀品质。但是毫无疑问，尽管拥有了这些影响，人们还是要依靠自己来达到个人的安康与幸福。无论他人是多么聪明，品格多么优良，他们还是要依靠与生俱来的最好帮助者——自助。
If you don't learn to think when you are young, you may never learn.
—Thomas Edison
如果你年轻时就没有学会思考，那么就永远学不会思考。
——托马斯·爱迪生
maxim[?m?ksim]n.格言；箴言
"Waste not, want not" is her favourite maxim.
“不浪费则不匮乏”是她最喜爱的格言。
constitute[?k?nstitju:t]v.构成；组成；任命
Time is life, constitute a material person.
时间是构成一个人生命的素材。
invigorate[in?vig?reit]v.使精力充沛；使活跃；激励
Chinese car stimulated policy also invigorate car manufacturer taxi to enrage.
中国的汽车刺激政策也鼓舞了汽车厂商的士气。
multitude[?m?ltitju:d]n.多数；群众
A multitude of people gathered at the gate of the exhibition hall.
大群人聚集在展览大厅的门口。
“天助自助者”是一句通过大量人类经验总结出的至理名言。
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来自外界的帮助常常是事半功倍，但是长期坚持自我援助往往会使人精神振奋。
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无论他人是多么聪明，品格多么优良，他们还是要依靠与生俱来的最好帮助者——自助。
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But in all times men have been prone to believe that...
be prone to：有……的倾向；易于
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Rising above the heads of the mass, there were always to be found a series of individuals distinguished beyond others, who commanded the public homage.
a series of：一系列的……
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