赖大师的精选---我的挚爱(11)

（单词翻译:单击）

第十一弹：行为决定命运
You are what you do

If the past has taught us anything, it is that every cause brings effect-every
action has a consequence. This thought, in my opinion, is the moral foundation
of the universe; it applis equally in this world and the next.

We Chinese have a saying:” if a man plants melons, he will reap melons; if
he sows beans, he will reap beans.” And this is true of every man’s life:
good begets¹ good, and evil leads to evil.

True enough, the sun shines on the saint and sinner alike, and too often it
seems that the wicked wax and prosper². But we can say with certitude that,
with the individual as with the nation, the flourishing of the wicked is an illusion,
for, unceasingly, life keeps books of us all.

In the end, we are all the sum total of out action. Character cannot be counterfeited³, nor can it be put on and cast off as if it were a garment to meet
the whim⁴ of the moment. Like the markings on wood which are ingrained in
the very heart of the tree, character requires time and nurture⁵ for growth
and development.

Thus also, day by day, we write out own destiny, for inexorably we become
what we do. This, I believe, is the supreme⁶ logic⁷ and the law of life.