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JOHN R. MOTT – NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE
Nobel Prize: John Raleigh Mott (1865–1955) was granted the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize for his steadfast commitment to spreading the word of Christ, for his leading role in international missionary movements, and for his humanitarian efforts in time of war.
Nationality: American
Education: B.A. in history, political science, and philosophy, Cornell University, NY, 1888
Occupation: President of the World Alliance of Young Men’s Christian Associations; Chairman of the International Missionary Council
1. “The Scriptures clearly teach that if men are to be saved they must be saved through Christ. He alone can deliver them from the power of sin and its penalty. His death made salvation possible.
The Word of God sets forth the conditions of salvation. God has chosen to have these conditions made known through human instruments. Christians have a duty to preach Christ to every creature. The burning question for every Christian then is: Shall hundreds of millions of people now living, who need Christ and are capable of receiving help from Him, pass away without having even the opportunity to know Him?” (John R. Mott, as cited in Classics of Christian Missions, Francis DuBose – editor, Nashville, Tennessee, Broadman Press, 1979).
2. “If our Gospel is the truth, we are under obligation to propagate it. If it is not the truth we ought to forsake it. To attempt to occupy middle ground is not simply inconsistency but is the most dangerous form of hypocrisy.” (John R. Mott, The Pastor and Modern Missions, NY, Student Volunteer Movement, 1904).
3. “All men need Christ. We have Christ. We owe Christ to all men. To know our duty and to do it not is sin. Continuance in the sin of neglect necessarily weakens the life and arrests the growth. To fail to do our duty then with reference to the peculiar opportunity of our generation means the promotion of spiritual atrophy.” (Mott 1904).
4. “The pervading purpose of the Christian Church and of every other agency concerned with the spread of the Kingdom of God should be that of leading people to commit their lives to Christ as their Saviour and Lord. The most fruitful method of achieving this high end is leading individuals one by one to take Christ intelligently and with conviction as their Lord. The most solemn responsibility which rests upon each Christian, and also his highest privilege and deepest joy, is that of influencing people to accept, to represent, and to serve Jesus Christ.” (John R. Mott, The Larger Evangelism, NY, Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1944).
5. “Let us not forget that the evangelization of the world is not man’s but God’s enterprise. Jesus Christ is its leader. He, who is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, still abides with those who go forth to preach him where he has not been named. The Holy Spirit is as able to shake whole communities now as in the days of Peter and Paul. The word of God is still quick and powerful. Prayer can still remove mountains.” (Mott 1944).
6. “Our sense of obligation must be intensified when we ask ourselves the question, if we do not preach Christ where He has not been named, who will? We know their need; we know the only remedy; we have access to them; we are able to go.” (Mott, as cited in DuBose 1979).
7. “First of all, what is meant by the evangelization of the world in this generation? It means giving every person an adequate opportunity to know Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and Lord. It does not mean converting every person in the world in this generation. Our part as Christians consists in bringing the gospel to bear upon unsaved men; the Spirit of God alone is able to convert them.” (Mott 1944).
8. “It is of vital importance that we be sincere in our personal work for Christ. There is no class more keen than unbelievers to detect cant or hypocrisy. We should say only what we know and believe, what actually holds our own lives. It is reality behind words that gives them power. Here let me emphasize the simple truth that if a man is to lift a sinking man out of the quicksands, he himself must be on solid ground. If he is to point men to Christ, he too must know Christ as his own personal Saviour from the power of temptation, of closely clinging sin, and of fear.” (Mott 1944).
9. “I know whom I have believed, and nothing has taken place in these last fateful years to invalidate a single claim made by Jesus Christ. How true it still is that Jesus Christ and he only can make this world a safe place and flood it with good will.” (Mott 1944).
“It is our duty to evangelize the world because we owe all men the gospel. What a crime against mankind to keep a knowledge of the mission of Christ from two thirds of the human race! It is our duty to evangelize the world in this generation because of the missionary command of Christ.” (Mott 1944).
10. “The danger is greater now than ever before in the history of the Church that Christians yield to luxury, selfishness, slothfulness, and low ideals. Never so much as today has the Church needed great tasks to call out and exercise all her energies and to save her from paralyzing weakness.” (Mott 1904).
11. “If all men need the Gospel, if we owe the Gospel to all men, if Christ has commanded us to preach the Gospel to every creature, it is unquestionably our duty to give all people in our generation an opportunity to hear the Gospel. To know our duty and to not do it is sin [James 4:17]. Continuing in the sin of neglect and disobedience necessarily weakens the life and arrests the growth of the Church. Who can measure the loss of vitality and power that she has already suffered within our own day from her failure to do all in her power for the world’s evangelization.” (Mott, as cited in DuBose 1979).
12. “The Scriptures clearly teach that if men are to be saved they must be saved through Christ. The burning question then is, ‘Shall hundreds of millions of men now living who need Christ, and who are capable of receiving help from him, pass away without having even the opportunity to know him?’ A knowledge of our own hearts should be sufficient to make plain our duty. We know that Christ has been and is necessary for us. Would it not be presumptuous, therefore, for us to assume that the nations living in sin and wretchedness can do without him whom we so much need even in the most favored Christian lands?” (Mott 1944).
See also:
- Mott, John R., The Evangelization of the World in This Generation. New York, Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1900.
- Mott, John R., Liberating the Lay Forces of Christianity. London, Student Christian Movement Press, 1932.
- Mott, John R., The Present-Day Summons to the World Mission of Christianity. London, Student Christian Movement Press, 1932.
- Mott, John R., Addresses and Papers of John R. Mott. 6 vols. New York, Association Press, 1946-1947.
To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good;—and thus (all) get to be good. To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;—and thus (all) get to be sincere.
第四十六章 天下有道，卻走馬以糞。天下無道，戎馬生于郊。禍莫大于不知足﹔咎莫 大于欲得。故知足之足，常足矣。
Chapter 46
1. When the Tao prevails in the world, they send back their swift horses to (draw) the dung-carts. When the Tao is disregarded in the world, the war-horses breed in the border lands.
2. There is no guilt greater than to sanction ambition; no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency.
第四十七章 不出戶，知天下﹔不窺牖，見天道。其出彌遠，其知彌少。是以聖人不行 而知，不見而明，不為而成。
Chapter 47
1. Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows.
2. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.
第四十八章 為學日益，為道日損。損之又損，以至于無為。無為而無不為。取天下常 以無事，及其有事，不足以取天下。
Chapter 48
1. He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing).
2. He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action, there is nothing which he does not do.
3. He who gets as his own all under heaven does so by giving himself no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), he is not equal to getting as his own all under heaven.
第四十九章 聖人常無心，以百姓心為心。善者，吾善之﹔不善者，吾亦善之﹔德善。 信者，吾信之﹔不信者，吾亦信之﹔德信。聖人在天下，歙歙焉，為天下 渾其心，百姓皆注其耳目，聖人皆孩之。
Chapter 49
1. The sage has no invariable mind of his own; he makes the mind of the people his mind.
2. To those who are good (to me), I am good; and to those who are not good (to me), I am also good;—and thus (all) get to be good. To those who are sincere (with me), I am sincere; and to those who are not sincere (with me), I am also sincere;—and thus (all) get to be sincere.
3. The sage has in the world an appearance of indecision, and keeps his mind in a state of indifference to all. The people all keep their eyes and ears directed to him, and he deals with them all as his children.
第五十章 出生入死。生之徒十有三﹔死之徒十有三。人之生，動之于死地，亦十有 三。夫何故？以其生生之厚。蓋聞善攝生者，路行不遇兕虎，入軍不被甲 兵。兕無所投其角，虎無所措其爪，兵無所容其刃。夫何故？以其無死地 。
Chapter 50
1. Men come forth and live; they enter (again) and die.
2. Of every ten three are ministers of life (to themselves); and three are ministers of death.
3. There are also three in every ten whose aim is to live, but whose movements tend to the land (or place) of death. And for what reason? Because of their excessive endeavours to perpetuate life.
4. But I have heard that he who is skilful in managing the life entrusted to him for a time travels on the land without having to shun rhinoceros or tiger, and enters a host without having to avoid buff coat or sharp weapon. The rhinoceros finds no place in him into which to thrust its horn, nor the tiger a place in which to fix its claws, nor the weapon a place to admit its point. And for what reason? Because there is in him no place of death.
The Master said, How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving, who never tires of teaching, I might be called, but that is all.
21. 子曰：「三人行，必有我師焉：擇其善者而從之，其不善者而改之。」
The Master said, Walking three together I am sure of teachers. I pick out the good and follow it; I see the bad and shun it.
22. 子曰：「天生德於予，桓魋其如予何？」
The Master said, Heaven begat the mind in me; what can Huan T'ui do to me?
23. 子曰：「二三子以我為隱乎？吾無隱乎爾。吾無行而不與二三子者，是丘也。」
The Master said, My two-three boys, do ye think I hide things? I hide nothing from you. I am a man that keeps none of his doings from his two-three boys.
24. 子以四教：文，行，忠，信。
The Master taught four things: art, conduct, faithfulness and truth.
25. 子曰：「聖人，吾不得而見之矣，得見君子者，斯可矣。」子曰：「善人，吾不得而 見之矣，得見有恒者，斯可矣。亡而為有，虛而為盈，約而為泰，難乎有恒矣。」
The Master said, A holy man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a gentleman! A good man I shall not live to see; enough could I find a steadfast one! But when nothing poses as something, cloud as substance and want as riches, it is hard indeed to be steadfast!
26. 子釣而不綱，弋不射宿。
The Master angled, but he did not fish with a net; he shot, but not at birds sitting.
27. 子曰：「蓋有不知而作之者，我無是也。多聞，擇其善者而從之。多見而識之，知 之次 也。」
The Master said, There may be men that do things without knowing why. I do not. To hear much, pick out the good and follow it; to see much and think it over; this comes next to wisdom.
28. 互鄉難與言，童子見，門人惑。子曰：「與其進也，不與其退也，唯何甚？人潔己以 進，與其潔也，不保其往也。」
To talk to the Hu village was hard. When a lad was seen by the Master, the disciples doubted. The Master said, I allow his coming, not what he does later. Why be so harsh? If a man cleans himself to come in, I admit his cleanness, but do not warrant his past.
29. 子曰：「仁遠乎哉？我欲仁，斯仁至矣。」
The Master said, Is love so far a thing? I long for love, and lo! love is come.
30. 陳司敗問昭公知禮乎，孔子曰：「知禮。」孔子退，揖巫馬期而進之曰：「吾聞君子 不黨，君子亦黨乎？君取於吳，為同姓，謂之吳孟子。君而知禮，孰不知禮？」巫馬期以告。子曰：「丘也幸，苟有過，人必知之。」
A judge of Ch'en asked whether Duke Chao knew good form. Confucius answered, He knew good form. After Confucius had left, the judge beckoned Wu-ma Ch'i to him, and said, I had heard that gentlemen are of no party, but do they, too, take sides? This lord married a Wu, whose name was the same as his, and called her Miss Tzu of Wu: if he knew good form, who does not know good form? When Wu-ma Ch'i told the Master this he said, How lucky I am! If I go wrong, men are sure to know it!
31. 子與人歌而善，必使反之，而後和之。
When anyone sang to the Master, and sang well, he made him sing it again and joined in.
32. 子曰：「文，莫吾猶人也。躬行君子，則吾未之有得。」
The Master said, I have no more reading than others; to live as a gentleman is not yet mine.
33. 子曰：「若聖與仁，則吾豈敢？抑為之不厭，誨人不倦，則可謂云爾已矣。」公西華 曰：「正唯弟子不能學也。」
The Master said, How dare I lay claim to holiness or love? A man of endless craving, who never tires of teaching, I might be called, but that is all. That is just what we disciples cannot learn, said Kung-hsi Hua.
34. 子疾病，子路請禱。子曰：「有諸？」子路對曰：「有之。誄曰：『禱爾于上下神祗 』」子曰：「丘之禱久矣。」
When the Master was very ill, Tzu-lu asked leave to pray. Is it done? said the Master. It is, answered Tzu-lu. The Memorials say, Pray to the spirits above and to the Earth below. The Master said, Long-lasting has my prayer been.
35. 子曰：「奢則不孫，儉則固。與其不孫也，寧固。」
The Master said, Waste makes men unruly, thrift makes them mean; but they are better mean than unruly.
36. 子曰：「君子坦蕩蕩，小人長戚戚。」
The Master said, A gentleman is calm and spacious; the small man is always fretting.
37. 子溫而厲，威而不猛，恭而安。
The Master's manner was warm yet dignified. He was stern, but not fierce; humble, yet easy.
DAG HAMMARSKJOELD – NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE
Nobel Prize: Dag Hammarskjoeld (1905–1961), Secretary-General of the United Nations, was posthumously awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize for his work toward peace in the world, especially in the Middle East and the new Republic of the Congo, Africa. He died on September 18, 1961, in a plane accident (under mysterious circumstances), while on a peace mission to the Congo.
Nationality: Swedish
Education: Ph.D. in political economy, University of Stockholm, Sweden, 1934
Occupation: Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-61)
1. “I now recognize and endorse, unreservedly, those very beliefs which were once handed down to me.
From generations of soldiers and government officials on my father’s side I inherited a belief that no life was more satisfactory than one of selfless service to your country – or humanity. This service required a sacrifice of all personal interests, but likewise the courage to stand up unflinchingly for your convictions.
From scholars and clergymen on my mother’s side I inherited a belief that, in the very radical sense of the Gospels, all men were equals as children of God, and should be met and treated by us as our masters in God.
The two ideals which dominated my childhood world met me fully harmonized and adjusted to the demands of our world of today in the ethics of Albert Schweitzer, where the ideal of service is supported by and supports the basic attitude to man set forth in the Gospels. In his work I also found a key for modern man to the world of the Gospels.” (Dag Hammarskjoeld, Servant of Peace, New York, Harper & Row, 1962, 23-24; see also Van Dusen 1967).
2. One of Hammarskjoeld’s prayers, published in Markings (1964):
“Give me a pure heart that I may see Thee,
A humble heart that I may hear Thee,
A heart of love that I may serve Thee,
A heart of faith that I may abide in Thee.”
(Dag Hammarskjoeld, Markings, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, translation – W. H. Auden and Leif Sjoberg, 1964, 100).
Markings is Dag Hammarskjoeld’s diary, which was published posthumously in 1963 in Swedish. In a letter, found with the manuscript of Markings in Hammarskjoeld’s New York apartment (after his 1961 death in an air crash), Hammarskjoeld termed his diary “a sort of white book concerning my negotiations with myself – and with God.”
3. “Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream or a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is again made clean. The dream explains why we need to be forgiven, and why we must forgive. In the presence of God, nothing stands between Him and us – we are forgiven.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, Knopf, 1964, 124).
4. “The inner experience of God’s love is the deepest sense of joy and fulfilment a human being can have – nothing surpasses it. All other experiences of love, beautiful though they are, are like reflections or reminders of the real thing.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964).
5. “Before Thee, Father,
In righteousness and humility,
With Thee, Brother,
In faith and courage,
In Thee, Spirit,
In stillness,
Thine, for Thy will is my destiny,
Dedicated, for my destiny is to be used and used up according to Thy will.”
(Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964).
6. Brian Urquhart (Hammarskjoeld’s biographer) wrote: “The springs of Hammarskjoeld’s sense of vocation ran deep. They were traditional, intellectual, and religious. His identification with Christian thought was not messianic, but rather in the old tradition of the imitation of Christ in sacrifice and in service to others. He was a member of that small and lonely band who throughout history have engaged at the same time in trying to deal with the hard world of political and social reality and in searching endlessly for a spiritual meaning which transcends that world. Hammarskjoeld’s religious faith was very personal, and non-ritual. He wished neither to impose it on others nor to have others interpret it to himself. Religion for him was a dialogue of his own with God, and faith was the foundation for duty, dedication, and service, qualities that he considered most essential in himself and most admirable in others.” (Brian Urquhart, Hammarskjoeld, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1972, 23-24).
7. “Rejoice if God found a use for your efforts in His work. Rejoice if you feel that what you did was ‘necessary,’ but remember, even so, that you were simply the instrument by means of which He added one tiny grain to the Universe He created for His own purposes.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964, 143).
8. “Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964, 11).
9. “How can you expect to keep your powers of hearing when you never want to listen? That God should have time for you, you seem to take as much for granted as that you cannot have time for Him.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964, 12).
10. “Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964, 72).
11. “To be free, to be able to stand up and leave everything behind – without looking back. To say Yes.
Yes to God, Yes to fate, Yes to yourself. This reality can wound the soul, but has the power to heal her.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964).
12. “It is not sufficient to place yourself daily under God. What really matters is to be only under God.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964, 110).
13. “It is our conception of death which decides our answers to all the questions that life puts to us.” (Hammarskjoeld, Markings, 1964, 160).
WOODROW WILSON – NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE Nobel Prize: The twenty-eighth President of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) received the 1919 Nobel Prize “for his sincere attempts at peace negotiations” and for his contribution to the peace at the end of the First World War. Wilson is the founder of the League of Nations.
Nationality: American
Education: Ph.D. in politics and history, Johns Hopkins University, 1886; he remains the only American President to have earned a Ph.D. degree
Occupation: U.S. President (1913-21); Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Economy at Princeton University; Professor at Bryn Mawr College, PA, and Wesleyan University, CT
1. “From the laws of the Old and New Testaments every civilized nation has taken the foundation of its laws. At no time can any nation be prosperous whose laws are not founded upon these eternal principles of right and wrong, of justice and injustice, of civil and religious liberty.
Above all, in these pages may be found the most perfect rule of life the mind can conceive. Dimly through the Old, and brilliantly through the New Testament, shines the principle of love to God as the foundation and cause of men’s duties to God, to each other, and to their own souls. One who forms his every-day life after the perfect model of Christ’s life will himself be a model which no man can afford to despise, besides thereby gaining for himself an assurance of everlasting life.” (Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 1966, Vol. 1, p. 185, Arthur S. Link - editor, Princeton University Press).
2. “Our civilization cannot survive materially unless it is redeemed spiritually. It can be saved only by becoming permeated with the Spirit of Christ and being made free and happy by the practices which spring out of that Spirit. Only thus can discontent be driven out and all the shadows lifted from the road ahead.” (Wilson, as cited in Collins 1988).
3. “When you have read the Bible, you will know that it is the Word of God, because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty.” (Wilson, as cited in Huling 2000).
4. “The radical error among modern Christians is neglect of the Word of God. We are too apt to seek for religious information and instruction from other sources. Christian people are too much in the habit of seeking for instruction or improvement from lesser streams of knowledge, in preference to going to the eternal fountain head which is ever at hand. This is a great mistake. Though a man read this precious volume continuously for a life time he cannot exhaust one-half of its treasures.” (Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 1966, Vol. 1, p. 185, Arthur S. Link - editor).
5. “The Bible is the one supreme source of revelation of the meaning of life, the nature of God and spiritual nature and need of men. It is the only guide of life which really leads the spirit in the way of peace and salvation.” (Wilson, as cited in Ankerberg and Weldon 1997).
6. “We are so slow to comprehend, that happiness lies, not in anything that you can get out of thinking about yourself, but always in being glad about others and living outside yourself in the free atmosphere of God’s big World.
In God’s gracious arrangement of things I have little time or chance to think about myself.” (Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 1977, Vol. 31, p. 4, Arthur S. Link - editor).
7. “There is no middle course, no neutrality. Each and every one must enlist either with the followers of Christ or those of Satan.” (Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 1966, Vol. 1, p. 181, Arthur S. Link - editor).
8. “I am sorry for the men who do not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the strength and of the pleasure.” (Wilson, as cited in Huling 2000).
9. “The Bible is not something to turn aside to; the Bible is not something to which to resort for religious instruction and comfort; the Bible is not something to associate merely with churches and sermons.
It stands right in the center, in the market place, of our life, and there bubbles with the water of life. It is, itself, the fountain; it is, itself, the inexhaustible fountain. Only those who have learned from it, and only those who have drunk of those waters, can be refreshed for the longer journey.” (Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 1977, Vol. 23, p. 499, Arthur S. Link - editor).
10. “The Bible is so commonly known and so universally spread through this Christian country that few people appreciate the treasure they see every day in their libraries. Let anyone turn over its pages carefully and scan its contents with a critical eye. It is a treasury of poetry, history, philosophy, laws and morals which will never be equalled.” (Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 1966, Vol. 1, p. 184, Arthur S. Link - editor).
11. “As a history the Bible is one of the most valuable of ancient records, though it gives and professes to give, little information as to the history of the period. Into these sacred pages the historian can dip without fear of finding anything but truth.
As a philosophical work this wonderful book is unsurpassed. In its teeming pages is developed a system of mental and moral philosophy than which none has ever been more simple and yet more profound, more plain, or more logical. No philosopher ancient or modern has ever been able to conceive of motives more powerful than are here set forth. Here is found the key to every man’s character, for which philosophers have so long and so vainly sought.” (Woodrow Wilson, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, 1966, Vol. 1, p. 185, Arthur S. Link - editor; see also the Wilmington North Carolina Presbyterian, Aug. 30, 1876).
12. Sigmund Freud and William C. Bullitt described Woodrow Wilson’s religious convictions in their psychological-biographical study Thomas Woodrow Wilson: 28th President of the United States:
“He never doubted the exact and literal truth of Presbyterianism. All his life he prayed on his knees morning and evening. Every day he read the Bible. He believed absolutely in the immortality of the soul and the efficacy of prayer.
‘I do not see how anyone can sustain himself in any enterprise in life without prayer,’ he once wrote. ‘It is the only spring at which he can renew his spirit and purify his motive. God is the source of strength to every man and only by prayer can he keep himself close to the Father of his spirit.’ In crises he felt himself ‘guided by an intelligent Power outside himself’.” (Freud and Bullitt 1967, 7-8).
The Tao is hidden, and has no name; but it is the Tao which is skillful at imparting (to all things what they need) and making them complete.
第四十一章
上士聞道，勤而行之﹔中士聞道，若存若亡﹔下士聞道，大笑之。不笑不 足以為道。故建言有之：明道若昧﹔進道若退﹔夷道若纇﹔上德若谷﹔大 白若辱﹔廣德若不足﹔建德若偷﹔質真若渝﹔大方無隅﹔大器晚成﹔大音 希聲﹔大象無形﹔道隱無名。夫唯道，善貸且成。
Chapter 41
1. Scholars of the highest class, when they hear about the Tao, earnestly carry it into practice. Scholars of the middle class, when they have heard about it, seem now to keep it and now to lose it. Scholars of the lowest class, when they have heard about it, laugh greatly at it. If it were not (thus) laughed at, it would not be fit to be the Tao.
2. Therefore the sentence-makers have thus expressed themselves:— 'The Tao, when brightest seen, seems light to lack; Who progress in it makes, seems drawing back; Its even way is like a rugged track. Its highest virtue from the vale doth rise; Its greatest beauty seems to offend the eyes; And he has most whose lot the least supplies. Its firmest virtue seems but poor and low; Its solid truth seems change to undergo; Its largest square doth yet no corner show A vessel great, it is the slowest made; Loud is its sound, but never word it said; A semblance great, the shadow of a shade.'
3. The Tao is hidden, and has no name; but it is the Tao which is skilful at imparting (to all things what they need) and making them complete.
第四十二章
道生一，一生二，二生三，三生萬物。萬物負陰而抱陽，沖氣以為和。人 之所惡，唯孤、寡、不谷，而王公以為稱。故物或損之而益，或益之而損 。人之所教，我亦教之。強梁者不得其死，吾將以為教父。
Chapter 42
1. The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised by the Breath of Vacancy.
2. What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as carriages without naves; and yet these are the designations which kings and princes use for themselves. So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being increased.
3. What other men (thus) teach, I also teach. The violent and strong do not die their natural death. I will make this the basis of my teaching.
第四十三章
天下之至柔，馳騁天下之至堅。無有入無間。吾是以知無為之有益，不言 之教，無為之益，天下希及之。
Chapter 43
1. The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose).
2. There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.
第四十四章
名與身孰親？身與貨孰多？得與亡孰病？是故甚愛必大費﹔多藏必厚亡。 故知足不辱，知止不殆，可以長久。
Chapter 44
1. Or fame or life, Which do you hold more dear? Or life or wealth, To which would you adhere? Keep life and lose those other things; Keep them and lose your life:—which brings Sorrow and pain more near?
2. Thus we may see, Who cleaves to fame Rejects what is more great; Who loves large stores Gives up the richer state.
3. Who is content Needs fear no shame. Who knows to stop Incurs no blame. From danger free Long live shall he.
第四十五章
大成若缺，其用不弊。大盈若沖，其用不窮。大直若屈，大巧若拙，大辯 若訥。靜勝躁，寒勝熱。清靜為天下正。
Chapter 45
1. Who thinks his great achievements poor Shall find his vigour long endure. Of greatest fulness, deemed a void, Exhaustion ne'er shall stem the tide. Do thou what's straight still crooked deem; Thy greatest art still stupid seem, And eloquence a stammering scream.
2. Constant action overcomes cold; being still overcomes heat. Purity and stillness give the correct law to all under heaven.
The Master said, Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.
1. 子曰：「述而不作，信而好古，竊比於我老彭。」
The Master said, A teller and not a maker, one that trusts and loves the past; I might liken myself to our old P'eng.
2. 子曰：「默而識之，學而不厭，誨人不倦，何有於我哉？」
The Master said, To think things over in silence, to learn and be always hungry, to teach and never weary; is any of these mine?
3. 子曰：「德之不修，學之不講，聞義不能徒，不善不能改，是吾憂也。」
The Master said, Not making the most of my mind, want of thoroughness in learning, failure to do the right when told it, lack of strength to overcome faults; these are my sorrows.
4. 子之燕居，申申如也，夭夭如也。」
In his free moments the Master was easy and cheerful.
5. 子曰：「甚矣吾衰也！久矣吾不復夢見周公！」
The Master said, How deep is my decay! It is long since I saw the Duke of Chou in a dream.
6. 子曰：「志於道，據於德，依於仁，游於藝。」
The Master said, Keep thy will on the Way, lean on mind, rest in love, move in art.
7. 子曰：「自行束修以上，吾未嘗無誨焉。」
The Master said, From the man that paid in dried meat upwards, I have withheld teaching from no one.
8. 子曰：「不憤不啟，不悱不發。舉一隅不以三隅反，則不復也。」
The Master said, Only to those fumbling do I open, only for those stammering do I find the word. If I lift one corner and the other three are left unturned, I say no more.
9. 子食於有喪者之側，未嘗飽也。子於是日哭，則不歌。
When eating beside a mourner the Master never ate his fill. On days when he had been wailing, he did not sing.
10. 子謂顏淵曰：「用之則行，舍之則藏，惟我與爾有是夫。」子路曰：「子行三軍，則 誰與？」子曰：「暴虎馮河，死而不悔者，吾不與也。必也臨事而懼，好謀而成者也。」
The Master said to Yen Yüan, To go forward when in office and lie quiet when not; only I and thou can do that. Tzu-lu said, If ye had to lead three armies, Sir, whom would ye have with you? No man, said the Master, that would face a tiger bare-fisted, or plunge into a river and die without a qualm; but one, indeed, who, fearing what may come, lays his plans well and carries them through.
11. 子曰：「富而可求也，雖執鞭之士，吾亦為之。如不可求，從吾所好。」
The Master said, If shouldering a whip were a sure road to riches I should turn carter; but since there is no sure road, I tread the path I love.
12. 子之所慎：齊，戰，疾。
The Master gave heed to abstinence, war and sickness.
13. 子在齊聞韶，三月不知肉味，曰：「不圖為樂之至於斯也。」
When he was in Ch'i, for three months after hearing the Shao played, the Master knew not the taste of flesh. I did not suppose, he said, that music could reach such heights.
14. 冉有曰：「夫子為衛君乎？」子貢曰：「諾，吾將問之。」入曰：「伯夷、叔齊何人 也？」曰：「古之賢人也。」曰：「怨乎？」曰：「求仁而得仁，又何怨？」出曰：「夫子不為也。」
Jan Yu said, Is the Master for the lord of Wei? I shall ask him, said Tzu-kung. He went in, and said, What kind of men were Po-yi and Shu-ch'i? Worthy men of yore, said the Master. Did they rue the past? They sought love and found it; what had they to rue? Tzu-kung went out, and said, The Master is not for him.
15. 子曰：「飯疏食，飲水，曲肱而枕之，樂亦在其中矣。不義而富且貴，於我如浮雲。 」
The Master said, Eating coarse rice and drinking water, with bent arm for pillow, we may be merry; but ill-gotten wealth and honours are to me a wandering cloud.
16. 子曰：「加我數年，五十以學易，可以無大過矣。」
The Master said, Given a few more years, making fifty for learning the Yi, I might be freed from gross faults.
17. 子所雅言，詩、書、執禮，皆雅言也。
The Master liked to talk of poetry, history, and the upkeep of courtesy. Of all these he liked to talk.
18. 葉公問孔子於子路，子路不對。子曰：「女奚不曰，其為人也，發憤忘食，樂以忘 憂，不知老之將至云爾。」
The Duke of She asked Tzu-lu about Confucius. Tzu-lu did not answer. The Master said, Why didst thou not say, He is a man that forgets to eat in his eagerness, whose sorrows are forgotten in gladness, who knows not that age draws near?
19. 子曰：「我非生而知之者，好古，敏以求之者也。」
The Master said, I was not born to wisdom: I loved the past, and sought it earnestly there.
20. 子不語怪力亂神。
The Master never talked of goblins, strength, disorder, or spirits.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT – NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE
Nobel Prize: The twenty-sixth President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (1858–1919) was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese War and for his contribution to various peace treaties.
Nationality: American
Education: A.B., Harvard University, 1880
Occupation: U.S. President (1901-09), writer, and explorer
1. “Fear God and take your own part! Fear God, in the true sense of the word, means to love God, respect God, honor God; and all of this can only be done by loving our neighbor, treating him justly and mercifully, and in all ways endeavoring to protect him from injustice and cruelty, thus obeying, as far as our human frailty will permit, the great and immutable law of righteousness.” (Theodore Roosevelt, The Theodore Roosevelt Treasury, New York, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1953, 322).
2. “If there is any place on earth where earthly distinctions vanish it is in the church, in the presence of God. The nearer the people get to the heart of Christ, the nearer they get to each other, irrespective of earthly conditions.” (Theodore Roosevelt, The Free Citizen, New York, The Macmillan Company, 1956, 31).
3. “A churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and scoffed at or ignored their religious needs, is a community on the rapid down-grade.
On Sunday go to church. Yes – I know all the excuses. I know that one can worship the Creator and dedicate oneself to good living in a grove of trees, or by a running brook, or in one’s own house, just as well as in church. But I also know that as a matter of cold fact the average man does not thus worship or thus dedicate himself.
If he stays away from church he does not spend his time in good works or in lofty meditation. He looks over the colored supplement of the newspaper; he yawns; and he finally seeks relief from the mental vacuity of isolation by going where the combined mental vacuity of many partially relieves the mental vacuity of each particular individual.” (Roosevelt 1956, 26).
4. “I am engaged in one of the greatest moral conflicts of the age – that of colossal lawless corporations against the government. The oppression of lawless wealth, and the purchase of lawmakers by it, have wrecked most of the empires of the past and, if not resisted and defeated, will ruin our Republic. As the executive of this Nation, I am determined that no man or set of men shall defy the law of the land. The rich and powerful must obey the law as well as the poor and feeble – not any better nor any worse, but just the same.
After a week on perplexing problems and in heated contests, it does so rest my soul to come into the House of the Lord and worship, and to sing – and to mean it – the ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,’ and to know that He is my Father, and takes me up into His life and plans; and to commune personally with Christ. I am sure, I get a wisdom not my own, and a superhuman strength, for fighting the moral evils I am called to confront.” (Roosevelt 1956, 31-32).
5. “Fear God and take your own part! We fear God when we do justice to and demand justice for the men within our own borders. We are false to the teachings of righteousness if we do not do such justice and demand such justice. We must do it to the weak, and we must do it to the strong. We do not fear God if we show mean envy and hatred of those who are better off than we are; and still less do we fear God if we show a base arrogance toward and selfish lack of consideration for those who are less well off.” (Roosevelt 1953, 322).
6. “Christianity after all must largely be the attempt to realize that noble verse of Micah, ‘What more doth the Lord require of thee than to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?’.
This verse has always been a favorite of mine, because it embodies the Gospel of Works, with the necessary antidote in the last few words to that hard spiritual arrogance which is brought about by mere reliance on the Gospel of Works.” (Roosevelt 1953, 322).
7. “I appeal for a study of the Bible on many different accounts, even aside from its ethical and moral teachings, even aside from the fact that all serious people, all men who think deeply, even among non-Christians, have come to agree that the life of Christ, as set forth in the four Gospels, represents an infinitely higher and purer morality than is preached in any other book of the world.
I make my appeal not only to professing Christians; I make it to every man who seeks after a high and useful life, to every man who seeks the inspiration of religion, or who endeavors to make his life conform to a high ethical standard.” (Roosevelt 1956, 28).
8. “The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally – I do not mean figuratively, I mean literally – impossible for us to figure to ourselves what that life would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards toward which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves. Almost every man who has by his life-work added to the sum of human achievement of which the race is proud, of which our people are proud, has based his life-work largely upon the teachings of the Bible.” (Roosevelt 1956, 28).
9. “The church must fit itself for the practical betterment of mankind if it is to attract and retain the fealty of the men best worth holding and using. The church must be a living, breathing, vital force, or it is no real church.” (Roosevelt 1956, 29).
10. “The truths that were true at the foot of Mt. Sinai are true now. The truths that were true when the Golden Rule was promulgated are true now.
No man is a good citizen unless he so acts as to show that he actually uses the Ten Commandments, and translates the Golden Rule into his life conduct.” (Roosevelt 1956, 25).
See also Albert Bushnell Hart and Herbert Ronald Ferleger, Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia, New York: Roosevelt Memorial Association, 1941.
CHRISTIAN ANFINSEN – NOBEL LAUREATE IN CHEMISTRY
Nobel Prize: Christian Anfinsen (1916–1995) was awarded the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for his work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation.” Anfinsen is a pioneer in the study of enzymes.
Nationality: American
Education: Ph.D. in biochemistry, Harvard University, 1943
Occupation: Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania; Researcher at Carlsberg University (Denmark), National Institute of Health (Bethesda) and National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases; Professor of Biology at Johns Hopkins University from 1982 until his death
1. To the question, “Many prominent scientists - including Darwin, Einstein, and Planck - have considered the concept of God very seriously. What are your thoughts on the concept of God and on the existence of God?” Christian Anfinsen replied:
“I think only an idiot can be an atheist. We must admit that there exists an incomprehensible power or force with limitless foresight and knowledge that started the whole universe going in the first place.” (Anfinsen, as cited in Margenau and Varghese, ‘Cosmos, Bios, Theos’, 1997, 139).
2. Prof. Anfinsen wrote to the compilers of the scientific anthology ‘Cosmos, Bios, Theos’ (1997) this:
“I enclose a favorite quotation from Einstein that agrees almost completely with my own point of view.
Einstein himself once said that ‘The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God’.” (Anfinsen, as cited in Margenau and Varghese, ‘Cosmos, Bios, Theos’, 1997, 140).
3. In his letter of 28 March 1989 to Prof. Henry Margenau (compiler of the scientific anthology ‘Cosmos, Bios, Theos’), Anfinsen wrote:
“Thank you for your letter of March 13 and your kind words about my small contribution to your anthology. I can think of little more to add to my final point having to do with the nature of God and the existence of God. Clearly, an all-powerful, all-knowing entity must exist to explain our existence.” (Anfinsen 1989).
4. In 1979, Anfinsen converted to Orthodox Judaism, a commitment he retained for the rest of his life; he maintained that he had been deeply impressed by the “the history, practice and intensity of Judaism.”
On 16 November 1995, in her Memorial speech for Christian Anfinsen at Memorial Garden Dedication, Weizmann Institute, Libby Anfinsen (Prof. Anfinsen’s wife) said:
“His religious background is interesting in that his Jewish maternal grandmother’s family disappeared when the Nazis invaded Bergen, Norway. His parents were Bible reading Lutherans, and he himself was an agnostic until the later 70’s when he studied and converted to traditional Judaism. He felt the following quote from Einstein accurately expressed his beliefs. ‘The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God.’ He xeroxed and distributed this quote to many.” (Libby Anfinsen, 1995).
(Those who) possessed the highest benevolence were (always seeking) to carry it out, and had no need to be doing so. (Those who) possessed the highest righteousness were (always seeking) to carry it out, and had need to be so doing.
第三十六章 將欲歙之，必固張之﹔將欲弱之，必固強之﹔將欲廢之，必固興之﹔將欲 取之，必固與之。是謂微明。柔勝剛，弱勝強。魚不可脫于淵，國之利器 ，不可以示人。
Chapter 36 1. When one is about to take an inspiration, he is sure to make a (previous) expiration; when he is going to weaken another, he will first strengthen him; when he is going to overthrow another, he will first have raised him up; when he is going to despoil another, he will first have made gifts to him:—this is called 'Hiding the light (of his procedure).' 2. The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong. 3. Fishes should not be taken from the deep; instruments for the profit of a state should not be shown to the people.
第三十七章 道常無為而無不為。侯王若能守之，萬物將自化。化而欲作，吾將鎮之以 無名之朴。鎮之以無名之朴，夫亦將不欲。不欲以靜，天下將自正。
Chapter 37 1. The Tao in its regular course does nothing (for the sake of doing it), and so there is nothing which it does not do. 2. If princes and kings were able to maintain it, all things would of themselves be transformed by them. 3. If this transformation became to me an object of desire, I would express the desire by the nameless simplicity. Simplicity without a name Is free from all external aim. With no desire, at rest and still, All things go right as of their will.
第三十八章 上德不德，是以有德﹔下德不失德，是以無德。上德無為而無以為﹔下德 無為而有以為。上仁為之而無以為﹔上義為之而有以為。上禮為之而莫之 應，則攘臂而扔之。故失道而后德，失德而后仁，失仁而后義，失義而后 禮。夫禮者，忠信之薄，而亂之首。前識者，道之華，而愚之始。是以大 丈夫處其厚，不居其薄﹔處其實，不居其華。故去彼取此。
Chapter 38 1. (Those who) possessed in highest degree the attributes (of the Tao) did not (seek) to show them, and therefore they possessed them (in fullest measure). (Those who) possessed in a lower degree those attributes (sought how) not to lose them, and therefore they did not possess them (in fullest measure). 2. (Those who) possessed in the highest degree those attributes did nothing (with a purpose), and had no need to do anything. (Those who) possessed them in a lower degree were (always) doing, and had need to be so doing. 3. (Those who) possessed the highest benevolence were (always seeking) to carry it out, and had no need to be doing so. (Those who) possessed the highest righteousness were (always seeking) to carry it out, and had need to be so doing. 4. (Those who) possessed the highest (sense of) propriety were (always seeking) to show it, and when men did not respond to it, they bared the arm and marched up to them. 5. Thus it was that when the Tao was lost, its attributes appeared; when its attributes were lost, benevolence appeared; when benevolence was lost, righteousness appeared; and when righteousness was lost, the proprieties appeared. 6. Now propriety is the attenuated form of leal-heartedness and good faith, and is also the commencement of disorder; swift apprehension is (only) a flower of the Tao, and is the beginning of stupidity. 7. Thus it is that the Great man abides by what is solid, and eschews what is flimsy; dwells with the fruit and not with the flower. It is thus that he puts away the one and makes choice of the other.
第三十九章 昔之得一者：天得一以清﹔地得一以寧﹔神得一以靈﹔谷得一以盈﹔萬物 得一以生﹔侯王得一以為天下正。其致之也，天無以清，將恐裂﹔地無以 寧，將恐廢﹔神無以靈，將恐歇﹔谷無以盈，將恐竭﹔萬物無以生，將恐 滅﹔侯王無以貞，將恐蹶。故貴以賤為本，高以下為基。是以侯王自稱孤 、寡、不穀。此非以賤為本邪？非乎？故致譽無譽。是故不欲琭琭如玉， 珞珞如石。
Chapter 39 1. The things which from of old have got the One (the Tao) are— Heaven which by it is bright and pure; Earth rendered thereby firm and sure; Spirits with powers by it supplied; Valleys kept full throughout their void All creatures which through it do live Princes and kings who from it get The model which to all they give. All these are the results of the One (Tao). 2. If heaven were not thus pure, it soon would rend; If earth were not thus sure, 'twould break and bend; Without these powers, the spirits soon would fail; If not so filled, the drought would parch each vale; Without that life, creatures would pass away; Princes and kings, without that moral sway, However grand and high, would all decay. 3. Thus it is that dignity finds its (firm) root in its (previous) meanness, and what is lofty finds its stability in the lowness (from which it rises). Hence princes and kings call themselves 'Orphans,' 'Men of small virtue,' and as 'Carriages without a nave.' Is not this an acknowledgment that in their considering themselves mean they see the foundation of their dignity? So it is that in the enumeration of the different parts of a carriage we do not come on what makes it answer the ends of a carriage. They do not wish to show themselves elegant-looking as jade, but (prefer) to be coarse-looking as an (ordinary) stone.
第四十章 反者道之動﹔弱者道之用。天下萬物生于有，有生于無。
Chapter 40 1. The movement of the Tao By contraries proceeds; And weakness marks the course Of Tao's mighty deeds. 2. All things under heaven sprang from It as existing (and named); that existence sprang from It as non-existent (and not named).
