为空中楼阁打下地基

英文原文

I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

中文译文

至少我从这次实验中学到了这一点：如果一个人自信地朝着梦想的方向前进，努力去过他所想象的生活，他就会在平常的时刻遇到意想不到的成功。他会把一些东西抛在身后，越过一条看不见的界线；新的、普遍的、更宽厚的法则会开始在他周围和他内心建立起来；或者旧的法则会被扩展，按更宽厚的意义作出对他有利的解释，他将带着更高等级的生命所享有的自由生活。他越是简化自己的生活，宇宙的法则就越显得不那么复杂，孤独将不再是孤独，贫穷将不再是贫穷，软弱将不再是软弱。如果你已经在空中建造了楼阁，你的工作不必白费；楼阁本来就该在那里。现在，为它们打下地基吧。