To inquire after the meaning or object of one’s own existence or that of all creatures has always seemed to me absurd from an objective point of view. And yet everybody has certain ideals which determine the direction of his endeavors and his judgments. In this sense I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves—this ethical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals which have lighted my way and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed to me empty. The trite objects of human efforts—possessions, outward success, luxury—have always seemed to me contemptible. 客观地说，探求自己或者其他所有生命存在的意义或者目标，我一直都认为是荒唐之举。然而，每个人多少都有自己的理想，决定着他的奋斗目标和他对事情的看法。从这个意义上说，我从来都不会把安逸和幸福看作终极目标——我将这种伦理道德的基础称之为“猪圈理想”。一直以来，是对真、善、美的追求照亮了我的道路，一次又一次给我以新的勇气，让我愉快地面对生活。如果没有对志同道合者的那种亲近感，如果没有对客观世界——那个艺术和科学研究永远也无法穷极的世界——的孜孜以求，生命对我来说就是一场空。那些向来为世人竞相追求的目标——财产、奢华和外在的成功——我对此不屑一顾。

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（编辑：王美娇）