再讀 Seneca

It is not that life is brief, but that we squander much of it. Life is long enough, and we are granted ample time to achieve great things if we invest it wisely. Yet when we fritter it away in careless indulgence or idle pursuits, we are jolted by death’s finality to realize it slipped through our fingers before we even noticed. The truth is this: we are not given a short life, but we shorten it ourselves; we are not deprived of time, but wasteful with it. Life is long if you know how to live it."

- De Brevitate Vitae ("On the Shortness of Life") by Seneca

 

人生之短暫，非因其短促，而因我們虛擲太多。生命本已足夠漫長，賜予我們的時光足以成就偉業，若能善加利用。然而，當我們沉溺於無度的奢華或虛耗於無益之事，死亡的終極約束才令我們驀然驚覺，時光已在不知不覺間流逝。事實如此：我們並非被賦予短暫的生命，而是我們自使之短暫；我們並非缺乏時間，而是揮霍無度。人生若懂得如何運用，便是漫長。