Then he went on with his reflections: "I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. A common rose, and three volcanoes that come up to my knees - and one of them perhaps extinct forever… that doesn't make me a very great prince…"
"Certainly. When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody , it is yours. When you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you get an idea before anyone else, you take out a patent on it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them."
"If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or to write a tragic drama, or to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received, which one of us would be in the wrong?" the king demanded. "The general, or myself?"
"You ," said the little prince firmly.
"Exactly. One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform," the king went on. " Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to equire obedience because my orders are reasonable."
我们以为命运就像飞蛾被光吸引「而跳进火里,也不知道如何告诉自己和其他人这样会死在火里。
所以我们放弃了,认为换种方式生活也毫无意义。
但圣人们并没有把我们看成飞蛾,因为他们知道,飞蛾所谓的“命运”是不可避免的,而我们总是可以选择通过修练来断除无明。
可悲的是,我们大多数人不会选择那种严苛而枯燥
的修练,因为我们]是如此地被各种诱人的娱乐所左右正如同飞蛾扑火而丢掉性命,
And he lay down in the grass and cried.
"You ," said the little prince firmly.
"Exactly. One must require from each one the duty which each one can perform," the king went on. " Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to equire obedience because my orders are reasonable."