Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose.

我们在这个世界上的处境是奇怪的：每个人，都是来做一次短暂的访问，不知道是为了什么。不过有时似乎也会觉察到有某种目的。

From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know that man is here for the sake of other men --- above all for those upon whose smile and well-being¹ our own happiness depends, and also for the countless² unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors³ of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. My peace of mind is often troubled by the depressing sense that I have borrowed too heavily from the work of other men.

但是从平日的生活来看，有一件事情我们是很清楚的：我们是为别人而活，最重要的是为了这些人活：他们的笑容和幸福构成了我们快乐的源泉。同时，我们活着还为了另外无数个不相识的生命，怜悯之心，将我们同他们的命运联系起来。每天，很多次，我都会意识到我的肉体生活和精神生活很大程度上是建立在那些活着的，和死去的人们的工作之上的，意识到我必须诚挚地、竭尽全力地努力去回报我所得到的东西。我经常心绪不宁，感觉自己从别人的工作里承袭了太多，这种感觉让我惴惴不安。

To ponder interminably over the reason for one’s own existence or the meaning of life in general seems to me, from an objective point of view, to be sheer folly⁴. And yet everyone holds certain ideals by which he guides his aspiration⁵ and his judgment⁶. The ideals which have always shone before me and filled me with the joy of living are goodness, beauty, and truth. To make a goal of comfort and happiness has never appealed to me; a system of ethics⁷ built on this basis would be sufficient only for a herd⁸ of cattle.

总体上在我看来，从客观的角度，没完没了地思考自己为什么会存在，或者是生命有什么意义，是非常愚蠢的行为。不过，每个人都有一些理想，来指引着自己的抱负和辨别是非。始终在我面前闪耀着光芒，并且让我充满活着的喜悦的理想，是善、美和真理。对我来说，以舒适和享乐为目标的生活从来没有吸引力。 以这些目标为基础建立起来的一套伦理观点只能满足一群牲畜的需要。