If I Rest, I Rust 如果我休息，我就会生锈
The significant inscription found on an old key--“If I rest, I rust”-- would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest bit of idleness. Even the most industrious person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest，like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by consistent use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gates that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture-- every department of human endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness. Had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside, instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all -- not inconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.
在一把旧钥匙上发现的重要的铭文——“如果我休息，我就生锈”。对于那些为懒惰而苦恼的人来说，这将是一个极好的座右铭。即使是最勤奋的人也会利用它来提醒自己：如果一个人让他的能力像闲置钥匙上的铁一样不用，这些才能很快就会出现生锈的迹象，最终无法完成安排给自己的工作。
那些想要达到伟人所达到和保持的成就的人，必须通过持续的使用他们的才能，以便打开知识之门，即人类努力探求的每一个领域的大门，这些领域包括各种职业：科学、艺术、文学、农业等。
勤奋使开启成功宝库的钥匙保持光亮。如果休·米勒在采石场辛苦了一整天，把晚上时间用来休息和娱乐，他就不会成为一个著名的地质学家。著名的数学家埃德蒙·斯通如果闲暇时无所事事，就不会出版数学词典，也不会找到开启数学之门的钥匙。如果苏格兰小男孩弗格森在山坡上牧羊时，让思维活跃的大脑处于休息状态，而不是用一串珠子来计算星星的位置，他就不会成为一个著名的天文学家。
劳动征服一切——不是断断续续的、间歇性的或方向偏差的劳动，而是坚定的、不懈的、方向正确的每日劳动。正如要想拥有自由就必须时刻警惕一样，要想取得伟大的、持久的成功，就必须坚持不懈地努力。
本文为原创第220篇；
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