股神巴菲特說，面對現在股市一直跌，建議閱讀十九世紀諾貝爾文學獎詩人吉百齡的《假如》這首詩。

我找來讀了一下，還真是很不錯的一首詩呢！誰說文學無法運用在現實生活裡？即便股神巴菲特也是要讀文學來鎮定自己的心。心都平靜不下來的人，是賺不了大錢的。

相同的，王公貴族、帝王將軍、要從政、要打仗、要爭霸商圈、要管理天下，萬丈高樓都是從安定自己的內心、找好自己的精神指南針開始。而這種精神世界的提升，正是需要文學。這時候文學就非常有入世價值。

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If by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except for the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

假如 吉百齡
諾貝爾詩人 吉百齡
中文翻譯出之《讀者文摘 一九九三年九月號》

假如舉世倉皇失措，人人怪你，而你能保持冷靜；
假如舉世見疑，而你能相信自己，還能原諒他們的懷疑；
假如你能等待，而不怕等得累，
或受謗時不屑以牙還牙，
或被恨時不怨天尤人，
然而別看來太好，話也別講得太聰明；

假如你能作夢──而不成為夢的的奴隸；
假如你能思考──而不只以思考為目的，
假如你能面對勝利和慘敗，而把這兩個騙子一視同仁；
假如你聽到你講的真話給壞蛋歪曲了去陷害蠢人，卻仍能泰然自持，
或者你看到你曾拼命維護的珍貴東西破碎了，而仍能彎下腰用陳舊的工具去修理

假如你把你贏的一大堆錢全部孤注一擲而不幸輸掉，
但仍能從頭幹起，並對你的失利三緘其口；
假如你能強迫你的心、勇氣和體力，
在它們早已枯竭時為你效勞，
因此當你一無所有，
只剩下吩咐它們：「撐下去！」的意志時
你就這樣撐下去；

假如你能跟群眾講話而仍保持你的美德，
或者與帝王同行而不忘群眾，
假如敵人或摯友都不能傷害你，
假如人人都依賴你，但沒有一個期望過奢；
假如你能用相等於六十秒的奔跑來填補毫不容情的一分鐘，
地球和它所有的一切，就是屬於你的，
而且──更重要的是──

兒啊！你將是個男子漢。播放