Wherever you are, and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike at this moment, and in all the moments of our existence. We are not at rest; we are on a journey. Our life is a movement, a tendency, ceaseless progress toward an unseen goal. We are gaining something, or losing something, everyday. Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing. For the mere advance of time is a change. It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July. The season makes the difference. The limitations that are childlike in the children are childish in the man.

Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another. Even the failure to do something is in itself a deed. It sets us forward or backward. The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole. To decline is to accept ― the other alternative.

    Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday? Yes, ― you must be a little nearer to some port or other; for since your ship was first launched upon the sea of life, you have never been still for a single moment; the sea is too deep, you could not find an anchorage if you would; there can be no pause until you come into port.

亨利.范.戴克

    无论你现在身在何处，也无论你是何等人物，此时此刻，以及我们生命中的任一瞬间，你我之间都有一点相同之处。那就是，我们并没有停歇，而是人在旅途。我们的人生不仅仅是存在的事实而已，而是一种运动，一种趋势，一种坚定不移而没有停息地朝某个看不见的目标前行的过程。每一天，我们都有所得，也有所失。即使我们的地位和品性看似与原来无异，但实际上他们正在改变，因为时间的推移本身就是一种改变。同一片荒野，在一月和七月是不同的，季节造成了这种差异。智能上的不足，在孩子身上被视为天真无邪，而对于成年人来说则是一种幼稚的的表现。

我们所做的每件事情都是朝着某个方向迈出的一步。甚至无为，其本身也是一种作为，它使我们前进或后退。一根磁针的磁极作用，无论正负都是一样的真实。拒绝也是一种接受，只不过是另一种选择罢了。

    你今天比昨天更接近你的港口了么？是的，那么你一定距某个港口更近了。因为，自从你驶入人生之海，你的航船至今尚未停歇片刻。这片海洋太深了，纵使你想找到一个抛锚停泊之处也难以求得。因此，在驶入港口之前，你无法稍作歇息。