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and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.

然而，毕业于哈佛大学这一事实暗示着你们并不十分熟悉失败。驱动你们前行的对于失败的恐惧可能更为接近对于成功的渴望。事实上，你们心目中的失败很可能与普通人设想的成功相差无几，毕竟你们在学业上的成功已经高到遥不可及。

最终，我们都要按自己的想法给失败下一个定义;但是如果你允许的话，这个世界会迫不及待的为你设定一套标准。因此我觉得，不管按照什么惯行标准，仅仅在毕业七年之后，我都确确实实的失败了，而且败得彻彻底底。我那罕见的短暂婚姻走到了尽头，自己又失业了。一个单身母亲，沦落到当代英国最为贫困的境地，只不过还没到无家可归的程度而已。我父母害怕发生在我身上的事情，我害怕发生在自己身

上的事情，都降临了。无论按照什么标准来看，我都是我所知道的最大的失败。

现在，我站在这里，告诉你们失败可是件一点也不好玩的事情。那个时候我的人生被黑暗笼罩，根本想不到在未来的时光里这段经历竟会被报道为神话般的坚定意志。那时候我不知道黑暗的隧道何时才是尽头，而尽头的任何光亮都像是渺茫的希望而非稳固的现实。

So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live

without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies. The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.

什么我还要谈起失败的好处呢?简单的说，是因为失败会为我们揭去表面那些无关紧要的东西。我不再装模作样，终于重新做回自己，开始将所有的精力投入到自己在意的唯一作品。如果我此前在其它的任何什么方面有所成功，我恐怕都会失去在自己真正归属的舞台上获得成功的决心。我最

大的恐惧终于成为现实，而我却因此获得了自由，我还活着，还有我深爱的女儿，我还有一架老式打字机和一个宏大的梦想。这片顽固的低谷成为我脚下坚定的基石，在此之上，我重筑了自己的人生。

你们也许不会像我摔得这样惨，但是人生路上总会有些失败。你也许可以毫无失败的度过一生，但你将活得如此小心翼翼，就好像你几乎没有活过——不管从什么意义上讲，你都注定要失败的。

失败赋予我内心的安全感，而这是考试及格也不能让我感受到的。失败让我明白关于自己的一些东西，这是除了失败以外我决不可能获得的认知。我意识到自己拥有坚强的意志，而且比我以前设想的还要自律;我还发现我拥有的朋友们是如此宝贵，其价值连宝石也不能媲美。

你在挫折中成长，更聪明，更强壮，这意味着从此以后你已拥有了牢不可催的生存能力。直到通过逆境的考验，你才会真正了解自己，以及你周围的人赋予你的力量。这些认知都是宝贵的财富，我历经艰辛才获得的财富，这比我得到的任何资格证书都更有价值。

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not