Our Family Creed

By John D. Rockefeller, Jr

一个亿万富翁家族的成功法则：家族信条

［美］小约翰-洛克菲勒

They are the principles on which my wife and I have tried bring up our family.
他们是我的妻子和我努力抚育我们家族的信条。

They are the principles in which my father believed and by which he governed his life.

它们是我的慈父深信并笃行终生的教义。

They are principles, many of them, which I learned at my mother’s knee.
它们是我自幼蒙教于慈母膝下的真谛。

They point the way to usefulness and happiness in life, to courage and peace in death.

它们指出了终生有益且迈向快乐福祉的航向，让我们勇往直前、镇定平安地出生入死。

If they mean to you what they mean to me, they may perhaps be helpful also to our sons for their guidance and inspiration. Let me state them:

假如它们于你像于我一样富于深意，也许同样对我们的儿子裨益、成为他们人生的向导而鼓舞人心。让我陈述如下：

I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

我坚信个人的终极价值及其生命的权利在于自由和对幸福的孜孜以求。

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

我坚信每一项权利意味一种责任；每一个机遇意味着一项允诺的义务；每一次拥有意味着一项使命。

I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master,

我坚信法律乃为人所订，并非人为法所役；同理，政府是人民的公仆而绝非主宰人民的主人。

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

我坚信劳动的尊严，不论是用脑还是用手；这个世界不会给人提供免费的午餐，却厚赐每人谋生机遇。

I believe that thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a. prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government business or Personal affairs.

我确信勤俭是良好有序生活的必备素质，经济节省是一个健全财政结构组织的首要原则，不论是政府、企业抑或是个人事务。

I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.
我确信真理和正义是一个永续繁荣的社会秩序的基本法则。

I believe in the sacredness of a promise that a man's word should be as good as his bond, that character-not wealth or power or position-is of supreme worth.

我坚信诺言神圣不可动摇，一旦一个人出言即如契约不可更改，一个人至高无上的价值来自其道德品质，而绝非所谓的财富、权力或地位。
I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only in the Purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.

我坚信提供有益的服务是人类基本责任，唯有牺牲纯净烈焰才能锻炼出无私的奉献精神、解放人类并让人类在自由中变得伟大。

I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God, named by whatever name, and that the individuals highest fulfillment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with His will.

我坚信全能智慧和全备大爱的上帝，不论如何为他命名，我坚信个人最高的实践目标、最伟大的福祉和最广泛的潜能发挥应用皆因他与上帝的意志和谐统一。

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world; that it alone can overcome hate; that right can and will triumph over might.

我坚信爱是这个世界上最伟大的事物，唯有它能战胜仇恨；正如正义能够并终将战胜强权。

These are the principles, however formulated, for which all good men and women throughout the world, irrespective of race or creed, education social position or occupation, are standing, and for which many of them are suffering and dying.

这些法则，不管是如何形成，不论这个世界上一切善良的男人还是女人，不管他们的种族或信仰、教育社会地位或职业如何，这些法则永恒存在，许多人为了捍卫它们饱受苦难直至生命最后一息。

These are the principles upon which alone a new world recognizing the brotherhood of man and the-fatherhood of God can be established.

唯基于上述法则，才能建设一个人人亲如兄弟、上帝亲在如父的全新世界。