愛美乃是所有健全人性中不可或缺的一部分。它是一種道德品質。不愛美並不一定不好，但愛美則象徵了不變的善心。品德高尚與美好所達到的程度大概與愛美的感受度成正比。
大自然的美是隨處可見的。宇宙即是其殿堂。美存在於無數春花綻放中，存在於隨風搖曳的樹枝與片片綠草中。在陸地及海底深處皆可見到美的芳蹤。它閃爍於貝殼以及寶石的色澤之上。不只是這些細微的東西，還有海洋、山丘、柔雲、繁星、日升與日落，無一不美。這樣的美是如此珍貴，也如此適合我們最溫柔與最高尚的情感，以至於想到大部分人身處在美之中卻視若無睹就感到痛心。
所有的人都應該設法去認識大自然之美。我們所踩過的小蟲以及秋風拂掠下飛舞的樹葉，皆值得我們研究與欣賞。欣賞美的能力不僅可以增加我們快樂的來源，它也可以開闊我們的靈性。美使我們不安的心平靜下來，也驅散了我們的憂慮。走進田野或森林，在夏日的海邊或山上待上一天，那麽你所有微不足道的困惑與焦慮都會隨風而去。傾聽悅耳的音樂，那麽你愚昧的恐懼感與褊狹的嫉妒心都會散去。世界之美將有助於我們找到善良之美。
愛 美
I walked with my friend to the newsstand the other night, and he bought a paper, thanking the newspaper seller politely. The vendor didn’t even acknowledge it.
“A sullen fellow, isn’t he?” I commented.
“Oh, he’s that way every night,” shrugged my friend.
“Then why do you continue to be so polite to him?” I asked.
“Why not?” inquired my friend. “Why should I let him decide how I’m going to act?”
As I thought about this incident later, it occurred to me that the important word was “act.” My friend acts toward people; most of us react toward them.
He has a sense of inner balance which is lacking in most of us; he know who he is, what he stands for, how he should behave. He refuses to return incivility from incivility, because then he would no longer be in command of his own conduct.
When we are enjoined in the Bible to return good for evil, we look upon this as a moral injunction – which it is. But it is also a psychological prescription for our emotional health.
Nobody is unhappier than the perpetual reactor. His center of emotional gravity is not rooted within himself, where it belongs, but in the world outside him. His spiritual temperature is always being raised or lowered by the social climate around him, and he is a mere creature at the mercy of these elements.
Praise gives him a feeling of euphoria, which is false, because it does not last and it does not come from self approval. Criticism depresses him more than it should, because it confirms his own secretly shaky opinion of himself. Snubs hurt him, and the merest suspicion of unpopularity in any quarter rouses him to bitterness.
A serenity of spirit cannot be achieved until we become the masters of our own actions and attitudes. To let another determine whether we shall be rude or gracious, elated or depressed, is to relinquish control over our own personalities, which is ultimately all we possess. The only true possession is self-possession.
有一個人覺得生活太平淡了,於是天天期望出現奇蹟。
為了讓奇蹟早些出現，他向上帝祈求。
上帝問他：“你想要什麽樣的的奇蹟？”
“奇蹟就是做夢都想不到，完全超乎我的想象的事情。”
上帝說：“我答應你，奇蹟明天就會出現。”
這個人開始焦急地等待。
但是多少天過去了，什麽奇蹟也沒有出現。
他又對著天空向上帝質問：“上帝啊，你為什麽沒有給我奇蹟？”
“我早就給你奇蹟了呀。”天上飄來上帝的聲音。
“我怎麽沒有看見？”
“其實你天天都生活在奇蹟中。你不是說奇蹟就是你做夢都想不到、完全超乎你想象的事情嗎？我給過你了，你以為上帝就能給你奇蹟，然而上帝也沒有給你奇蹟，這是你做夢想不到的，這本身難道不也算是一個奇蹟嗎？其實你大可不必期待什麽奇蹟出現，因為除了你自己以外，世界上根本沒有其他的什麽可以稱為‘奇蹟’。求上帝給你奇蹟，不如求自己給自己奇蹟。”