第一篇：失敗的收益美文

哈佛所有的畢業(yè)生們：

首先我想說的是：“謝謝你們。”這不僅因為哈佛給了我非比尋常的榮譽(yù)，而且為了這幾個星期以來，由于想到這次演說而產(chǎn)生的恐懼讓我減肥成功。這真是一個雙贏的局面！現(xiàn)在我需要做的就是一次深呼吸，瞇著眼看著紅色的橫幅，然后讓自己相信正在參加世界上受到最好教育群體的哈利·波特大會。在今天這個愉快的日子，我們聚在一起慶祝你們學(xué)習(xí)上的成功時。我決定和你們談?wù)勈〉氖找妗?/p>

對于我這樣一個已經(jīng)42歲的人來說，回頭看自己21歲畢業(yè)時的情景，并不是一件舒服的事情。我的前半生，我一直在自己內(nèi)心的追求與最親近的人對我的要求之間進(jìn)行不自在的抗?fàn)帯?/p>

我曾確信我自己唯一想做的事情是寫小說。但是我的父母都來自貧窮的家庭，都沒有上過大學(xué)，他們認(rèn)為我的異常活躍的想象力只是滑稽的個人怪癖，并不能用來付抵押房產(chǎn)，或者確保得到退休金。他們希望我再去讀個專業(yè)學(xué)位，而我想去攻讀英國文學(xué)。最后，達(dá)成了一個雙方都不甚滿意的妥協(xié)：我改學(xué)外語。可是等到父母一走開，我立刻報名學(xué)習(xí)古典文學(xué)。

我忘了自己是怎么把學(xué)古典文學(xué)的事情告訴父母的了，他們也可能是在我畢業(yè)那天才第一次發(fā)現(xiàn)。在這個星球上的所有科目中，我想他們很難再發(fā)現(xiàn)一門比希臘神學(xué)更沒用的課程了。

我想順帶著說明，我并沒有因為他們的觀點(diǎn)而抱怨他們。現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不是抱怨父母引導(dǎo)自己走錯方向的時候了，如今的你們已經(jīng)足夠大來決定自己前進(jìn)的路程，責(zé)任要靠自己承擔(dān)。而且，我也不能批評我的父母，他們是希望我能擺脫貧窮。他們以前遭受了貧窮，我也曾經(jīng)貧窮過，對于他們認(rèn)為貧窮并不高尚的觀點(diǎn)我也堅決同意。貧窮會引起恐懼、壓力，有時候甚至是沮喪。這意味著小心眼、卑微和很多艱難困苦。通過自己的努力擺脫貧窮確實是件很值得自豪的事情，但只有傻瓜才對貧窮本身夸夸其談。

我在你們這個年齡的時候，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。

在你們這個年齡，盡管我明顯缺少在大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)的動力，我花了很多時間在咖啡吧寫故事，很少去聽課，但是我知道通過考試的技巧，當(dāng)然，這也是好多年來評價我以及我同齡人是否成功的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。然而，你們能從哈佛畢業(yè)這個現(xiàn)實表明，你們對失敗還不是很熟悉，對于失敗的恐懼與對于成功的渴望可能對你們有相同的驅(qū)動力。

當(dāng)然，最終我們所有人不得不為自己決定什么是失敗的組成元素，但是如果你愿意的話，世界很愿意給你一堆的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。基于任何一種傳統(tǒng)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，我可以說，僅僅在我畢業(yè)7年后，我經(jīng)歷了一次巨大的失敗。我突然間結(jié)束了一段短暫的婚姻，失去了工作。作為一個單身媽媽，而且在這個現(xiàn)代化的英國，除了不是無家可歸，你可以說我要多窮就有多窮。我父母對于我的擔(dān)心，以及我對自己的擔(dān)心都成了現(xiàn)實，從任何一個通常的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來看，這是我知道的最大失敗。

現(xiàn)在，我不會站在這里和你們說失敗很好玩。我生命的那段時間非常的灰暗，那時我還不知道我的書會被新聞界認(rèn)為是神話故事的革命，我也不知道這段灰暗的日子要持續(xù)多久。那時候的很長一段時間里，任何出現(xiàn)的光芒只是希望而不是現(xiàn)實。

那么我為什么還要談?wù)撌〉氖找婺兀績H僅是因為失敗意味著和非我的脫離，失敗后我找到了自我，不再裝成另外的形象，我開始把我所有的精力僅僅放在我關(guān)心的工作上。如果我在其他方面成功過，我可能就不會具備要求在自己領(lǐng)域內(nèi)獲得成功的決心。我變得自在，因為我已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷過最大的恐懼。而且我還活著，我有一個值得我自豪的女兒，我有一個陳舊的打字機(jī)和很不錯的寫作靈感。我在失敗堆積而成的硬石般的基礎(chǔ)上開始重鑄我的人生。你們可能不會經(jīng)歷像我那么大的失敗，但生活中面臨失敗是不可避免的。永遠(yuǎn)不失敗是不可能的，除非你活得過于謹(jǐn)慎。

失敗給了我內(nèi)心的安寧，這種安寧是順利通過測驗考試獲得不了的。失敗讓我認(rèn)識自己，這些是沒法從其他地方學(xué)到的。我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有堅強(qiáng)的意志，而且，自我控制能力比自己猜想的還要強(qiáng)，我也發(fā)現(xiàn)自己擁有比紅寶石更真的朋友。從挫折中獲得的知識越充滿智慧、越有力，你在以后的生存中則越安全。除非遭受磨難，你們不會真正認(rèn)識自己，也沒法知道你們之間關(guān)系有多鐵。這些知識才是真正的禮物，他們比我曾經(jīng)獲得的任何資格證書更為珍貴，因為這些是我經(jīng)歷過痛苦后才獲得的。

在我的演說快要結(jié)束的時候，我對大家還有最后一個希望，這是我在自己21歲時就明白的道理。畢業(yè)那天和我坐在一起的朋友后來成了我終生的朋友。他們是我孩子的教父母；他們是我碰到麻煩時能求助的人；他們是非常友善的，不會為了我在死亡復(fù)活節(jié)那天用他們名字而控告我的朋友。在我們畢業(yè)的時候，我們沉浸在巨大的情感沖擊中；我們沉浸于這段永不能重現(xiàn)的共同時光內(nèi)。當(dāng)然，如果我們中的某個人將來成為國家首相，我們也沉浸于能擁有極其有價值的相片作為證據(jù)的興奮中。

所以今天，我最希望你們能擁有同樣的友情。到了明天，我希望即使你們不記得我說過的任何一個字，但能記住塞內(nèi)加，我在逃離那個走廊，回想進(jìn)步的階梯，尋找古人智慧時碰到的另一個古羅馬哲學(xué)家，說過的一句話：“生活如同小說，要緊的不是它有多長，而在于它有多好。”

我祝愿你們都有幸福的生活。

謝謝大家。

《哈利·波特》的作者羅琳于6月5日參加了哈佛大學(xué)2008年的畢業(yè)典禮。被授予榮譽(yù)學(xué)位，并作為特邀嘉賓做了演講，本文節(jié)選了演講的一個主題。

第二篇：失敗的收益和想象力的重要性

失敗的收益和想象力的重要性

——暢銷書哈利波特的作者羅琳在哈佛畢業(yè)典禮上的演講2008年 6月5日

浮士德主席，哈佛公司和監(jiān)察委員會的各位成員，大學(xué)的員工，自豪的父母，以及所有的畢業(yè)生們：

首先我想說的是“謝謝你們”。這不僅因為哈佛給了我非比尋常的榮譽(yù)，而且為了這幾個禮拜以來，由于想到這次畢業(yè)典禮演說而產(chǎn)生的恐懼與惡心讓我減肥成功。這真是一個雙贏的局面！現(xiàn)在我需要做的就是一次深呼吸，瞇著眼看著紅色的橫幅，然后欺騙自己，讓自己相信正在參加世界上受到最好教育群體的哈立波特大會。

做畢業(yè)典禮演說是一個重大的責(zé)任，我的思緒回到了自己的那次畢業(yè)典禮。那天的演講者是一位英國的杰出哲學(xué)家 Baroness Marry Warnock.對她演講的回憶對我寫這篇演講稿幫助巨大，因為我發(fā)現(xiàn)她說的話我居然一個字都沒有記住。這個發(fā)現(xiàn)讓我釋然，使我得以繼續(xù)寫完演講稿，我不用再擔(dān)心，那種想成為“gay wizard”（harry porter中的魔法大師）的眩暈的愉悅，可能會誤導(dǎo)你們放棄在商業(yè)、法律、政治領(lǐng)域的大好前途。

你們看，如果你們在若干年后能記住“gay wizard”這個笑話，我就比Barkoness Mary Warnock有進(jìn)步了。所以，設(shè)定一個可以實現(xiàn)的目標(biāo)是個人進(jìn)步的第一步。

實際上，我已經(jīng)絞盡腦汁、費(fèi)勁心思去想今天我應(yīng)該講什么好。我問自己：我希望在自己畢業(yè)那天已經(jīng)知道的是什么，而又有哪些重要的教訓(xùn)是我從那天開始到現(xiàn)在的21年間學(xué)會的。

我想到了兩個答案。在今天這個愉快的日子，我們聚在一起慶祝你們學(xué)習(xí)上的成功時，我決定和你們談?wù)勈〉氖找妗Ａ硗猓?dāng)你們?nèi)缃裉幱凇艾F(xiàn)實生活”的入口處時，我想向你們頌揚(yáng)想象力的重要性。

我選擇的這兩個答案似乎如同歌德式幻想一樣不切實際，或者顯得荒謬，但是請容忍我講下去。

對于我這樣一個已經(jīng)42歲的人來說，回頭看自己21歲畢業(yè)時的情景，并不是一件舒服的事情。我的前半生之前，我一直在自己內(nèi)心的追求與最親近的人對我的要求之間進(jìn)行不自在的抗?fàn)帯Ｎ以_信我自己唯一想做的事情是寫小說。但是我的父母都來自貧窮的家庭，都沒有上過大學(xué)，他們認(rèn)為我的異常活躍的想象力只是滑稽的個人怪癖，并不能用來付抵押房產(chǎn)，或者確保得到退休金。

他們曾希望我去拿一個職業(yè)文憑，而我想讀英國文學(xué)。最后,我們達(dá)成了一個回想起來雙方都不甚滿意的妥協(xié)：我改學(xué)現(xiàn)代語言。可是等到父母一走開，我立刻報名學(xué)習(xí)古典文學(xué)了。

我忘了自己是怎么把學(xué)古典文學(xué)的事情告訴父母的了，他們也可能是在我畢業(yè)那天才第一次發(fā)現(xiàn)。在這個星球上的所有科目中，我想他們很難再發(fā)現(xiàn)一門比希臘神學(xué)更沒用的課程了。

我想順帶著說明，我并沒有因為他們的觀點(diǎn)而抱怨他們。現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)不是抱怨父母引導(dǎo)自己走錯方向的時候了，如今的你們已經(jīng)足夠大來決定自己前進(jìn)的路程，責(zé)任要靠自己承擔(dān)。而且，我也不能批評我的父母，他們是希望我能擺脫貧窮。他們以前遭受了貧窮，我也曾經(jīng)貧窮過，對于他們認(rèn)為貧窮并不高尚的觀點(diǎn)我也堅決同意。貧窮會引起恐懼、壓力，有時候甚至是沮喪。這意味著小心眼、卑微和很多艱難困苦。通過自己的努力擺脫貧窮確實是件很值得自豪的事情，但只有傻瓜才對貧窮本身夸夸其談。

我在你們這個年齡的時候，最害怕的不是貧窮，而是失敗。

在你們這個年齡，盡管我明顯缺少在大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)的動力，我花了很多時間在咖啡吧寫故事，很少去聽課，但是我知道通過考試的技巧，當(dāng)然，這也是好多年來評價我，以及我同齡人是否成功的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。

我想說，并不是我太遲鈍，我覺得你們還不曾知道什么是艱難困苦，或者什么是心碎的感覺，因為你們還年輕，而且天資聰明，受到良好教育。但是天賦和智商還未能使任何人免于命運(yùn)無常的折磨，我從來不認(rèn)為這里的每個人已經(jīng)享有平靜的恩典和滿足。

然而，你們能從哈佛畢業(yè)這個現(xiàn)實表明，你們對失敗還不是很熟悉，對于失敗的恐懼與對于成功的渴望可能對你們有相同的驅(qū)動力。確實，你們對于失敗的概念可能與普通人的成功差不了太多。你們在學(xué)習(xí)這方面已經(jīng)站得相當(dāng)高了！

當(dāng)然，最終我們所有人不得不為自己決定什么是失敗的組成元素，但是如果你愿意的話，世界很愿意給你一堆的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。基于任何一種傳統(tǒng)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，我可以說，僅僅在我畢業(yè)7年后，我經(jīng)歷了一次巨大的失敗。我突然間結(jié)束了一段短暫的婚姻，失去了工作。作為一個單身媽媽，而且在這個現(xiàn)代化的英國，除了不是 無家可歸，你可以說我有多窮就有多窮。我父母對于我的擔(dān)心，以及我對自己的擔(dān)心都成了現(xiàn)實，從任何一個通常的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來看，這是我知道的最大失敗。

現(xiàn)在，我不會站在這里和你們說失敗很好玩。我生命的那段時間非常的灰暗，那時我還不知道我的書會被新聞界認(rèn)為是神話故事的革命，我也不知道這段灰暗的日子要持續(xù)多久。那時候的很長一段時間里，任何出現(xiàn)的光芒只是希望而不是現(xiàn)實。

那么我為什么還要談?wù)撌〉氖找婺兀績H僅是因為失敗意味著和非我的脫離，失敗后我找到了自我，不再裝成另外的形象，我開始把我所有的精力僅僅放在我關(guān)心的工作上。如果我在其他方面成功過，我可能就不會具備要求在自己領(lǐng)域內(nèi)獲得成功的決心。我變得自在，因為我已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷過最大的恐懼。而且我還活著，我有一個值得我自豪的女兒，我有一個陳舊的打字機(jī)和很不錯的寫作靈感。我在失敗堆積而成的硬石般的基礎(chǔ)上開始重筑我的人生。

你們可能不會經(jīng)歷像我那么大的失敗，但生活中面臨失敗是不可避免的。永遠(yuǎn)不失敗是不可能，除非你活得過于謹(jǐn)慎，這樣倒還不如根本就沒有在世上生活過，因為你從一開始就失敗了。

失敗給了我內(nèi)心的安寧，這種安寧是順利通過測驗考試獲得不了的。失敗讓我認(rèn)識自己，這些是沒法從其他地方學(xué)到的。我發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有堅強(qiáng)的意志，而且，自我控制能力比自己猜想的還要強(qiáng)，我也發(fā)現(xiàn)自己擁有比紅寶石更真的朋友。

從挫折中獲得的知識越充滿智慧、越有力，你在以后的生存中則越安全。除非遭受磨難，你們不會真正認(rèn)識自己，也沒法知道你們之間關(guān)系有多鐵。這些知識才是真正的禮物，他們比我曾經(jīng)獲得的任何資格證書更為珍貴，因為這些是我經(jīng)歷過痛苦后才獲得的。

如果給我一個時間機(jī)器，我會告訴21歲的自己，個人的幸福建立在自己能夠認(rèn)識到：生活不是擁有的物品與成就的清單。雖然你們會碰到很多和你們一樣大或年長的人分不清楚生活與清單的區(qū)別，但你們的資格證書、簡歷，都不能等價于你們的生活。生活是困難的，也是復(fù)雜的，它完全超出任何人的控制，謙虛的認(rèn)識到這些能使你們在生命的沉浮中得以順利生存。

你們可能認(rèn)為我選擇想象力作為第二個演講主題是因為它在重筑我人生的過程中起了作用，但這不是全部原因。雖然我會不遺余力地為床邊故事的價值做辯護(hù)，但我已學(xué)會從更廣泛的意義來評價想象力的價值。想象力不僅是一種能促使人類預(yù)想不存在事物的獨(dú)特能力，從而成為所有發(fā)明和創(chuàng)新的源泉；從想象力或許是最具改革性和啟示作用的能力這點(diǎn)講，它更是一種能使我們同沒有 分享過他們經(jīng)歷的人產(chǎn)生共鳴的力量。

我最偉大的生活經(jīng)歷之一發(fā)生在寫《哈利波特》前，當(dāng)然我在后來書中寫的很多東西與這個經(jīng)歷有關(guān)。這個啟示來源于我最早期工作之一。我在倫敦的大赦國際總部的研究部門工作，雖然我在中飯的時間逃出來寫小說，但我需要這份工作來支付我20多歲時的房租。(注：大赦國際是一個全球性的志愿組織，致力于為釋放由于信仰而被監(jiān)禁的人以及給他們的家庭發(fā)放救濟(jì)等方面的工作。)

在那兒我的狹小的工作室內(nèi)，我匆忙得讀著從各地集權(quán)政權(quán)內(nèi)傳出來的潦草信件，這些信件是那些冒著進(jìn)監(jiān)獄風(fēng)險而向外傳播發(fā)生在他們身上慘劇的人偷運(yùn)出來。我看到了無影無蹤就消失的人的相片，這些相片是家里人或朋友送來的。我讀著被酷刑折磨的受害者的證據(jù)和他們受傷的照片；我打開手寫的目擊者對審訊和處決的摘要記錄，以及對綁架和強(qiáng)奸的敘述。

我的許多同事以前是政治犯人，他們因為勇于不附和政府而獨(dú)立思考，以致被趕出自己的家，或者被放逐。來拜訪我們辦公室的人包括那些傳遞消息的，或者嘗試弄清楚那些被迫離開的人身后的真相。

我永遠(yuǎn)不會忘記那個非洲來的被酷刑折磨的受害者，他是一個和我那時候年齡相仿的年輕男子，但在他家鄉(xiāng)經(jīng)受過的拷打后，他已經(jīng)有了精神病。當(dāng)他向錄像機(jī)講述強(qiáng)加在他身上的暴行時，他無法控制地發(fā)抖。他比我高一英尺，但像一個小孩一樣脆弱。后來我的工作是護(hù)送他去地下站，這個整個生活被野蠻摧毀的男子禮貌地握著我的手，祝福我一生幸福。

只要我活著，我就能記住我沿著一個空曠的走廊走，突然從后面關(guān)閉的一扇門傳來我從沒聽到過的充滿痛苦和恐怖的尖叫。門打開了，有個研究人員探出頭，讓我快點(diǎn)跑去弄點(diǎn)熱飲料給坐在她旁邊的那個年輕男子。原來，她剛告訴那個男子，為了報復(fù)他對他國家的政權(quán)做了公開的反對演講，他的媽媽被抓住、處決了。

在我20多歲時工作的每一天，我提醒我自己我是多么的幸運(yùn)啊，能生活在一個民主選舉產(chǎn)生的政府的國家，在這里合法的陳述和公共審判是每一個人的權(quán)利。

每一天，我看到更多的證據(jù)，證明邪惡的人類為了獲得、維持權(quán)力而加害與他們同樣的人類。我開始為這些我看到的、聽到的、讀到的東西做惡夢，是文字惡夢。

然而，我也在大赦國際學(xué)到了比我以前知道的更多的人類善良的一面。

大赦國際動員了數(shù)千位沒有因為信仰問題而被拷問或入獄的人，讓他們來代表那些經(jīng)歷過這些的人行動起來。人類的同理心具有能引導(dǎo)集體行動的力量，這種力量能拯救生命，讓囚徒獲得自由。在這種活動中，那些擁有受到保護(hù)的個人福址和安全的普通人聚在了一起，來拯救他們不認(rèn)識、也永遠(yuǎn)不會見面的人。我在這個過程中小小的參與是我生命中最卑微，也是最令人振奮的經(jīng)歷之一。

人類和在這個星球上的其他生物不同，人類能夠在沒有自我經(jīng)歷的情況下學(xué)習(xí)和理解。他們可以設(shè)身處地的思他人所思，想他人所想。

當(dāng)然，這是一種力量，如同我虛構(gòu)的魔法，這種力量是道德中立的。有人可能常運(yùn)用這種能力去操作和控制，就像用于理解和同情一樣。

而且，許多人根本不喜歡訓(xùn)練他們的想象力。他們寧愿在自己的經(jīng)驗范圍內(nèi)維持舒適的狀態(tài)，也不愿麻煩地去思考這樣的問題：如果他們不是現(xiàn)在的自己，那么應(yīng)該是什么感覺呢？他們拒絕聽到尖叫，拒絕關(guān)注囚牢，他們可以對任何與他們自身無關(guān)的苦難關(guān)上思維與心靈的大門，他們可以拒絕知道這些。

我可能會羨慕那些以這種方式生活的人，但我不認(rèn)為他們的噩夢比我少。選擇在狹小的空間生活會導(dǎo)致精神上的恐曠癥（對于陌生人、事物的恐懼），而且會帶來它自身形成的恐怖。我想那些任性固執(zhí)的缺乏想象力的人會看到更多的怪物，他們常常更容易感到害怕。

甚至于，那些選擇不去想他人所想的人可能激活真正的惡魔。因為，雖然我們沒有親手犯下那些昭然若揭的惡行，我們卻以冷漠的方式和邪惡在串謀。

十八歲時，為了尋找那時我無法描述的目的，我踏上了古典文學(xué)的探險道路；當(dāng)走到盡頭的時候，我學(xué)到了很多東西，其中之一就是希臘作家Plutarch的這句話：我們在內(nèi)心的所得，將改變外界的現(xiàn)實。

我在古典文學(xué)的求學(xué)之路上學(xué)到的，也是我18歲時在那冒險搜尋但不知道怎么定義的重要事情之一就是，如古希臘作家普盧塔克所寫的：“我們對內(nèi)在修養(yǎng)的追求將會改變外在現(xiàn)實。”

這是一個令人驚訝的說法，然而它在我們生命中每一天會被證明一千多次。這句話部分地說明了我們和外部世界不可分離的聯(lián)系，我們只能通過生命存在來接觸別人生命的事實。

但是你們，2008哈佛大學(xué)的畢業(yè)生們，到底有多么得愿意來感受他人的生命 呢？你們對付困難工作的智慧與能力，你們贏得和接受的教育，給了你們獨(dú)特的地位和責(zé)任。甚至你們的國籍也使你們與眾不同。你們中的很大一部分人屬于這個世界剩下的唯一超級大國（美國）。你們投票、生活、抗議的方式，你們給政府施加的壓力，會產(chǎn)生超越國界的影響。那是你們的特權(quán)，更是你們的負(fù)擔(dān)。

如果你們選擇用你們的地位和影響力來為沒法發(fā)出聲音的人說話；如果你們選擇不僅認(rèn)同有權(quán)的強(qiáng)勢群體，也認(rèn)同無權(quán)的弱勢群體；如果你們保留你們的能力，用來想象那些沒有你們這些優(yōu)勢的人的現(xiàn)實生活，那么不僅是你們的家庭為你們的存在而感到自豪，為你們慶祝，而且那些因為你們的幫助而生活得更好的數(shù)以千萬計的人，會一起來為你們祝賀。我們不需要魔法來改變世界，我們已經(jīng)在我們的內(nèi)心擁有了足夠的力量：那就是把世界想象成更好的力量。

在我的演說快要結(jié)束的時候，我對大家還有最后一個希望，這是我在自己21歲時就明白的道理。畢業(yè)那天和我坐在一起的朋友后來成了我終生的朋友。他們是我孩子的教父母；他們是我碰到麻煩時能求助的人；他們是非常友善的，不會為了我以他們的名字給食死徒(書中反面角色)命名而控告我。在我們畢業(yè)的時候，我們沉浸在巨大的情感沖擊中；我們沉浸于這段永不能重現(xiàn)的共同時光內(nèi)；當(dāng)然，如果我們中的某個人將來成為國家首相，我們也沉浸于能擁有極其有價值的相片作為證據(jù)的興奮中。

所以今天，我最希望你們能擁有同樣的友情。到了明天，我希望即使你們不記得我說過的任何一個字，但能記住塞內(nèi)加，我在逃離那個走廊，回想進(jìn)步的階梯，尋找古人智慧時碰到的另一個古羅馬哲學(xué)家，說過的一句話：“生活如同小說，要緊的不是它有多長，而在于它有多好。”

我祝愿你們都有幸福的生活。

謝謝大家。The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination J.K.Rowling, author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, delivers her Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association.Text as prepared follows.Copyright of JK Rowling, June 2008

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all, graduates.The first thing I would like to say is ?thank you.? Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I?ve experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight.A win-win situation!Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world?s best-educated Harry Potter convention.Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility;or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation.The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock.Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can?t remember a single word she said.This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.You see? If all you remember in years to come is the ?gay wizard? joke, I?ve still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock.Achievable goals: the first step towards personal improvement.Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to you today.I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years that has expired between that day and this.I have come up with two answers.On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure.And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ?real life?, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination.These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with me.Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become.Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels.However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree;I wanted to study English Literature.A compromise was reached that in retrospect satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages.Hardly had my parents? car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics;they might well have found out for the first time on graduation day.Of all subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys to an executive bathroom.I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view.There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction;the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.What is more, I cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience poverty.They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience.Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression;it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships.Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak.Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure.You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success.Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person?s idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it.So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale.An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.The fears my parents had had for me, 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.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.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 your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two.Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone?s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so.Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense.Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation.In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those books.This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs.Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at Amnesty International?s headquarters in London.There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment to inform the outside world of what was happening to them.I saw photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty by their desperate families and friends.I read the testimony of torture victims and saw pictures of their injuries.I opened handwritten, eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings and rapes.Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the temerity to think independently of their government.Visitors to our office included those who had come to give information, or to try and find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave behind.I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had endured in his homeland.He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him.He was a foot taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child.I was given the job of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite courtesy, and wished me future happiness.And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and horror such as I have never heard since.The door opened, and the researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink for the young man sitting with her.She had just given him the news that in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country?s regime, his mother had been seized and executed.Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were the rights of everyone.Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power.I began to have nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard and read.And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty International than I had ever known before.Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have.The power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and frees prisoners.Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not know, and will never meet.My small participation in that process was one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced.They can think themselves into other people?s minds, imagine themselves into other people?s places.Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral.One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all.They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are.They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages;they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally;they can refuse to know.I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do.Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors.I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters.They are often more afraid.What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters.For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy.One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives.It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people?s lives simply by existing.But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch other people?s lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work, the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and unique responsibilities.Even your nationality sets you apart.The great majority of you belong to the world?s only remaining superpower.The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders.That is your privilege, and your burden.If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice;if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless;if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better.We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.I am nearly finished.I have one last hope for you, which is something that I already had at 21.The friends with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life.They are my children?s godparents, the people to whom I?ve been able to turn in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me when I?ve used their names for Death Eaters.At our graduation we were bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if any of us ran for Prime Minister.So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships.And tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine, you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in search of ancient wisdom: As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.I wish you all very good lives.Thank you very much.

第三篇：失敗怪自己美文

班牙有一個小男孩，從小就迷戀繪畫。14歲的時候，在父親的幫助下，第一次舉辦了個人畫展。展出這天，前來觀看的人絡(luò)繹不絕，稱贊與欽佩的人也不在少數(shù)，其中亦不乏一些內(nèi)行的人。

但一直到畫展結(jié)束，小男孩的作品一件也沒賣出去。小男孩白天興奮的心情一下子跌落深淵，連晚飯也不吃，一個人關(guān)在房間里生悶氣。

這時，父親笑容滿面地走進(jìn)來，對他說：“怎么不去吃飯啊？”

“我吃不下。”小男孩的淚水在眼眶中直打轉(zhuǎn)，“我的畫展居然連一幅畫也沒賣出去，真丟人。”

父親拍了拍小男孩的肩膀，凝重地說：“我可并不這么認(rèn)為。我畫了一輩子的畫，也沒辦一次畫展。你才14歲，就辦了畫展，還得到了那么多人的贊許，這已經(jīng)相當(dāng)了不起了。難道你還指望你的畫被搶購一空嗎？不，絕對不可能，因為你還沒達(dá)到那樣的水平，而且距離還遠(yuǎn)著呢！”

小男孩默默地聽著父親的話。忽然，他站起來，擦去快掉下的眼淚，說：“爸爸，我明白了，我不生氣了。畫展的結(jié)果，不能怪任何人，要怪就怪自己畫得不夠好！我要繼續(xù)努力，不斷提高自己的水平。”

父親欣慰地點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭，說：“這才對呀！你的路還長著呢。你要攀登上藝術(shù)的巔峰，必須一步一個腳印，踏踏實實地走下去。”

小男孩望著父親，堅定地笑了。

從此，小男孩刻苦學(xué)習(xí)，努力鉆研，勤奮繪畫，直到成為20世紀(jì)最富創(chuàng)造性和最具影響力的畫壇泰斗。他的名字便是畢加索。

第四篇：年輕不怕失敗美文

年輕的優(yōu)勢是你可以有無數(shù)次開始

她是我的一位遠(yuǎn)房親戚，典型的“富二代”，父親有家規(guī)模不小的公司，但她畢業(yè)后卻選擇了自主創(chuàng)業(yè)。她與三個同學(xué)創(chuàng)辦了一家微型廣告公司。她不知從哪里得來的靈感，要在全城所有的酒店餐館免費(fèi)安裝自己設(shè)計的電子菜單牌——正面是餐館的菜單，背面投放廣告。

創(chuàng)意不錯，但真正跑下來，她的合伙人不到一個月就都敗下陣來。只有她堅持著，把全城劃成六個區(qū)域，每天一早就背上大背包、戴頂太陽帽。騎著自行車，走街串巷，一家一家餐館跑。就是免費(fèi)安裝，也不是人人都愿意接受的，于是她請求、央求、甚至賴著不走，不達(dá)目的誓不罷休。一個夏天跑下來，她曬成了“黑人”，手臂都曬褪了皮，嘴唇也破了一次又一次，她自嘲說，這就叫磨破嘴皮子。父母心疼她，說人家像你這樣家庭條件的，都像公主一樣，打扮得花蝴蝶似的出去談情說愛。真不懂你，干嗎這樣苦著自己？

她說，把自己的創(chuàng)意變成現(xiàn)實，很有成就感，再苦再難也無所畏懼。一個夏天悄悄過去了，功夫不負(fù)有心人，全城上千家酒店，跟她簽合作協(xié)議的有八百多家。

我曾經(jīng)參觀過她的文化創(chuàng)意公司，像這樣的小公司，這兩年如雨后春筍，我只記得她設(shè)計的陶瓷工藝品挺別致。學(xué)工業(yè)設(shè)計的她無比迷戀美國職業(yè)籃球賽，是科比的鐵桿粉絲。2008年科比來杭州時，初出茅廬的她突發(fā)奇想，要為科比設(shè)計一款陶瓷戰(zhàn)靴，并當(dāng)面送給他。

陶瓷戰(zhàn)靴做好了，主色調(diào)為黃色，鞋的側(cè)面有一條龍，表面還有五只蝙蝠，完美地表達(dá)了科比作為世界籃壇王者的至高地位。但怎么送到科比手上呢？按慣例，科比杭州之行會送一雙自己的鞋子ZK4給阿里巴巴的總裁馬云。于是，她想借馬云的手把自己制作的陶瓷ZK4鞋送給科比。她聯(lián)系了阿里巴巴公司，出于安全考慮，建議沒被采納。看直播的時候，她看到科比送了他的那雙ZK4給馬云，心里很難受，要是這時候能把她的陶瓷鞋回贈給科比，該多好。她沒有氣餒，寫了一封信給專業(yè)鞋類雜志《鞋幫雜志》，以球迷的身份細(xì)說了這雙陶瓷鞋的故事。雜志的總編看信后，覺得她的設(shè)計很有意思，就幫她聯(lián)系了科比的廣告商耐克公司。耐克公司同意跟她接洽，但還要通過層層關(guān)卡。她先把產(chǎn)品圖片發(fā)到耐克全球總部審核，再轉(zhuǎn)給科比。沒想到科比看過圖片，非常喜歡。今年夏天科比來杭州，欣然接受了她用陶瓷做的籃球鞋。

科比的人氣讓世界都知道有位20來歲的女孩經(jīng)營了一家叫古早的創(chuàng)意公司。

都說“80后”是糖水中泡大的，自私冷漠、缺乏責(zé)任心，不像他們的父輩那樣吃苦耐勞、百折不撓。而他們當(dāng)中的佼佼者是那樣自信、自強(qiáng)，讓人心生敬佩。

第五篇：失敗的價值美文

在美國，有一個收藏家名叫諾曼·沃特。他看到眾多收藏家為收購名貴物品而不惜千金，靈機(jī)一動：為什么不收藏一些劣畫呢？于是，他收購兩種劣畫：一種是名家的“失常之作”，另一種是價格低于5美元的無名人士的畫。沒多久，他收藏了200多幅劣畫。

隨后，沃特在報紙上登出廣告，聲稱要舉辦首屆劣畫大展，目的是讓年輕人在比較中學(xué)會鑒別，從而發(fā)現(xiàn)好畫與名畫的真正價值。

沃特的廣告廣為流傳，成為人們茶余飯后的一個熱門話題。人們爭先恐后地參觀，有的甚至從外地趕來。出乎人們的意料，這一畫展非常成功。

還有一個與“劣畫大展”很相似的展覽，就是“失敗產(chǎn)品陳列館”。美國有一家市場情報服務(wù)公司，其經(jīng)理叫羅伯特。他酷愛收藏，共收集了75萬件“失敗產(chǎn)品”。后來，他又試著創(chuàng)辦了一個“失敗產(chǎn)品陳列館”。這個陳列館把許多企業(yè)和個人費(fèi)盡心機(jī)研制又因種種原因失敗的產(chǎn)品展示出來。

“失敗產(chǎn)品陳列館”開館后，參觀的人絡(luò)繹不絕，這些參觀者的收獲可以用愛迪生的話來概括：“失敗也是我所需要的，它和成功對我一樣有價值。只有在我知道一切做不好的方法以后，我才知道做好一件工作的方法是什么。”自然，羅伯特也取得了意想不到的成功。

失敗，像一座開放的學(xué)府。在這座學(xué)府里，真理的光芒足以照耀人們化險為夷、反敗為勝的道路。這，應(yīng)是失敗真正的價值所在。