Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death不自由,毋宁死

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death不自由,毋宁死 Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death不自由，毋宁死 Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775. 帕特里克.亨利 1775年3月23日 没有人比我更相信刚才在议会发言的尊敬的先生们所怀有的爱国心和能力。 然而，对于同一个问题 ，不同的人有不同的观点。如果我的观点和你们相反， 我会直率地、毫无保留地说出来，我希望不会被认为是无礼的，或许，应该感到 高兴。我已经无暇顾及礼仪。当前议题悬系国家生死存亡，在我看来，它不能退 缩到一个比关于自由和被奴役更小的议题。其概念具微到我们的议论本身，那就 是辩论的自由，只有这样我们才能达到真理、履行我们为上帝和国家所承担的责 任;如果，在这个时候，我因为害怕受到攻击而讳言，那就是背叛国家，背叛我 所崇敬的建立超越世俗君王的庄严国土的信念。 No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. 总统先生，人们总是容易寄希望于幻想，在痛苦的现实面前闭上眼睛，麻醉 在女妖的歌声中，直到她把我们变成畜牲。在我们这些投身于伟大而又艰巨的、 为自由而斗争的人们当中，是否也存在这样的人,是否也存在倾向于成为这样的 人,他们对于如此生死攸关的大事视而不见，听而不闻。对于我来说，无论承受 多大精神痛苦，我都愿意知道事情的全部真相，知道最坏的可能，做好准备，为 之斗争。 Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. 1 / 15 我有但只有一盏灯用来指引我的脚步，那就是经验之灯，通过过去判断未来， 除此之外，我别无办法。通过过去，我想知道，英国政府过去十年当中的所作所 为，哪一点证明了这些希望、这些尊敬的先生们用以安慰自己和议院的希望，是 有理由实现的,是不是最近我们递交请愿书时他们所堆出的阴险的笑容,不，先 生，事实会证明它是一个陷阱。不要被人亲一下嘴就被诱惑，使自己遭受痛苦。 问问你们自己，他们接收我们请愿时的友善态度与那些大范围的海陆战备相称 吗,相爱、和解需要这些舰队和陆军吗,难道我们露出不愿意和解，以至于他 们要用武力来赢回我们的芳心,不要再自欺欺人了，先生。他们在实施战争和镇 压，这是英王所采取的最后的解决争端的办法。我想问一下诸位，这些军事部署， 如果不是为了迫使我们屈服，还会是什么,诸位还能想象出其它可能的动机吗, 在这个世界的角落，大不列颠帝国还有敌人让他大动干戈的吗,没有，先生，没 有。军队是针对我们而非他人。他们要把我们绑在和钉在大不列颠帝国早已为我 们铸成的锁链之上。我们该如何反抗, 我们要据理力争吗,先生，我们已经争 了十年了，争出新意了吗,没有。我们已经穷极辩争所能及的方方面面，但是一 切归于枉然。我们要哀求、一再地低声下气地哀求吗,还有什么新花样我们还没 有折腾够的呢, 请不要欺骗自己了，我求求你们，先生。我们已经竭尽所能来 避免这场暴风雨的来临。我们请愿，我们抗议，我们哀求，我们匍匐在英王的脚 下哀求她干预并约束殖民政府和国会的暴政。我们的请愿被轻蔑，我们的抗议招 致更多的暴力和凌辱，我们的哀求被忽视，在王座的跟前，我们被一脚踢开。一 切枉然～在经历这些事之后，我们还要沉迷于自作多情的和解之梦吗,已经无梦 可作了。如果我们想要自由，如果我们想要捍卫我们为之长期斗争的无上权力， 如果我们还不至于那么卑鄙，卑鄙得要放弃我们一直从事的崇高斗争、违背我们 永不放弃直至斗争胜利的誓言，——那么，我们必须战斗～我再说一遍，先生们， 我们必须战斗～诉诸武力和战争之神～除此之外，别无选择。 I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for 2 / 15 us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? 有人告诉我们，先生们，说我们太弱小了，对付不了如此强大的敌人。但是， 我们什么时候才变得强大,下个星期,明年,等到我们被彻底缴械,等到每个 家门口都站了一个英国卫兵,我们优柔寡断无所作为就能积攒力量,我们躺在 床上、沉迷于希望的幻影直至束手就擒才能够获得一种有效的抵抗,先生 们，如果我们正确地运用上天赋于我们的力量，我们并不弱小。百万民众，被追 求自由的神圣目标所鼓舞、所武装，在我们伟大的国度，我们不乏这样的力量， 这种力量是敌人的任何武力所战胜不了的。此外，先生们，我们并非孤身作战， 正义的上帝主持着万国的命运，他将唤起朋友与我们并肩作战。胜利不仅仅取决 于强大，胜利更取决于警惕、善战和勇敢。何况，我们已别无选择。即使我们卑 鄙之极、心存幻想、想不干都来不及了。退路已断，只有投降、做亡国奴。我们 的锁链已经铸成～我们仿佛能够听到它们在波士顿平原上哐啷作响。战争不可避 免 -- 那么，就让它来吧～我再说一遍，先生们，就让它来吧～ Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free-- if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending--if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained--we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as 3 / 15 that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. 试图低估事态的严重性是枉然的。也许你们要喊，和平，和平 ——但是和 平不复存在。战争实际上已经开始～当北方的大风再起之时，金戈的鏦铮、炮火 的轰鸣将传入我们的耳际～我们的弟兄已经投入战斗～我们还在这里等什么,先 生们，你们还在希望什么,你们还有什么办法,难道生命就如此可贵、和平就如 此甜美，竟值得我们用被禁锢、被奴役来换取, 不～上帝～我不知道你们如何 选择，对于我，不自由，毋宁死～ It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! 4 / 15 This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005. I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories. The first story is about connecting the dots. I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out? It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college. And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5? deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about 5 / 15 varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. My second story is about love and loss. I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over. I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. 6 / 15 During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together. I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle. My third story is about death. When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the 7 / 15 tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now. This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Thank you all very much～ 8 / 15 So with imagination, ingenuity and audacity, explore, discover, change the world Daniel S. Goldin President Vest, members of the Board of Trustees, administration and faculty, distinguished guests, friends and loving families, and most of all, the MIT Class of 2001... I am deeply honored to be here and it is a tremendous privilege to be addressing you today. When I received the invitation, I told my wife, Judy, immediately. She has an extremely tough job, which she happens to do very well. My wife's the one who, on occasion, has to bring the NASA chief back to Earth. She kind of shook her head. She told me that MIT's past commencement speakers have been some of the world's most powerful people. And then she asked: "Do you really think you can compete with the president of the United States, the UN Secretary General, Click and Clack, the guys from "Car Talk"? Probably not. But I do have one thing going for me: I might not be on the radio every Saturday morning. But I am a rocket scientist. And if that's not enough, I told my wife: "You know NASA is famous for fitting a square peg into a round hole. Well, at MIT those outstanding technologists somehow managed to precariously balance an eight-foot anvil weighing 48 units on top of the Great Dome." I said, "Don't worry, honey. These are MY people." I would like to start today by telling you a little about the robe I'm wearing. Exactly one year ago today, I was invited to give a lecture at the University of Padua, in Italy, after receiving an honorary doctorate. The University of Padua is where one of my heroes, a professor by the name of Galileo Galilei, built his first telescope. It was where Galileo made so many celestial discoveries, and it was where he wrote Sidereus Nuncius -- Starry Messenger -- his book dealing with the satellites of Jupiter and the composition of the Milky Way. 9 / 15 The University of Padua -- in fact, in the very same room I was so incredibly humbled to speak in -- is where Galileo delivered countless lectures to some of the best and brightest students in the world. Of course, if Galileo were alive today and wanted to speak to the best and the brightest, there is really no doubt he would have to come right here to the Charles River and MIT. It might be hard to lure him from his country of birth. But I think President Vest could do it if the offer was sweet enough. You'd have to promise Galileo he would never have to recant his teachings. And of course, you'd have to offer him tenure. The robe I'm wearing today is what I wore at Padua that day. It is the garb that lecturers have worn at Padua since Galileo's time. Actually, they had to wear this robe and this cap. Contrary to what many of you are thinking, I'm not wearing this because I lost some cruel bet. And I'm not wearing it because I'm the victim of the latest MIT hack. At least not yet. I wear this cap and gown because I want to give you a visual image. As you lift off from this wonderful institution to explore and discover whatever mysteries life may hold. You may not remember me. But perhaps you will remember the cap and gown. More than that, I hope that each and every one of you remembers Galileo. Not necessarily his lectures, but his lessons and his life. For as grand as all of Galileo's discoveries and contributions were, I think his example -- what motivated him to live his life he way he did -- was really quite simple. He was committed to lifelong learning. He settled for nothing less than excellence. He not only sought truth, Galileo believed more than anything else that he would find it. I say these are simple notions. I do not want to imply they are easy. Like Galileo, you must have the imagination, the ingenuity and sometimes even the audacity necessary to live your life in this fashion. You must also realize that the stuff of excellence -- truth, real scientific truth -- can be elusive. Not just in Galileo's time, but also in our own as well. It is too 10 / 15 often covered by the heavy fog of fear and hidden by the darkness of your detractors. You must believe in yourself. You must have the desire. You must have the focus to see truth clearly. That the winner of the Harvard-Yale game every year is MIT tells me that you have the imagination and ingenuity thing covered. And that MIT students once made their president's office disappear says you have audacity to spare. As for the second part of the equation, consider it a personal challenge never to let your commitment to learning be denied. To strive for excellence. To believe in yourself and have the ability to prioritize. Because it you meet that challenge -- and I know MIT grads can, and I know MIT grads will -- you will be responsible for perhaps the most dramatic revolution in the history of humankind. It is a revolution that will surpass the one that started when Galileo himself first came to cast his gaze skyward. I believe that with all my heart. Think about this: Over the last 50 years, we have been witness to so many incredible achievements. From jet travel to space travel, from TV to MP3, even from instant coffee to instant messaging. These discoveries and inventions have changed not only the view of our planet and our universe, but our place in it. Your contribution can blow all the others away. But only if you begin by asking a straightforward question. I'll even use today's vernacular: "What have you done for me lately?" Our aircraft have not improved dramatically since the introduction of the revolutionary Boeing 707, first introduced 40 years ago. Today, the plane's instruments may have a few more computer chips and a few more lines of code, but basically, we're flying the same types of planes in the same air space at the same speed. There's just more of them to burden the system. We have not had a revolutionary change in the automotive industry in decades. We still cut and grind materials just as we always have. And 32 years after the 11 / 15 Eagle landed, we're still using virtually the same technology to keep our rockets flying. Even the information technology we're so rightfully proud of -- the kind of systems that make it possible for MIT to show the world the value of education by putting its course materials online and available for free, even those systems are approaching their physical, conceptual and economic limits. Today's computers calculate, they don't think or reason. Information systems are hard and deterministic, not soft and adaptive. With your commitment to learning, with your desire for excellence, with your belief in yourself and your search for truth, all of that's going to change in the next half century. In the next 50 years, you will usher in the nano-revolution and discover what is possible when we approach technology -- from information systems to materials -- at the atomic scale. You will employ what I call "biomimetics." That's when we replace traditional technology by mimicking biology or making hybrid systems that integrate biology directly. Computers will behave more like the human brain. Airplane wings will adapt to different flight conditions, much like a bird's wings adapt now. Systems will be self-sensing and self-correcting. For you, the silicon-based computer chip will belong in a museum, next to the dinosaurs. What will all this mean? If excellence and truth are your goals, it will mean the things that Galileo could only dream about. You will cure today's diseases and allow people to live to the limits of the bodies they were born with. You will solve global climate changes and make sustainable development a reality. You will send probes beyond our solar system and to the stars. You may look upward and answer the question as old as humankind itself: Are we alone? And you will make my dream come true. Not in 50 years, but in the next 10 to 20. A spacecraft will land, a hatch will open, a ladder will drop. Then, the world will watch as an astronaut -- in a white suit with an American flag on the shoulder -- steps down and crunches her boot down on the dusty red surface of Mars. 12 / 15 Are these goals lofty, the dreams big, the missions risky? You bet. And the chances are you will meet your share of detractors...And no doubt, you will encounter some failure along the way. But remember that Galileo was put under house arrest for his beliefs. People thought he was a heretic. Certainly if you take risks and come up short, it won't compare to that. Don't be afraid, get up, dust yourself off and move on. I'll tell all of you what I've told the NASA employees after we have a failure...that's usually witnessed by billions of people. Not experiencing any failure in life is rarely a sign of perfection; rather it's a sign that your goals aren't bold enough. Hardware can be replaced. The science isn't being denied, just delayed. Failure is not an option, only if you try to avoid it and refuse to learn from it. The real mark of your character comes from not how you react to your successes, of which I know there will be many. How you react to your failures, of which there will be, if you are bold, a number in your lifetime. So always believe in yourself and remain committed to learning ... to excellence ... to truth. That is the lesson of Galileo. It is also a lesson I learned from my father. He would be so proud to see me standing here today. He always spoke fondly of MIT. He would probably ask: "Dan, what's with the outfit?" But he would be proud nevertheless. My father died about six years ago: It was right around the time we discovered what we call the Mars Rock. It's still controversial, but many believe the rock contains fossilized bacteria that originated on Mars, and thus proof of life... the great debate goes on. I remember clearly to this day when the three scientists from Houston came into my office and briefed me on their findings. Could you imagine being in charge of NASA and having people come into your office and say: "We think we've discovered fossilized life from Mars." It doesn't get any better than that. I couldn't believe it. I was overwhelmed. I asked every possible question I could think of. My personal inquisition lasted for hours, and when they left, I 13 / 15 was convinced we should announce the find, however controversial it was. I felt worldwide peer review was good for science and it was good for young people to witness the scientific process and the intense debate that would go on and still goes on. That night I couldn't control my excitement. I had to share the discovery with the man who brought me to the Hayden Planetarium when I was a young boy and introduced me to what became my life's passion. I called my father in the hospital. My father graduated from college with a biology degree during the Great Depression -- brilliant career choice. He couldn't get a job for years. He worked for the Post Office, and then ultimately became a teacher, a career he passionately loved. Even though he was weak and dying from cancer, we spoke for over an hour. He was just as excited as I was. He absorbed everything and asked more questions than I did. I even pretended, "Dad, I know all the answers." At the end of the call, I said: "Dad, you have to do me a favor. You can't tell anybody about this for weeks, at least. This is top secret right now." My father replied, "Dan, who am I going to tell? Get a grip, I'm in the hospital dying of cancer." Well, about a month later, we made the announcement. My father passed within days later. I can't help but believe that what kept my father alive until that announcement was made, in large part, was his lifelong commitment to learning. He had always sought truth. And he had an irrepressible desire to see his only son do the same. That somehow I could play, albeit a small role in attempting to solve one of the mysteries of life, literally gave my father more life. That's the power of truth and learning and excellence. The search for what it is that ignites the human spirit, overcoming the unexpected and discovering the unknown -- that's what life is about. That's really what Galileo saw when he looked through his telescopes. And that's what awaits you. The clichï?? goes that you are the future. I contend the future is now. 14 / 15 So with imagination, ingenuity and audacity, explore, discover, change the world. And have fun while you're at it. Always take time out to love and to live. You're going to be busy, but never forget family and friends. In other words, as a parent, on behalf of all the other parents who are here today, please,at least once in a while, don't forget to check in with old Mission Control. Indulge us. I mentioned earlier that if Galileo were alive today, he'd want to teach here. In a way, Galileo is here today. In truth, there are 2400 Galileos sitting right in front of me about to get their well-earned degrees. MIT Class of 2001... With the confidence that you will never, ever have to recant your discoveries, remain committed to learning. Settle for nothing less than excellence. Do not only seek truth. But believe in yourself. That way, you will find truth. Congratulations and Godspeed to all of you. 15 / 15