15条永不过时的生活智慧

The great benefit of living with, working for, or being related to people who have experienced more of life than you have is picking their brain for advice.
和比你有生活经验的人一起生活、或为之工作、或和他们有联系的最大的益处莫过于可以从他们那里得到建议。

The most effective people learn from their own mistakes, and make a significant effort to learn from other people's errors as well.
效率高的人会从自己的错误中学习，并努力从别人的错误中学习。

A recent Quora thread asked users for the best advice they've ever gotten. Here are a few of the greatest excerpts:
最近Quora上有一个帖子，问用户得到的最好的建议是什么。其中最好的几条摘录如下：

1. Never say "but."
不要说“但是” 。

"A very smart woman I worked with once told me that if I eliminated the word 'but' from my professional vocabulary, I'd find greater acceptance for my ideas, and greater cooperation from my team members... The word 'but' negates everything that precedes it, and you cast a negative spin on anything you say when you use it... 'But' is exclusive and isolating; 'and' is inclusive and welcoming."
“和我一起工作的一位非常聪明的女士曾经告诉我，如果我把‘但是’这个词从我的工作用语中去掉，那我的想法被别人接受的概率会更高，我的团队成员间的合作程度也会更好……‘但是’这个词把它之前的内容都否定了，当你用它的时候，你说的话都蒙上了消极的色彩……‘但是’是排外的和孤立的；‘并且’是包容的、受欢迎的。”

2. You never get anything unless you ask.
除非你去争取，否则你什么也得不到。

"It was a professor in my university, but I believe its origin is from somebody famous: If you don't ask, the answer is always 'no'."
“这句话是从我大学的一个教授那儿听到的，但我觉得这句话是源自一句名言：如果你不去问，那么答案永远是 ‘不’。”

3. Think before you complain.
抱怨之前先思考。

"Don't complain. I think it was phrased as something like, 'Do you ever listen to someone complaining and think, This is a great conversation!?' Being negative doesn't help others, and it doesn't help you."
“不要抱怨。换句话说，“你有没有听别人抱怨，然后想，恩，这次的谈话可真棒！？’消极并不会帮助他人，也不会对你有帮助。”

4. Time is the one thing you never get back.
时间这个东西，你永远不会重新得到。

"A mentor I had some years ago told me that time is the one thing that you can never get back. If you look at it as an asset, you can donate it, spend it, or waste it. Whatever you do with it, it is gone once it passes."
“几年之前我的导师告诉我，时间这个东西，你永远也不会重新得到。如果你把它看成是资产，你可以捐出它、花掉它或浪费掉。无论你怎么处理它，只要它过去了，它就再也不见了。”

5. Attitude is more important than talent.
态度比天赋要更加重要。

"I have been time and again repeatedly told that a strong positive attitude takes a man farther than his talent. There are many greats in sports, entertainment, politics, science, and art who had great talent but lost on huge counts only because of a faulty and shaky attitude.
“我被反复告诫，和天赋相比，积极的态度能让人走得更远。体育、娱乐、政治、科学和艺术等方面有很多人都富有天赋，但最终却输的很惨，原因就在于他们的态度不够端正。

Attitude helps you solve problems talent cannot. Attitude helps you navigate through problem talent hides."
态度能帮你解决很多天赋解决不了的问题。态度能帮你在天赋所隐藏的问题中探索。”

6. Quality is always greater than quantity.
质量永远比数量要重要。

"If you're going to do something, do it well enough to avoid doing it the second time. Going back to do something the second time is a time-waster if you knew it can be done right the first time. Even writing this post, I'm putting in my best effort into editing it, explaining it, and making it easy and enjoyable to read — to avoid going back and fixing any grammatical errors."
“如果你要做什么事情，一定一次做好，不要再做第二遍。如果你知道第一次就能做好，那做两遍纯粹是浪费时间。即便是这个帖子，我也是尽力去编辑、去解释，让它易读，且读起来让人心情愉悦——避免再弄一次，去修改其中的语法错误。”