Do you think it is the same bird? Superficially, yes, it is the same bird who was flying in the sky; but deep down it is not the same bird—because where is its sky, where is its freedom?
This golden cage may be valuable to you; it is not valuable to the bird. For the bird, to be free in the sky is the only valuable thing in life. And the same is true about human beings.
你问：“结婚后还保持自由,可能吗？”
轻松地看待婚姻，自由是可能的；严肃地看待婚姻，自由绝不可能。把婚姻就看作游戏——它是个游戏。多一点幽默感，它只是你在人生舞台上扮演的一个角色；并不属于存在，也没有真实性——它是个虚构。
但人们如此愚蠢，居然把虚构当作现实。我看见，人们读小说，悲惨的故事让他们流泪。播放电影时，把灯关掉，这样做很好，因此每个人能享受这部电影，欢笑、哭泣、伤心、快乐。如果灯开着，这就有点难——如果表露情绪，别人会怎么想？他们知道得很清楚，屏幕空无一物——没有人，只是投影的图像。但他们完全忘了这个事实。
我们的生活里，也发生同样的事。很多事情，只须幽默看待，我们却那么严肃——结果问题纷至沓来。
首先，你为什么要结婚呢？你爱某人，与某人一起生活——这都是你的基本权利。你能与某人一起生活，你能爱某人。
天堂里没有婚姻，婚姻只在尘世，通过牧师的狡诈而存在。但是，如果你不想超然独立，而想参与这个社会游戏，那么你就要让你的妻子或丈夫弄清楚，婚姻仅仅是个游戏：“别把婚姻看得那么严肃。婚姻中，我将保持独立性，与婚前一样，你也是如此。你不妨碍我的生活，我也不妨碍你的生活；我们生活在一起，像两个好朋友，分享喜悦，分享自由——但绝不成为对方的负担。任何时刻，感觉到春天消失和蜜月结束，我们将足够真诚，绝不伪装，而告诉对方：我们曾非常相爱——我们将对此永远保持感激，那些充满爱的时光，萦绕在我们的记忆和梦里，如黄金般宝贵——但现在春天结束了。我们已走到那个点，尽管令人伤心，但我们必须分开，因为现在，共同生活不再是爱的象征。如果我真的爱你，当看见我的爱让你痛苦时，我将离开你；如果你真的爱我，当你看见你的爱禁锢我时，你将离开我。”
爱是生命的最高价值：它不该蜕化为愚蠢的仪式。爱和自由在一起——不能做选择。知道自由的人充满了爱，知道爱的人总会给予自由。如果你不能给你所爱的人自由，那你又能把自由给谁呢？给予自由不是别的，就是信任。自由就是爱的表达。
所以无论你是否结婚，记住，一切婚姻都是捏造品——仅仅为了社会的方便。婚姻的意图，不是让你们彼此囚禁和束缚，而是让你们彼此帮助，共同成长。但成长需要自由；在过去，所有文化都遗忘了：没有自由，爱就消失。
你看见一只鸟，在阳光灿烂的天空中飞翔，多么美！它的美吸引着你，你能捉住它，把它放进金鸟笼里。
你认为它还是原来那只鸟吗？表面上，它还是那只在天空中飞翔的鸟，但是，在深处它已经不是原来那只鸟——因为，没有它的天空，哪来它的自由？
这个金鸟笼，对你而言，也许有价值；对鸟而言，毫无价值。在鸟看来，空中的自由飞翔，才是它生命中唯一的价值。对于人类，也是同样的道理。
When You Are Old 当你老了
When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face among a crowd of stars.
当你老了，头发发白了，睡意昏沉，
炉火旁打盹，请取下这部诗歌，
慢慢读，回想你过去眼神的柔和，
回想它们昔日浓重的阴影；
多少人爱你青春欢畅的时辰，
爱慕你的美丽，假意或真心，
只有一个人爱你那朝圣者的灵魂，
爱你衰老了的脸上痛苦的皱纹；
垂下头来，在红光闪耀的炉子旁，
凄然地轻轻诉说那爱情的消逝，
在头顶的山上它缓缓踱着步子，
在一群星星中间隐藏着脸庞……
Love And Time爱和时间
Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.
Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.
When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.
Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, “Richness, can you take me with you?”
Richness answered, “No, I can’t. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you.”
Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. “Vanity, please help me!”
“I can’t help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat,” Vanity answered.
Sadness was close by so Love asked, “Sadness, let me go with you.”
“Oh … Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!”
Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.
Suddenly, there was a voice, “Come, Love, I will take you.” It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder,
Love asked Knowledge, another elder, “Who helped me?”
“It was Time,” Knowledge answered.
“Time?” asked Love. “But why did Time help me?”
Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, “Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is.”
从前有一个岛，所有的情感都住在那里：幸福、悲伤、知识和所有其它的，爱也不例外。一天，所有的情感听说小岛即将沉没，因此建造小船，纷纷离开，除了爱。
爱是唯一留下来的，因为它希望能坚持到最后一刻。
小岛即将沉没了，爱决定请求帮助。
富有驾着一艘大船从爱身边经过，爱说，“富有，你能带上我么？”
富有回答说：“不行，我的船上载满金银财宝，没有你的地方。”
虚荣坐在漂亮的小船中从爱身边驶过，爱问：“虚荣，你能帮助我么？”
虚荣说：“不行，你全身湿透，会弄脏我的船。”
悲伤的船靠近了，爱问：“悲伤，请带我走吧。”
“哦……爱，我太难过了，想一个人呆着。”
幸福经过爱的身边，它太开心了，根本没听见爱在呼唤。
突然，一个声音喊道：“来，爱，我带你走。”声音来自“年老”。爱太高兴了，甚至忘了问他们即将去何方。当他们来到岸上，年老自己离开了。爱突然意识到“年老”给了它多大的帮助。
于是，爱问另一位老者——知识：“谁帮助了我？”
知识说：“是时间。”
“时间？”爱问：“但是时间为什么帮助我？”
知识睿智地微笑道：“因为只有时间了解爱的价值。”
Damaged Goods毁坏的美好
The dust mites1 danced in the ray of sunshine that provided the only light in the rabbi’s2 office. He leaned back in his office chair and sighed as he stroked3 his beard. Then he took his wire-rimmed glasses and polished them absentmindedly on his flannel6 shirt.
“ So，” he said， “ you were divorced. Now you want to marry this good Jewish boy. What’s the problem？”
He nestled his grizzled chin in his hand and smiled softly at me.
