我发现，真相没什么可怕的。有些真相可能令人惧怕，比方说发现自己得了绝症，不过知道这个事实会让我们更好去应对。要实事求是，也要让别人这样做，我们的思想才能被完全开发，所获得的反馈对于我们的学习才是最有用的。
I learned that being truthful was an extension of my freedom to be me. I believe that people who are one way on the inside and believe that they need to be another way outside to please others become conflicted and often lose touch with what they really think and feel. It’s difficult for them to be happy and almost impossible for them to be at their best. I know that’s true for me.
我发现，实事求是自由做自己的延伸。表里不一、取悦他人的人往往会自相矛盾，也容易丢失自己的价值观。他们不容易感到开心，更不可能展现出自己最好的一面。反正我认为我是这样的。
I learned that I want the people I deal with to say what they really believe and to listen to what others say in reply, in order to find out what is true. I learned that one of the greatest sources of problems in our society arises from people having loads of wrong theories in their heads—often theories that are critical of others—that they won’t test by speaking to the relevant people about them. Instead, they talk behind people’s backs, which leads to pervasive misinformation. I learned to hate this because I could see that making judgments about people so that they are tried and sentenced in your head, without asking them for their perspective, is both unethical and unproductive.So I learned to love real integrity (saying the same things as one believes)and to despise the lack of it.
我发现，我想打交道的人是能告诉我他们真正所想的人，我也想倾听他们的反馈，以寻求真相。导致社会问题最根本的原因是人们有太多错误的理论，都是些批评他人的理论，而人们又不会跟相关的人谈起，无法检验这些理论的真假。相反，人们却在背后闲言闲语，错误的信息漫天飞舞。我很讨厌这样，我看到过这种情况：不去问对方的观点，就把别人在脑海中私自“判刑”，妄加评论。这么做既不道德，也很无效。所以我喜欢真正的表里如一，信什么，就说什么。不诚实的人，我是嗤之以鼻的。
It is unethical because a basic principle of justice is that everyone has the right to face his accuser. And it is unproductive because it does not lead to the exploration of “Is it true?” which can lead to understanding and improvement.
这种做法之所以不道德是因为公正的基本原则便是人人都有权利与批评者对峙。而说其毫无建设性是因为它阻断了对真相的探索，无法形成理解和提高。
I do not mean that you should say everything you think, just that what you do say matches your thoughts.
我不是要你想什么就都出说来，而是只说与自己想法相匹配的内容。
The word “integrity” is from the Latin root “integer,” which means “one” i.e., that you are the same inside and out. Most people would be insulted if you told them that they don't have integrity—but how many people do you know who tell people what they really think?
英文中的正直（integrity）一词来源于拉丁语的整体（integer）一词，含有唯一性。若我说一个人不正直，大多数人都会觉得我在辱骂他，但你认识的人里，又有多少人会告诉你真实想法呢？
I learned that everyone makes mistakes and has weaknesses and that one of the most important things that differentiates people is their approach to handling them. I learned that there is an incredible beauty to mistakes, because embedded in each mistake is a puzzle, and a gem that I could get if I solved it, i.e., a principle that I could use to reduce my mistakes in the future. I learned that each mistake was probably a reflection of something that I was (or others were) doing wrong, so if I could figure out what that was, I could learn how to be more effective. I learned that wrestling with my problems, mistakes, and weaknesses was the training that strengthened me. Also, I learned that it was the pain of this wrestling that made me and those around me appreciate our successes.
我发现，人人都会犯错，都有弱点，大家的差异在于处理问题的方式。错误是极为美丽的花朵，它蕴藏着一个谜题，解开了就能获得宝石，这颗宝石就是一条原则，避免以后犯同样的错误。每条错误，都可能是自己或别人过去犯错的一种反映，如果能指出来，就能提升效率。同问题、错误和弱点展开斗争会让自己变得强大，斗争中会感到疼痛，也正是如此我们才会珍惜成功的果实。
I believe that our society's “mistakephobia” is crippling, a problem that begins in most elementary schools, where we learn to learn what we are taught rather than to form our own goals and to figure out how to achieve them. We are fed with facts and tested and those who make the fewest mistakes are considered to be the smart ones, so we learn that it is embarrassing to not know and to make mistakes. Our education system spends virtually no time on how to learn from mistakes, yet this is critical to real learning. As a result, school typically doesn’t prepare young people for real life—unless their lives are spent following instructions and pleasing others. In my opinion, that’s why so many students who succeed in school fail in life.
我认为社会上“犯错恐惧症”会带来严重后果。这个问题从小学就开始了，老师教什么，我们就学什么，也不会教我们树立自己的目标或实现梦想的方法，摆在我们面前的是机械地学习一堆知识并参加考试。犯错最少才被认为是最聪明的。要犯错或承认自己不懂，我们会觉得很丢人。我们的教育制度重心从来都不教学生从错误中学习，但其实从犯错中学习才是真正的学习。因此，学校培养出来的年轻人难以适应现实生活，不过如果他们愿意一生只做遵守指令、取悦他人的人，那就另当别论了。所以我觉得很多学校成绩优异的学生，人生并不成功。
I learned that the popular picture of success—which is like a glossy photo of an ideal man or woman out of a Ralph Lauren catalog, with a bio attached listing all of their accomplishments like going to the best prep schools and an Ivy League college, and getting all the answers right on tests—is an inaccurate picture of the typical successful person. I met a number of great people and learned that none of them were born great—they all made lots of mistakes and had lots weaknesses—and that great people become great by looking at their mistakes and weaknesses and figuring out how to get around them. So I learned that the people who make the most of the process of encountering reality, especially the painful obstacles, learn the most and get what they want faster than people who do not. I learned that they are the great ones—the ones I wanted to have around me.
我发现，大众对于成功的概念是这样的：穿着拉夫·劳伦服装，在一幅光鲜亮丽的宣传照旁边附上自己的成就介绍：上最好的私立预科学校，考入常青藤联盟的名牌大学，能答对所有的考试题。其实这是对真正成功人士生活的误读。我阅人无数，没一个成功人士天赋异禀，他们也常犯错，缺点也不少，他们成功是因为正视错误与缺点，找到日后避免犯错、解决问题的方法。所以我觉得，全力利用好直面现实的过程，尤其是在和困难障碍斗争时的痛苦经历，从中竭力吸取教训，这样定能更快实现目标。这样的人，才能成为成功人士，这才是我想打交道的人群。
In short, I learned that being totally truthful, especially about mistakes and weaknesses, led to a rapid rate of improvement and movement toward what I wanted.
简而言之，要直面真相，特别是自己的错误和弱点，会大大促进自我提升，离梦想越来越近。
While this approach worked great for me, I found it more opposite than similar to most others’ approaches, which has produced communications challenges.
尽管这个方法对我很适用，可是似乎与其他方法比起来，显得与众不同，很多人不认同，交流起来甚是困难。
Specifically, I found that:
具体来说，我发现：
* While most others seem to believe that learning what we are taught is the path to success, I believe that figuring out for yourself what you want and how to get it is a better path.
尽管很多人认为教你什么就好好学才能实现成功。但我认为，发现自己想要什么，明白实现梦想的方法，这才是更光明的道路。
After all, isn’t the point of learning to help you get what you want? So don’t you have to start with what you want and figure out what you have to learn in order to get it?
学习的目的不就是实现梦想吗？那一开始是不是就应该先弄明白自己想要什么以及要实现梦想需要学什么呢？
While most others seem to believe that having answers is better than having questions, I believe that having questions is better than having answers because it leads to more learning.
尽管很多人认为答案比问题更好，但我认为问题比答案好，因为问题能让我们学到更多。
In fact I believe that most people who are quick to come up with answers simply haven’t thought about all the ways that they can be wrong.
事实上，我认为那些很快就想出答案的人并没有考虑自己会出错的方方面面。
While most others seem to believe that mistakes are bad things, I believe mistakes are good things because I believe that most learning comes via making mistakes and reflecting on them.
尽管很多人认为犯错是坏事，但我认为犯错是好事，因为人们主要都是从犯错的反思中受益进而学习和提高自己的。
While most others seem to believe that finding out about one’s weaknesses is a bad thing, I believe that it is a good thing because it is the first step toward finding out what to do about them and not letting them stand in your way.
尽管很多人认为发现缺点是坏事，但我认为缺点是好事，因为认识到缺点是寻找解决办法的第一步，进而不让缺点成为自己的绊脚石。
While most others seem to believe that pain is bad, I believe that pain is required to become stronger.
尽管很多人认为痛苦不好，但我认为想要变得强大，就需要经受痛苦。
I don’t mean that the more pain the better. I believe that too much pain can break someone and that the absence of pain typically prevents growth so that one should accept the amount of pain that is consistent with achieving one’s objectives.
我不是说越疼越好，我认为过于疼痛会对人产生损害。没有痛苦一般不利于成长，所以我们应在与实现自己目标相一致的前提下，承受一定的痛苦。
One of the advantages of my being over 60 years old—and there aren’t many—is that we can look back on my story to see how I came by these beliefs and how they have worked for me. It is now more than 35 years after I started Bridgewater and about the same number of years since I got married and began my family. I am obviously not your Ralph Lauren poster child for success, yet I’ve had a lot of successes, though they’re probably not what you’re thinking.
我60多岁了，我这个年纪的人优势已经不多了，其中之一就是我能回望过去，审视这些原则是否真的发挥过作用。我成立桥水联合基金公司35年，结婚成家也差不多这么多年，从我的经历来看，显然我不是大家想的那种拉夫·劳伦宣传海报上的成功典范，但我还是取得了很多成功，尽管不一定是你想象的那种成功。
Yes, I started Bridgewater from scratch, and now it’s a uniquely successful company and I am on the Forbes 400 list. But these results were never my goals—they were just residual outcomes—so my getting them can’t be indications of my success. And, quite frankly, I never found them very rewarding.
成立桥水联合基金，我算是白手起家，现在这家公司已经非常成功，我也在福布斯400富豪榜上占有一席。但这些从来都不是我的目标，算是附加回报吧，这些不能说明我就是成功的。说实在的，我也不觉得这些所谓的成就有什么意义。
I have been very lucky because I have had the opportunity to see what it’s like to have little or no money and what it’s like to have a lot of it. I’m lucky because people make such a big deal of it and, if I didn’t experience both, I wouldn’t be able to know how important it really is for me. I can’t comment on what having a lot of money means to others, but I do know that for me, having a lot more money isn’t a lot better than having enough to cover the basics. That’s because, for me, the best things in life—meaningful work, meaningful relationships, interesting experiences, good food, sleep, music, ideas, sex, and other basic needs and pleasures— are not, past a certain point, materially improved upon by having a lot of money. For me, money has always been very important to the point that I could have these basics covered and never very important beyond that. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think that having more is good–it’s just that I don’t think it’s a big deal. So, while I spend money on some very expensive things that cost multiples relative to the more fundamental things, these expensive things have never brought me much enjoyment relative to the much cheaper, more fundamental things. They were just like cherries on the cake. For my tastes, if I had to choose, I’d rather be a backpacker who is exploring the world with little money than a big income earner who is in a job I don’t enjoy. (Though being in a job that provides me with what I want is best of all, for me). Also, from having come from having next-to-nothing to having a lot, I have developed a strong belief that, all things being equal, offering equal opportunity is fundamental to being good, while handing out money to capable people that weakens their need to get stronger and contribute to society is bad.
我一直都很幸运，因为我有机会体验身无分文，也知道富有是什么感觉。现在很多人都花很大精力赚钱，我如果没体验过贫穷与富有两种状态，就不会明白金钱对于我来说是否真的重要。富有对别人来说意义如何我是无法评论的，但对我来说，赚更多的钱同只能满足基本需求的收入相比，并没有那么大的差别。因为我觉得人生最棒的事情是：有意义的工作，有意义的人脉，有趣的经历，吃得好睡得好，听歌，各种新点子，性等其他基本需求和令人愉悦之物。当金钱积累达到某个临界点后，增加再多，也就不会明显提升这些我认为人生最棒的东西。金钱对我来说的重要性就是，能够满足我的基本生活需求，再多我就认为不重要了。我不是说认为拥有更多不好，只是觉得这没什么大不了的。花钱的时候，有些东西特别昂贵，购买这些东西并不能给我带来多少快乐，购买经济实惠且更重要的东西才能给我带来快乐。这就像蛋糕上的樱桃一样，锦上添花罢了。要我选的话，与其做一份高薪但不喜欢的工作，我宁可做个环游世界的穷背包客。对我来说，从事的工作如果做的是自己想做的就是最好了。从几乎一无所有到拥有甚多，我培养了一个很强的信念，即万物皆平等，提供平等的机会对成功很重要，有能力的人获得的报酬丰富，就可能削弱他们渴望变强大贡献社会的意愿，这对社会发展不利。
What I wanted was to have an interesting, diverse life filled with lots of learning—and especially meaningful work and meaningful relationships. I feel that I have gotten these in abundance and I am happy. And I feel that I got what I wanted by following the same basic approach I used as a 12-year-old caddie trying to beat the market, i.e., by 1) working for what I wanted, not for what others wanted me to do; 2) coming up with the best independent opinions I could muster to move toward my goals; 3) stress - testing my opinions by having the smartest people I could find challenge them so I could find out where I was wrong; 4) being wary about overconfidence, and good at not knowing; and 5) wrestling with reality, experiencing the results of my decisions, and reflecting on what I did to produce them so that I could improve. I believe that by following this approach I moved faster to my goals by learning a lot more than if I hadn’t followed it.
我渴望的是生活充满趣事，多姿多彩，不断学习，能做有意义的工作，能认识可交之人。我认为，能常常满足这些条件，我就很开心了。我还发现，从我是个12岁的球童到现在，我击败市场一直都使用的是同一套方法：1）我干我自己想做的事情，而非他人逼迫我为之；2）我把我能想到的最好的、独立的观点汇聚到一起，用以实现我的目标；3）把我认识最聪明的人找来帮我挑毛病，找出我观点中错误的地方；4）我不敢太过自信，但很善于面对“不知”；5）我同现实展开斗争，反思为什么会产生这种结果，从中学习与提高。
Here are the most important principles that I learned along the way.
来谈谈一路走来，我觉得最重要的一些原则吧
My Most Fundamental Principles
我最重要的根本原则
In pursuing my goals I encountered realities, often in the form of problems, and I had to make decisions. I found that if I accepted the realities rather than wished that they didn’t exist and if I learned how to work with them rather than fight them, I could figure out how to get to my goals. It might take repeated tries, and seeking the input of others, but I could eventually get there. As a result, I have become someone who believes that we need to deeply understand, accept, and work with reality in order to get what we want out of life. Whether it is knowing how people really think and behave when dealing with them, or how things really work on a material level—so that if we do X then Y will happen—understanding reality gives us the power to get what we want out of life, or at least to dramatically improve our odds of success. In other words, I have become a “hyperrealist.”
追求梦想的征途中，我与现实中遇到的问题激烈碰撞，不得不做出各种决策。我发现，与其整日幻想这些问题不存在或与之抗争，还不如实事求是，寻找解决方案，这样倒能更快找到实现目标的路。可能要反复尝试，汲取他人智慧，但最终总能实现梦想。久而久之，我深信要理解现实，接受现实，与现实合作，寻找解决办法，才能实现梦想。无论是了解他人的真实想法与行为，还是事物在物质层面的真实原理，如我们做甲那么乙就会发生，理解现实都会赋予我们力量，助我们实现梦想，至少可以提高成功的几率。换句话说，我成了一名“高度写实主义者”。
When I say I’m a hyperrealist, people sometimes think I don’t believe in making dreams happen. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, I believe that without pursuing dreams, life is mundane. I am just saying that I believe hyperrealism is the best way to choose and achieve one’s dreams. The people who really change the world are the ones who see what’s possible and figure out how to make that happen. I believe that dreamers who simply imagine things that would be nice but are not possible don’t sufficiently appreciate the laws of the universe to understand the true implications of their desires, much less how to achieve them.
提到“高度写实主义者”，就有人以为我不相信梦想可以变为现实，恰恰相反，事实上，我认为生活没有梦想是寡然无味的。我强调的是，选择梦想与实现梦想，通过高度写实主义是最好的办法。真正改变世界的人，能发现什么梦想是有可能实现的，并能指出可行之道。而真正的空想家成天幻想一些不切实际的美好事物，不考虑宇宙规则，无法深刻理解自身愿望的真实内涵，更别提实现他们的想法了。
Let me explain what I mean.
我来解释一下：
I believe there are an infinite number of laws of the universe and that all progress or dreams achieved come from operating in a way that’s consistent with them. These laws and the principles of how to operate in harmony with them have always existed. We were given these laws by nature. Man didn’t and can’t make them up. He can only hope to understand them and use them to get what he wants. For example, the ability to fly or to send cellular phone signals imperceptibly and instantaneously around the world or any other new and beneficial developments resulted from understanding and using previously existing laws of the universe. These inventions did not come from people who were not well-grounded in reality. 17The same is true for economic, political, and social systems that work. Success is achieved by people who deeply understand reality and know how to use it to get what they want. The converse is also true: idealists who are not well-grounded in reality create problems, not progress. For example, communism was a system created by people with good intentions who failed to recognize that their idealistic system was inconsistent with human nature. As a result, they caused more harm than good.
