出人头地的代价

1915年1月2日，美国《星期六晚间邮报》上刊登了卡迪拉克汽车公司广告，这篇广告是文字，而且篇幅很长--大约有400多字(指英文单词，但这是一篇极好的文章，这篇广告始终被认为是最优秀的广告）作者-西奥多，麦克曼斯，始终被认为是最优秀的广告。英文的直译好像应该是“领袖的惩罚”。不管怎样，都是好文章

出人头地的代价

在人类洁动的每一个领域，得了第一的人必须长期生活在世人公正无私的裁判之中。无论是一个人还是一种产品。当他被授予了先进称号后，赶超和妒忌便会接踵而至。

美术界、文学界、音乐界和工业界，酬劳与惩罚总是一样的。报酬就是得到公认；而惩罚则是遭到反对和疯狂的抵毁。当一个人的工作得到世人的一致公认时，他也同时成了个别忌妒者攻击的目标。假如他的工作很平庸，就没有什么人去理会他；如他有了杰作，那就有人喋喋不休地议论他；嫉妒不会伸出带叉的苦头去诽谤一个只有平庸之才的画家。无论是写作、画画，还是演戏、唱歌或从事营造业，只要你的作品没有打上杰作的印记，就不会有人力图赶超你，诽谤你。在一项重大成果或一部佳作已完成的很长一段时间里，失望和嫉妒的人仍会继续叫喊：“那是不可能的”。外界人早已将惠斯勒（Whistler）称颂为最伟大的艺术大师之后，艺术领域中仍然流言纷纷，将自己的艺术大师说成是江湖骗子；当人们成群结队到音乐殿堂Bayreuth向瓦格纳（Wagner）顶礼膜拜时，而—小撮被他废黜或顶替的人却气势汹汹地叫嚷：“他根本就不是音乐家”；当众人涌向河边观看轮船行驶之时，少数人仍坚持说富尔顿（Fulton）决不可能造成轮船。杰出人物遭到非议，就是因为他是杰出者，你要是力图赶上他，只能再次证明他是出色的；由于未能赶上或超过他，那些人就设法贬低和损害他——但只能又一次证实他所努力想取代的事物的优越性。

这一切都没有什么新鲜，如同世界和人类的感惰——嫉妒、恐惧、贪婪、野心以及赶超的欲望——一样，历来就是如此，一切都徒劳无益。如果杰出人物确实有其先进之处，终究是一个杰出者。杰出的诗人、著名的画家、优秀工作者，每个人都会遭到攻击，但每个人最终也会拥有荣誉。不论反对的叫喊声多响，美好的或伟大的，总会流传于世，该存在的总是存在的。

The Penalty of Leadership

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the whit e light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured pr oduct, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, t he reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recogni tion; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a stan dard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be merely mediocre, he will be left severely alone - if he achieve a masterpie ce, it will set a million tongues a-wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongu e at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you, unless your w ork be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious continue to cry out that it canno t be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whist ler as a mountebank, long after the big world had acclaimed him its greatest genius. M ultitudes flocked to worship at the shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those wh om he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could not build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river to see his boat steam by. The leader is assailed because he is the leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failin g to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy - but only confir ms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing ne w in this. It is as old as the world and as old as the human passions - envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains - the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his tur n is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live - lives.