To burn always with this hard， gem-like flame， to maintain this ecstasy， is success in life. In a sense it might even be said that our failure is to form habits： for， after all， habit is relative to a stereotyped world， and meantime it is only the roughness of the dye that makes any two persons， things， situations， seem alike. While all melts under our feet， we may well grasp at any exquisite passion， or any contribution to knowledge that seems by a lifted horizon to set the spirit free for a moment， or any stirring of the senses， strange dyes， strange colors， and curious odors， or work of the artist’s hands， or the face of one’s friend.
　　Not to discriminate every moment some passionate attitude in those about us， and in the very brilliancy of their gifts some tragic dividing of forces on their ways， is， on this short day of frost and sun， to sleep before evening. With this sense of the splendor of our experience and of its awful brevity， gathering all we are into one desperate effort to see and touch， we shall hardly have time to make theories about the things we see and touch.
　　What we have to do is to be for ever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions， never acquiescing in a facile orthodoxy of Comte， or of Hegel， or of our own. Philosophical theories or ideas， as points of view， instruments of criticism， may help
　　閃耀着宝石般的光焰炽烈地燃烧，并且不断保持着这种精神亢奋的状态，乃是生命的胜利。在某种意义上，甚至可以说：一旦形成某种习惯，就意味着失败。归根结底是因为习惯总依附于一个定了型的事态，而在粗疏的眼光下，两个人、两件事、两种情境常常会被看得彼此相似。只有当一切在我们的脚下熔化，我们才能看清种种强烈的激情，种种似乎能提高人的眼界、使人精神豁然开朗的知识进步，种种感官的刺激，例如奇色异彩、奇香异味，以及艺术家的匠艺，或者自己某位朋友的面容。
　　我们与周围的人相处，在任何时刻，如果一点也看不出某种受激情支配的姿态，并且从人们的光辉才华中也看不出某种力量分配方面的悲剧，那么，在我们这既有冰霜、又有阳光的短暂时日中，就意味着不待黄昏来临便昏昏睡去。感受到了人生阅历的五色缤纷及倏忽无常，我们拼出全部力气进行观察和接触，哪里还有时间去为自己观察和接触到的事物制订出一套一套的理论？
　　我们必须做的，是要不断地检验新的意见、博取新的印象，而无论如何不能轻易接受不管是孔德、黑格尔或是我们自己的什么泛泛的正统学说。作为立论观点或批评工具，哲学理论和哲学概念可以帮助我们搜集那些可能习焉不察、轻轻放过的事物。因为“哲学是思想的显微镜”。