If that's not a novelist's description of what a lost cause is I've never read one.

这就是一个小说家所描述的失败的代价,我从未读到过更贴切的说法了

耶鲁公开课 - 美国内战与重建课程节选

I mean it wasn't terrible, it was sort of a precursor to what people are trying to do It flopped miserably, but I'm glad we did it.

其实也没那么糟糕，它就是个先兆，预示了现今人们,很悲惨它失败了，不过我很高兴我们做过。

斯坦福公开课 - 微软CEO-Steve.Ballmer谈科技的未来课程节选

Does he not say that armed prophets always win, the unarmed prophets lose? Did he not say that he wrote to reveal the effectual truth of things and ? not just what people have imagined the case to be?

难道他没说过武装的先知总能取胜而，徒手的先知总是失败？，难道他没说过,他写作是为了揭示出事物的本来面目,证明事物并非人们幻想的那个样子？

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选