They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards¹ of their excellence².
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
  For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
  Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.

谁有力量损害人而不这样干，
谁不做人以为他们爱做的事，
谁使人动情，自己却石头一般，
冰冷、无动于衷，对诱惑能抗拒--
谁就恰当地承受上天的恩宠，
善于贮藏和保管造化的财富；
他们才是自己美貌的主人翁，
而别人只是自己姿色的家奴。
夏天的花把夏天熏得多芳馥，
虽然对自己它只自开又自落，
但是那花若染上卑劣的病毒，
最贱的野草也比它高贵得多：
　　极香的东西一腐烂就成极臭，
　　烂百合花比野草更臭得难受。