会稽素号山水之区，深林长谷，信步皆是，寒暑晦明，无时不宜，安居饱食，尘嚣无扰，良朋四集，道义日新，优哉游哉，天地之间，宁复有乐于是者？孔子云：「不怨天，不尤人，下学而上达。」仆与二三同志方将请事斯语，奚暇外慕？独其切肤之痛，乃有未能恝然者，辄复云云尔。
会稽素称山水之区，深林长谷，信步皆是；寒暑晦明，无时不宜。安居饱食，尘嚣无扰，良朋四集，道义日新，优哉游哉，天地之间还有比这更快乐的吗？孔子说：「不怨天，不尤人，下学而上达。」我与二三同志正要践行这句话，哪有闲工夫向外欣慕？只是切肤之痛，还有不能释然的，于是又说了这些。
Kuaiji has ever been a land of hills and waters: deep woods and long valleys at every stroll, cold or heat, dark or dawn, never unfitting. Dwelling at peace, eating one's fill, no dust of the crowd, good friends gathered from all sides, rightness daily new — what joy under heaven could surpass? Confucius: no grudging heaven, no blaming men; learning from below, reaching above. My few fellows and I are bent on just this — what leisure for hankering abroad? Only the ache cut into the skin I cannot quite dismiss — hence all these words again.