要使枯树生花,死灰生火,始为豪耳。况未必为枯树死灰乎!这句话出自胡适的朋友梅光迪,胡适非常喜欢。胡适还很喜欢英国诗人卜郎呤的诗句:One who never turned his back but marched/Breast forward,/Never doubted clouds would break,/never dreamed, though right were worsted,/Wrong would triumph,/Held we fall torise, are baffled to fight better,/Sleep to wake.胡适曾把这首诗翻译成白话文:从不转背而挺身向前,/从不怀疑云要破裂,/虽合理的弄糟,违理的战胜,/而从不作迷梦的,/相信我们沉而再升, 败而再战,/ 睡而再醒。梅光迪的话和这首诗,说明胡适是一个乐观主义者。