威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆（William Somerset Maugham），这位英国著名作家以其深刻的社会洞察和细腻的心理描写而闻名于世。他的作品不仅在文学领域占据重要地位，更以隽永的哲理和犀利的语言影响了一代又一代读者。以下是几段来自毛姆的经典英文语录，它们既是对生活的反思，也是对人性的剖析。

1. "To achieve the good in life is as difficult as to achieve the great."

- “要获得美好的生活如同成就伟大的事业一样艰难。”

2. "The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we live so long in pain."

- “人生的悲剧不在于它结束得如此之快，而在于我们长时间地生活在痛苦之中。”

3. "There are three reasons for doing things: because you have to, because you can, and because you want to."

- “做事情有三种原因：因为你必须这样做，因为你能够这样做，还因为你想要这样做。”

4. "Only the mediocre are always at their best."

- “只有平庸的人才能始终处于最佳状态。”

5. "It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it."

- “关于生活，有一件很有趣的事；如果你拒绝接受任何次于最好的东西，你常常会得到它。”

6. "To be human is to have a sense of finitude."

- “为人就是要有对有限性的感知。”

7. "It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not."

- “做真实的自己被厌恶总比伪装成别人而被喜爱来得好。”

8. "The only way to deal with fear is to face it."

- “应对恐惧的唯一方法就是直面它。”

9. "There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them."

- “烧毁书籍不是最糟糕的罪行，还有比这更糟的——那就是不读书。”

10. "The well-bred doubt everything except their own good breeding."

- “受过良好教育的人怀疑一切，除了他们自己的教养。”

这些语录展现了毛姆对于人生深刻的思考与洞见。他用简洁有力的文字揭示了人类情感和社会现实中的复杂性。无论是关于成功、幸福还是道德选择，毛姆都提出了值得深思的问题。或许正是这种直击人心的力量，使得他的作品跨越时代，依然能够触动现代读者的心灵。