The Shackles of Human Nature is a semi-autobiographical novel by william Somerset Maugham, a well-known British writer of the 19th century, and his representative work, published in 1915. The novel is a semi-autobiographical work. By narrating the thirty years of life experience of the protagonist Philip from his childhood, the novel reflects the pain, confusion, disappointment, frustration and exploration of a young man, as well as the process of gradually getting rid of various shackles, finding the meaning of life, moving towards maturity, and obtaining spiritual liberation.
01
What will happen in the future, I don't think about it at all. If you think about today and worry about tomorrow, what is the meaning of life? It's that things are so bad that they can't get any worse, and I think there is always a way to go.
02
I don't need love. I don't have time for a relationship. This is the weakness of human nature. I'm a man and sometimes I need a woman. But once my lust is satisfied, I'm ready to do something else. I couldn't overcome my desires, I hated it, it imprisoned my spirit. I hope that one day in the future, I will no longer be dominated by desires, no longer hindered by any obstacles and devote myself to my work. Because women can't do anything but talk about love, they regard love as very important, which is ridiculous. They also want to convince us that our whole life is love. In fact, love is an insignificant part of life. I only understand lust. This is normal and healthy. Love is a disease. Women are my instruments of pleasure, and I hate the demands of their career assistants and partners in life.
03
When a man falls into the water, it does not matter whether he swims well or not: what matters is that he must come out of the water, otherwise he will drown.
04
Transformation can take many different forms and can be achieved in a variety of ways. For some, it takes a catastrophe, like a raging flash flood that suddenly shatters a rock into pieces; for others, it is through subtlety, like dripping water through a stone.
05
Compassion is a fascinating skill, but it is often abused by those who know they have it.
06
People in contemporary civilized society, it is not worth it to spend their time in this way and waste their short lives on boring entertainment.
07
The thought that so many books have been written, and their authors are looking forward to their publication with good hopes; and the thought that they do not know what kind of fate is waiting for these authors, this is really a cultivation that is beneficial to the body and mind. If a book wants to stand out from this vast sea of books, I don't know how difficult it will be? Even if they succeed, the sales of these books will only last for a while, or for a period of time, and God knows how much effort the writer has put into writing a book, what kind of pain he will experience, how much brain he will rack his brains, and only for a few hours of entertainment for someone who occasionally sees the book, or to make his journey not too difficult.
08
09
At that time I did not know that a person's character is very complex, and today I have realized that meanness and greatness, malice and kindness, hatred and love can exist in the same heart.
10
The vast majority of people are very content to do the ordinary.
11
I did not know at that time how contradictory and complex human nature is, how much contrivance there is in sincerity, how much vileness there is in the nobility, and how much goodness there is in the evil.
12
The desire to be approved by others is a deep-rooted instinct of civilized human beings.
13
It is said that misfortune and suffering can make people noble, but this is not the case; sometimes, happiness can make people do this, but suffering and misfortune often make people small-minded and have a sense of revenge.
14
We were like a tram going from the terminal to the terminal, and even the passengers on the bus were roughly calculated, and life became too orderly, too step-by-step, and I felt a nameless fear in my heart.
15
Why would you think that beauty, the most precious treasure in the world, can be picked up by a casual passer-by like a stone on the beach? Beauty is a strange, sometimes strange, thing that only artists whose minds have endured the torment of pain can shape it out of the disorder and chaos of the world.
16
Love is mixed with vanity, which can only show that you still love yourself the most.
17
Each of us is alone in this world. Each was imprisoned in the tower, and he and his companions could only communicate through signals, which had no common meaning, for their meaning was very vague and uncertain. We try our best to convey the treasures of our hearts to others, but they do not have the ability to understand, so we can only be alone, seemingly detached, neither able to understand others nor be understood by others.
18
The reason why the novel is not true is here. Generally speaking, love is nothing more than an episode in a man, a small matter in many affairs of daily life, but the novel exaggerates love and gives it an important position that violates the authenticity of life. Although there are a very small number of men who regard love as the most important thing in the world, these people are often some people who are bored; even women who have unlimited interest in love do not look up to such men...
19
In the middle of the unconscious, we may often care whether others value what we think of them. We hate those whom we have no influence on. I thought this was the most painful wound in a person's self-esteem.
20
A person's work is most likely to reveal himself. In interpersonal communication, a person only wants the world to see the side he wants you to see, and you can only make a correct understanding of him with the help of some of his unconscious small actions, with the help of the expression that inadvertently passes across his face. Sometimes people make that side of them so perfect that over time they seem to really become the person they're dressing up for.
21
I always feel that you and I should see life as an adventure, and should let the jewel-like flame burn in our chests. To be a human being, you should take risks, you should go to the soup and go to the fire, and you should take risks.
22
As a person in love, the difference between men and women is that women can fall in love all day long, while men can only talk for a while.
23
To hit someone is to beat him to the point where he can't get up. That way you'll get a little time to think about what to do next.
24
Is it possible to do what you want to do, to live in an environment you like, and to maintain a peaceful state of mind? Is it a success to be a surgeon with a salary of £10,000 a year and a beautiful wife? I think the answer to this question depends on what meaning you give to life, what obligations you have to society, and what kind of demands you have of yourself.
25
People are generally not the kind of people they want to do, but the kind of people they have to do.
26
There are only two things in the world that make our lives worth living, and that is love and art.
27
As you get older, you will find that in order to make the world a tolerable place to live, you must first admit that human selfishness is inevitable.
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