A COLLECTION OF GOOD WORDS
平庸
Mediocrity
Most of our pocket wisdom is conceived for the use of mediocre people, to discourage them from ambitious attempts, and generally console them in their mediocrity.
我们口袋里的大部分智慧都是为平庸之辈设计的，用来阻止他们做出雄心勃勃的尝试，并在他们平庸之时给予他们普遍的安慰。
Mediocrity is now, as formerly, dangerous, commonly fatal, to the poet; but among even the successful writers of prose, those who rise sensibly above it are the very rarest exceptions.
对于诗人来说，平庸现在和从前一样，是危险的，通常是致命的;但是，即使是成功的散文作家，那些理智地超越它的人也是非常罕见的例外。
Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.
在一个困难的职业中取得成功需要对自己有强烈的信心。这就是为什么有些人虽然天赋平平，但内心却充满动力，比那些天赋出众的人走得更远。
There is a sacred horror about everything grand. It is easy to admire mediocrity and hills; but whatever is too lofty, a genius as well as a mountain, an assembly as well as a masterpiece, seen too near, is appalling.
每件大事都有一种神圣的恐怖。人们很容易赞美平庸和山丘;但是，无论什么东西太崇高，一个天才和一座山，一个集会和一个杰作，如果看得太近，都是令人震惊的。
There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet's bombast!
有些事情平庸是不能容忍的:诗歌、音乐、绘画、公众的雄辩。听一篇冷冰冰的演讲被人浮夸地大肆抨击，或者听一篇二流的诗歌被人说成全是拙劣诗人的夸夸其谈，这是多么折磨人啊!
KEEP EXPLORING
沿着这个主题，再读几句。
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
有些人生来平庸，有些人成就平庸，而有些人却被迫平庸。
Competition is always a good thing. It forces us to do our best. A monopoly renders people complacent and satisfied with mediocrity.
竞争总是一件好事。它迫使我们做到最好。垄断使人们自满，满足于平庸。
Highly developed spirits often encounter resistance from mediocre minds.
高度发达的精神经常遇到来自平庸思想的阻力。
Women want mediocre men, and men are working to be as mediocre as possible.
女人想要平庸的男人，而男人则努力让自己尽可能平庸。
Virtue is defined to be mediocrity, of which either extreme is vice.
美德被定义为平庸，其中任何一个极端都是罪恶。
The only sin is mediocrity.
唯一的罪就是平庸。