https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/436997671
《知乎》
Your living is determined by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens. —— Khalil Gibran
你的生活与其说取决于生活带给你的什么，倒不如说取决于你对生活报以什么样的态度；与其说取决于发生在你身上的事情, 倒不是说取决于你对所发生的事的看法。——纪伯伦
controversial
这是著名黎巴嫩阿拉伯诗人纪伯伦的一句名言。句中用了两个not so much …… as …… 结构。not so much …… as …… “与其说……, 不如说……”肯定后面，否定前面，即 not so much B as A （与其说B, 不如说A），其用法相当于…… not B, but A ……（不是 B 而是 A）.
例句：
Success lies not so much as in luck as in hard work.
与其说成功在于运气不如说是辛勤努力。
One’s greatness lies not so much in his wealth as in his character.
一个人的伟大尤其说是他的财富来判断，还不如说是由他的品德来判断。
Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.
与其说人类的幸福来自偶尔发生的鸿运，不如说来自每天都有的小实惠。
A wise lover values not so much the gift of the lover as the love of the giver.
聪明的恋人不在乎爱人给的礼物，而在乎给礼物人的爱。
not so much …… as …… 结构中，as 有时可改用but，通常在 but 前需用逗号点开。用 but 替换 as 后，语气上更强调肯定后者。
例句：
A man’s worth lies not so much in what he has but in who he is.
一个人的价值不在于他拥有什么，而在他是怎么样的人。
The task is not so much to see what no one yet has seen, but to think what nobody yet has thought.
学习任务不是去明白没有人明白的事情，而是去思考没有人思考过的事情。
The tragedy of life is not so much what men suffer, but what they miss.
生活的悲剧不在于受多少苦，而在于错过了什么。
It is not so much the actual population of the world but its rate of increase which is important．
重要的与其说是实际的世界人口总数，倒不如说是世界人口增长率。
这与其说是实际的世界人口总数，倒不如说是世界人口增长率（重要）。
Whether their efforts can be more effective than those of the traditional politician may not so much depend on the present-day working scientists, but on the scientists now being trained — you.
他们的努力是否比传统的政治家更有效，与其说是取决于当今正在工作的科学家，毋宁说是取决于正在受训的科学家 —— 你们。
《英语常见问题解答大词典》
在我国的翻译出版物上，很多人都把 not so much A as B 统统翻译成了“不是A，而是B”。在汉语里，“不是A而是B”意在完全排除（否定）A，而完全肯定B。但是，根据COD的解释，not so much… as 在意义和用法上相当于less…than，可见这个短语并不是表示肯定一项而否定另一项，而是表示两项兼而有之。换言之，这一结构常常用来比较两种说法的正确程度。例如：
- His success is not so much by talent as by energy. 他的成功与其说是由于才能，不如说是由于精力。
- …
Some examples from the book:
I would fain say something, not so much concerning the Chinese and Sandwich Islanders as you who read these pages, who are said to live in New England; something about your condition, especially your outward condition or circumstances in this world, in this town, what it is, whether it is necessary that it be as bad as it is, whether it cannot be improved as well as not. 《Walden》
Thus what weighs upon the people of Europe is not so much the accident of war, but the constant necessity to arm themselves, the absolute necessity to use physical force to protect themselves. 《The Spirit of the Chinese People》
ODE Living Online | Oxford Living Dictionaries 2017
not so much — as —: Not — but rather —
the novel was not so much unfinished as unfinishable
It is not so much to keep the cash flowing as to satisfy his addiction to writing stories.