W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 5

Quotes about:

• The essential element of love is a belief in its own eternity.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love Is, Elements, Essentials

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.2527, eBookIt.com

  13 Copy quote

• I want a girl because I want to bring her up so that she shan't make the mistakes I've made. When I look back upon the girl I was I hate myself. But I never had a chance. I'm going to bring up my daughter so that she's free and can stand on her own feet. I´m not going to bring a child into the world, and love her, and bring her up, just so that some man may want to sleep with her so much that he's willing to provide her with board and lodging for the rest of her life.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Girl, Daughter, Children

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “The Painted Veil”, p.204, Random House

  36 Copy quote

• A man who is a politician at forty is a statesman at three score and ten. It is at this age, when he would be too old to be a clerk or a gardener or a police-court magistrate, that he is ripe to govern a country.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Country, Men, Police

  W. Somerset Maugham (1930). “Cakes and Ale”

  9 Copy quote

• Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Sarcastic, Depressing

  83 Copy quote

• Imagination grows by exercise.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Exercise, Imagination, Creative

  "The Summing Up". Book by W. Somerset Maugham, 1938.

  15 Copy quote

• I have always been convinced that if a woman once made up her mind to marry a man, nothing but instant flight could save him.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Sex, Men, Mind

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “Collected Short Stories”, p.318, Random House

  6 Copy quote

• Of all the hokum with which this country [America] is riddled, the most odd is the common notion that it is free of class distinctions.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Country, Class, America

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “A Writer's Notebook”, p.232, Random House

  23 Copy quote

• There are times when I look over the various parts of my character with perplexity. I recognize that I am made up of several persons and that the person that at the moment has the upper hand will inevitably give place to another. But which is the real one? All of them or none?

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Real, Character, Hands

  6 Copy quote

• The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Running, Art, Water

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

  10 Copy quote

• How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Break Up, Broken Heart, Breakup

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “The Painted Veil”, p.70, Random House

  49 Copy quote

• A good style should show no signs of effort. What is written should seem a happy accident.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing, Effort, Style

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

  14 Copy quote

• If nobody spoke unless he had something to say, the human race would very soon lose the use of speech.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Race, Silence, Use

  21 Copy quote

• Failure make people bitter and cruel. Success improves the character of the man.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Failure, Character, Men

  27 Copy quote

• The tragedy of love is indifference.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Life, Tragedy

  The Trembling of a Leaf ch. 4 (1921)

  5 Copy quote

• It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because they are good for him, and when they are good for other people as well they are thought virtuous: if he finds pleasure in helping others he is benevolent; if he finds pleasure in working for society he is public-spirited; but it is for your private pleasure that you give twopence to a beggar as much as it is for my private pleasure that I drink another whiskey and soda. I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Helping Others, Men, Practice

  8 Copy quote

• Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Simple, Hunger, Ecstasy

  W. Somerset Maugham (1930). “Cakes and Ale”

  11 Copy quote

• In the conduct of life we make use of deliberation to justify ourselves in doing what we want to do.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Use, Want, Ethics

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.49, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Clever, Happy New Year

  Writer's Notebook (1949) p. 17 (written in 1896)

  23 Copy quote

• Words have weight, sound and appearance; it is only by considering these that you can write a sentence that is good to look at and good to listen to.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing, Sound, Looks

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

  11 Copy quote

• If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Lying, Sometimes, Self Deception

  12 Copy quote

• Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Passion, Self, Might

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.2043, eBookIt.com

  10 Copy quote

• if you'd ever had a grown-up daughter you'd know that by comparison a bucking steer is easy to manage. And as to knowing what goes on inside her - well, it's much better to pretend you're the simple, innocent old fool she almost certainly takes you for.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Daughter, Mother, Simple

  19 Copy quote

• If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wise, People, Atheism

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “A Writer's Notebook”, p.61, Random House

  15 Copy quote

• You learn more quickly under the guidance of experienced teachers. You waste a lot of time going down blind alleys if you have no one to lead you.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Education, Teacher

  W. Somerset Maugham (2008). “The Razor's Edge”, p.34, Random House

  8 Copy quote

• Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Teaching, Diversity, Social Justice

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

  9 Copy quote

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