W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 12

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• I forget who it was that recommended men for their soul's good to do each day two things they disliked: it was a wise man, and it is a precept that I have followed scrupulously; for every day I have got up and I have gone to bed.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wise, Men, Two

  The Moon and Sixpence ch. 2 (1919)

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• Have common sense and stick to the point.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Common Sense, Sticks, Common

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• A good rule for writers: do not explain overmuch.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing

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• There are many foolish people in the world and when a man in a rather high position puts on no frills, slaps them on the back, and tells them he'll do anything in the world for them, they are very likely to think him clever.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Clever, Men, Thinking

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• You Europeans know nothing about America. Because we amass large fortunes you think we care for nothing but money. We are nothing for it; the moment we have it we spend it, sometimes well, sometimes ill, but we spend it. Money is nothing to us; it's merely the symbol of success. We are the greatest idealists in the world; I happen to think that we've set our ideal on the wrong objects; I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Thinking, America

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• The great trues are too important to be new.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Important

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• The crown of literature is poetry.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Hygiene, Poetry, Crowns

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “Cakes And Ale”, p.90, Random House

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• As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only excuse that offers for the middle-aged or elderly writer whose thoughts should more properly be turned to graver matters, occupying himself with the trivial concerns of imaginary people.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Real, Men, Occupy Yourself

  "Cakes And Ale".

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• The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Funny, Book, Reading

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• I would sooner read a time-table or a catalogue than nothing at all. They are much more entertaining than half the novels that are written.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Half, Tables, Novel

  Summing Up (1938) p. 92

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• Marriage is a very good thing, but I think it's a mistake to make a habit out of it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Mistake, Thinking, Funny Marriage

  "The Mixture as Before". Book by W. Somerset Maugham, 1940.

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• It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing, Gentleman, Comeback

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

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• Love is not always blind and there are few things that cause greater wretchedness than to love with all your heart someone who you know is unworthy of love.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Heart, Who You Know

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

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• It has been said that good prose should resemble the conversation of a well-bred man.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing, Men, Should

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

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• You know, the Philistines have long since discarded the rack and stake as a means of suppressing the opinions they feared: they've discovered a much more deadly weapon of destruction -- the wisecrack.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Mean, Long, Razors

  W. Somerset Maugham (2008). “The Razor's Edge”, p.305, Random House

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• The drama is make-believe. It does not deal with truth but with effect.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Drama, Believe, Doe

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• The life force is vigorous. The delight that accompanies it counter-balances all the pains and hardships that confront men. It makes life worth living.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Life, Pain, Men

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• The spirit is often most free when the body is satiated with pleasure; indeed, sometimes the stars shine more brightly seen from the gutter than from the hilltop.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Stars, Shining, Gutters

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• The average American can get into the kingdom of heaven much more easily than he can get into the Boulevard St. Germain.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Fashion, Average, Heaven

  W. Somerset Maugham (2008). “The Razor's Edge”, p.43, Random House

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• Reverie is the groundwork of creative imagination; it is the privilege of the artist that with him it is not as with other men an escape from reality, but the means by which he accedes to it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Mean, Reality, Men

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

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• Our natural egoism leads us to judge people by their relations to ourselves. We want them to be certain things to us, and for us that is what they are; because the rest of them is no good to us, we ignore it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  People, Judging, Want

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.69, Random House

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• The author always loads his dice, but he must never let the reader see that he has done so, and by the manipulation of his plot, he can engage the reader's attention so that he does not perceive the violence that has been done to him.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Doe, Plot, Attention

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• I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Ideas, World

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• I'm only twenty-five. If I've made a mistake I have time to correct it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Mistake, Twenties, Made

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• We find things beautiful because we recognize them and contrariwise we find things beautiful because their novelty surprises us.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Beauty, Beautiful, Novelty

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

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