W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 17

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• It was like making a blunder at a party; there was nothing to do about it, it was dreadfully mortifying, but it showed a lack of sense to ascribe too much importance to it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Party, Too Much, Blunders

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “The Painted Veil”, p.151, Random House

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• I know that you're selfish, selfish beyond words, and I know that you haven't the nerve of a rabbit, I know you're a liar and a humbug, I know that you're utterly contemptible. And the tragic part is'--her face was on a sudden distraught with pain--'the tragic part is that notwithstanding I love you with all my heart.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Pain, Selfish, Women

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• But Philip was impatient with himself; he called to mind his idea of the pattern of life: the unhappiness he had suffered was no more than part of a decoration which was elaborate and beautiful; he told himself strenuously that he must accept with gaiety everything, dreariness and excitement, pleasure and pain, because it added to the richness of the design.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Beautiful, Pain, Ideas

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “Of Human Bondage”, p.1260, The Floating Press

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• Why did you look at the sunset?' Philip answered with his mouth full: Because I was happy.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Sunset, Looks, Mouths

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “Of Human Bondage (人性枷鎖)”, p.1885, Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.

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• Never pause unless you have a reason for it, but when you pause, pause as long as you can.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Long, Reason, Pauses

  W. Somerset Maugham (1937). “Theatre”

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• People are always a little disconcerted when you don't recognize them, they are so important to themselves, it is a shock to discover of what small importance they are to others. [The human element]

  W. Somerset Maugham

  People, Important, Elements

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• and he loved her suddenly because she loved him.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1626, eBookIt.com

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• Freedom! That was the thought that sung in her heart so that even though the future was so dim, it was iridescent like the mist over the river where the morning sun fell upon it. Freedom! Not only freedom from a bond that irked, and a companionship which depressed her; freedom, not only from the death which had threatened, but freedom from the love that had degraded her; freedom from all spiritual ties, the freedom of a disembodied spirit, and with freedom, courage , and a valiant unconcern for whatever was to come.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Spiritual, Morning, Heart

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• Sherry, the civilized drink.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wine, Drink, Sherry

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• The great critic … must be a philosopher, for from philosophy he will learn serenity, impartiality, and the transitoriness of human things.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Philosophy, Serenity, Philosopher

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

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• Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and women, to escape the tediousness of life.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Art, Human Bondage, Refuge

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.265, Diversion Books

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• It needs a good deal of philosophy not to be mortified by the thought of persons who have voluntarily abandoned everything that for the most of us makes life worth living and are devoid of envy of what they have missed. I have never made up my mind whether they are fools or wise men.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wise, Philosophy, Men

  W. Somerset Maugham (1941). “the Gentleman in the Parlour”

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• The mathematician who after seeing Phedre asked: 'Qu'est que ca prouve?' was not such a fool as he has been generally made out. No one has ever been able to explain why the Doric temple of Paestum is more beautiful than a glass of cold beer except by bringing in considerations that have nothing to do with beauty.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Funny, Beauty, Beautiful

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• A good Havana is one of the best pleasures that I know.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Luxury, Pleasure, Havana

  33 Copy quote

• Clearly much that seemed valid seemed so only because he had been taught it from earliest youth.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Prejudice, Taught, Youth

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.355, Diversion Books

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• It seems that the creative faculty and the critical faculty cannot exist together in their highest perfection.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Creativity, Perfection, Creative

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• What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably... have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Brother, Book, Single Life

  "Newsweek" Magazine, May 23, 1960.

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• Her tears were partly tears of happiness, for she felt that the strangeness between them was gone. She loved him now with a new love because he had made her suffer.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Suffering, Tears, Gone

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “Of Human Bondage”, p.64, The Floating Press

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• The ideal has many names, and beauty is but one of them.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Beauty, Names, Ideals

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

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• I do not think you want too much sincerity in society. It would be like an iron girder in a house of cards.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Thinking, House Of Cards, Iron

  W. Somerset Maugham (2017). “Plays Volume One”, p.171, Random House

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• Writing is a wholetime job: no professional writer can afford only to write when he feels like it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Jobs, Writing, Feels

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• Sometimes the road was only a lane, with thick hawthorne hedges, and the green elms overhung it on either side so that when you looked up there was only a strip of blue sky between. And as you rode along in the warm, keen air you had a sensation that the world was standing still and life would last forever. Although you were pedaling with such energy you had a delicious feeling of laziness.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Air, Blue, Sky

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

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• Some people read for instruction, which is praiseworthy, and some for pleasure, which is innocent, but not a few read from habit, and I suppose that this is neither innocent or praiseworthy. Of that lamentable company am I. Conversation after a time bores me, games tire me and my own thoughts, which we are told are the unfailing resource of a sensible man, have a tendency to run dry. Then I fly to my book as the opium-smoker to his pipe.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Running, Book, Men

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “Collected Short Stories”, p.11, Random House

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• There is no need for the writer to eat a whole sheep to be able to tell you what mutton tastes like. It is enough if he eats a cutlet. But he should do that.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Sheep, Needs, Able

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “A Writer's Notebook”, p.230, Random House

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• There are directors who desire to be artistic. It is pathetic to compare the seriousness of their aim with the absurdity of their attainment.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Desire, Directors, Artistic

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