W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 17

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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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• 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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• Was it necessary to tell me that you wanted nothing in the world but me?' The corners of his mouth drooped peevishly. Oh, my dear, it's rather hard to take quite literally the things a man says when he's in love with you.' Didn't you mean them?' At the moment.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love You, Mean, Men

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “The Painted Veil”, p.69, Random House

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• Kant thought things, not because they were true, but because he was Kant.

  W. Somerset Maugham

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

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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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• 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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• 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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• It is well known that Beauty does not look with a good grace on the timid advances of Humour.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Grace, Doe, Looks

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

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• 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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• Men have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature; and the error is ineradicable.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Nature, Men, Errors

  "A Writer's Notebook" by W. Somerset Maugham, Country Life Press, (p. 20), 1949.

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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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• 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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• Usage is the only test. I prefer a phrase that is easy and unaffected to a phrase that is grammatical.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Phrases, Tests, Easy

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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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• I thought it was only in revealed religion that a mistranslation improved the sense.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Atheism

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.149, Diversion Books

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• Our wise old church...has discovered that if you will act as if you believed belief will be given to you; if you pray with doubt, but pray with sincerity, your doubt will be dispelled; if you will surrender yourself to the beauty of that liturgy the power of which over the human spirit has been proved by the experience of the ages, peace will descend upon you.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wise, Doubt, Age

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• Through the history of the world there have always been exploiters and exploited. There always will be ... because the great mass of men are made by nature to be slaves, they are unfit to control themselves, and for their own good need masters.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Atheism, Needs

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “Christmas Holiday”, p.228, Random House

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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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• 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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• 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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• She could not admit but that he had remarkable qualities, sometimes she thought that there was even in him a strange and unattractive greatness; it was curious then that she could not love him, but loved still a man whose worthlessness was now so clear to her.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Greatness, Men, Quality

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• I am told that today rather more than 60 per cent of the men who go to the universities go on a Government grant. This is a new class that has entered upon the scene ... They are scum.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Class, Goes On

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