W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 19

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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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• In heaven, when the blessed use the telephone they will say what they have to say and not a word besides.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Blessed, Heaven, Use

  W. Somerset Maugham (1966). “A Maugham Twelve: Stories selected and with an introduction by Angus Wilson”

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• I don't think that women ought to sit down at table with men. It ruins conversation and I'm sure it's very bad for them. It puts ideas in their heads, and women are never at ease with themselves when they have ideas.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Thinking, Ideas

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.2031, eBookIt.com

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• He exulted in the possession of himself once more; he realized how much of the delight of the world he had lost when he was absorbed in that madness which they called love; he had had enough of it; he did not want to be in love anymore if love was that.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Delight, World, Want

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• It has amazed me that the most incongruous traits should exist in the same person and, for all that, yield a plausible harmony.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Character, Yield, Harmony

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

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• The ideas for stories that thronged my brain would not let me rest till I had got rid of them by writing them.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing, Ideas, Brain

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• There's nothing the world loves more than a ready-made description which they can hang on to a man, and so save themselves all trouble in future.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, World Love, Trouble

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• This love was a torment, and he resented bitterly the subjugation in which it held him; he was a prisoner and he longed for freedom. Sometimes he awoke in the morning and felt nothing; his soul leaped, for he thought he was free; he loved no longer; but in a little while, as he grew wide awake, the pain settled in his heart, and he knew that he was not cured yet.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Morning, Pain, Heart

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1854, eBookIt.com

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• He knew that all things human are transitory and therefore that it must cease one day or another. He looked forward to that day with eager longing. Love was like a parasite in his heart, nourishing a hateful existence on his life's blood; it absorbed his existence so intensely that he could take pleasure in nothing else.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Heart, Blood, One Day

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.416, Diversion Books

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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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• 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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• 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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• 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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• So long as some are strong and some are weak, the weak will be driven to the wall.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Strength, Strong, Wall

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

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• It's asking a great deal that things should appeal to your reason as well as your sense of the aesthetic. - Of Human Bondage

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Asking, Reason, Human Bondage

  W. Somerset Maugham (2017). “Of Human Bondage”, p.470, Open Road Media

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• It's always difficult to make conversation with a drunk, and there's no denying it, the sober are at a disadvantage with him.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Drinking, Drunk, Sober

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• The officers saluted as she passed and gravely bowed. They walked back across the courtyard and got into their chairs. She saw Waddington light a cigarette. A little smoke lost in the air, that was the life of a man.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Light, Air

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• When she liked anyone it was quite natural for her to go to bed with him. She never thought twice about it. It was not vice; it wasn't lasciviousness; it was her nature. She gave herself as naturally as the sun gives heat or the flowers their perfume. It was a pleasure to her and she liked to give pleasure to others.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Funny, Sex, Humorous

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

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• I happen to think 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, Self

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• There are men who are possessed by an urge so strong to do some particular thing that they can't help themselves, they've got to do it. They're prepared to sacrifice everything to satisfy their yearning.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Strong, Writing, Sacrifice

  "The Razor's Edge". Book by W. Somerset Maugham, 1944.

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• Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is more telling. To know that a thing actually happened gives it a poignancy, touches a chord, which a piece of acknowledged fiction misses. It is to touch this chord that some authors have done everything they could to give you the impression that they are telling the plain truth.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Giving, Missing, Fiction

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• Evil can be condoned only if in the beyond it is compensated by good and god himself needs immortality to vindicate his ways to man.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Evil, Needs

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

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• I don't know why it is that the religious never ascribe common sense to God.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Religious, Common Sense, Common

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• The nature of men and women - their essential nature - is so vile and despicable that if you were to portray a person as he really is, no one would believe you.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Believe, Men

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• The novel may stimulate you to think. It may satisfy your aesthetic sense. It may arouse your moral emotions. But if it does not entertain you it is a bad novel.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Thinking, Doe, May

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