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W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 11

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An author spends months writing a book, and maybe puts his heart's blood into it, and then it lies about unread till the reader has nothing else in the world to do.

An author spends months writing a book, and maybe puts his heart's blood into it, and then it lies about unread till the reader has nothing else in the world to do.

W. Somerset Maugham
Lying, Book, Writing

She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit.

W. Somerset Maugham
Sarcastic, Belief, Human Bondage
"The Creative Impulse". Harper's Bazar, August 1926.

It does the heart good to look at you.

W. Somerset Maugham
Heart, Looks, Doe
W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “The Painted Veil”, p.127, Random House

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)

A good rule for writers: do not explain overmuch.

W. Somerset Maugham
Writing

But the only important thing in a book is the meaning it has for you; it may have other and much more profound meanings for the critic, but at second-hand they can be of small service to you.

W. Somerset Maugham
Book, Hands, Profound

Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives not by truth but by make-believe.

W. Somerset Maugham
Life, Believe, Men
W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.291, Random House

But what is criticism? Criticism is purely destructive; anyone can destroy, but not everyone can build up.

W. Somerset Maugham
Criticism, Destructive
W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “Of Human Bondage (人性枷鎖)”, p.390, Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.

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

The great trues are too important to be new.

W. Somerset Maugham
Important

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".

A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.

W. Somerset Maugham
Love, Sacrifice, Men
Moon and Sixpence (1919) ch. 41

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

W. Somerset Maugham
Mistake, Twenties, Made

The crown of literature is poetry.

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

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

W. Somerset Maugham
Funny, Book, Reading

The Americans, who are the most efficient people on the earth, have carried [phrase-making] to such a height of perfection and have invented so wide a range of pithy and hackneyed phrases that they can carry on an amusing and animated conversation without giving a moment’s reflection to what they are saying and so leave their minds free to consider the more important matters of big business and fornication.

W. Somerset Maugham
Funny, Reflection, People

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.

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

W. Somerset Maugham
Writing, Gentleman, Comeback
W. Somerset Maugham (1930). “Cakes and Ale”

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

In the country the darkness of night is friendly and familiar, but in a city, with its blaze of lights, it is unnatural, hostile and menacing. It is like a monstrous vulture that hovers, biding its time.

W. Somerset Maugham
Country, Night, Light
"A Writer's Notebook" by W. Somerset Maugham, Country Life Press, (p. 48), 1949.

Heaven knows what pains the author has been at, what bitter experience he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some chance reader a few hours' relaxation or to while away the tedium of a journey.

W. Somerset Maugham
Pain, Writing, Journey
W. Somerset Maugham (2012). “The Moon and Sixpence”, p.6, Courier Corporation

Its a toss-up when you decide to leave the beaten track. Many are called, few are chosen.

W. Somerset Maugham
Track, Toss, Chosen

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

I do not believe they are right who say that the defects of famous men should be ignored. I think it is better that we should know them. Then, though we are conscious of having faults as glaring as theirs, we can believe that that is no hindrance to our achieving also something of their virtues.

W. Somerset Maugham
Inspirational, Life, Believe
W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.70, Random House

Art, if it is to be reckoned as one of the great values of life, must teach man humility, tolerance, wisdom and magnanimity. The value of art is not beauty, but right action.

W. Somerset Maugham
Art, Humility, Men
W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

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