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W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 17

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The humorist has a good eye for the humbug; he does not always recognize the saint.

The humorist has a good eye for the humbug; he does not always recognize the saint.

W. Somerset Maugham
Humor, Eye, Doe
"Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

It must be that to govern a nation you need a specific talent and that this may very well exist without general ability.

W. Somerset Maugham
Government, Needs, May
W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

The inclination to digress is human. But the dramatist must avoid it even more strenuously than the saint must avoid sin, for while sin may be venial, digression is mortal.

W. Somerset Maugham
Saint, May, Sin
W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

There is no more merit in being able to attach a correct description to a picture than in being able to find out what is wrong with a stalled motorcar. In each case it is special knowledge.

W. Somerset Maugham
Knowledge, Special, Able

Because a man can write great works he is none the less a man.

W. Somerset Maugham
Writing, Greatness, Men
W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

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

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

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

For if the proper study of mankind is man, it is evidently more sensible to occupy yourself with the coherent, substantial and significant creatures of fiction than with the irrational and shadowy figures of real life.

W. Somerset Maugham
Real, Men, Occupy Yourself
W. Somerset Maugham (1930). “Cakes and Ale”

You've been brought up like a gentleman and a Christian, and I should be false to the trust laid upon me by your dead father and mother if I allowed you to expose yourself to such temptation.' Well, I know I'm not a Christian and I'm beginning to doubt whether I'm a gentleman,' said Philip.

W. Somerset Maugham
Christian, Mother, Father
W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.236, Diversion Books

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

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

He did not care upon what terms he satisfied his passion. He had even a mad, melodramatic idea to drug her.

W. Somerset Maugham
Passion, Ideas, Mad
W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.418, Diversion Books

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

It is unfair to expect a politician to live in private up to the statements he makes in public.

W. Somerset Maugham
Society, Politics, Politician
W. Somerset Maugham (2017). “Plays Volume One”, p.161, Random House

By the time an actor knows how to act any sort of part he is often too old to act any but a few.

W. Somerset Maugham
Actors, Know How, Knows
W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.106, Random House

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

The audience is a very curious animal. It is shrewd rather than intelligent. Its mental capacity is less than that of its most intellectual members.

W. Somerset Maugham
Animal, Intelligent, Intellectual
W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

A good story is obviously a difficult thing to invent, but its difficulty is a poor reason for despising it.

W. Somerset Maugham
Stories, Reason, Poor

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

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

The value of culture is its effect on character. It avails nothing unless it ennobles and strengthens that. Its use is for life. Its aim is not beauty but goodness.

W. Somerset Maugham
Character, Personality, Culture

The highest activities of consciousness have their origins in physical occurrences of the brain, just as the loveliest melodies are not too sublime to be expressed by notes.

W. Somerset Maugham
Sublime, Brain, Consciousness

A man ought to work. That's what he's here for. That's how he contributes to the welfare of the community.

W. Somerset Maugham
Men, Community, Welfare
W. Somerset Maugham (2008). “The Razor's Edge”, p.77, Random House

There is only one way to win hearts and that is to make oneself like unto those of whom one would be loved.

W. Somerset Maugham
Heart, Winning, Would Be

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