W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 17

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• Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Power, Land, Self Improvement

  Address on Laying the Cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument, www.dartmouth.edu. June 17, 1825.

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• We have long passed the Victorian Era when asterisks were followed after a certain interval by a baby.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Baby, Long, Eras

  W. Somerset Maugham (2017). “Plays Volume One”, p.278, 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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• 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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• 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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• Nothing more predisposes someone in our favour than to let him rob you a little.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Littles, Favour

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• Sherry, the civilized drink.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wine, Drink, Sherry

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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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• We didn't think much in the air corps of a fellow who wangled a cushy job out of his C.O. by buttering him up. It was hard for me to believe that God thought much of a man who tried to wangle salvation by fulsome flattery. I should have thought the worship most pleasing to him was to do your best according to your lights.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  God, Jobs, Believe

  W. Somerset Maugham (2008). “The Razor's Edge”, p.275, Random House

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• A woman will always sacrifice herself if you give her the opportunity. It is her favourite form of self indulgence.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Women, Sacrifice

  Circle (1921) act 3

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• And I have the sunset, and the Tuscan wine, and the white teeth of the women in Rome. I am a traveler in Romance.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wine, Sunset, Rome

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• When married people don't get on they can separate, but if they're not married it's impossible. It's a tie that only death can sever.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Friendship, Ties, People

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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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• It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Time, Lost Youth, Age

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.164, Diversion Books

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• The end of culture is right living

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Culture, Ends

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• Conscience is the guardian in the individual of the rules which the community has evolved for its own preservation.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Community, Individuality, Ethics

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1292, eBookIt.com

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• There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the universe. To ignore it is childish, to bewail it senseless.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Order, Evil, Atheism

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

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• 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

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• 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

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• Do you absolutely despise me, Walter?" "No." He hesitated and his voice was strange. "I despise myself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Voice, Strange, Despise

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “The Painted Veil”, p.113, Random House

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• I promised myself that if ever I had some money that I would savor a cigar each day after lunch and dinner. This is the only resolution of my youth that I have kept, and the only realized ambition which has not brought disillusion.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Funny, Humorous, Ambition

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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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• 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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• 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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• People who ask for your criticism want only praise.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  People, Criticism, Want

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