W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 3

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• Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Powerful, Writing, Creativity

  "The Summing Up" by W. Somerset Maugham, Doubleday, Doran & Co., (p. 164), 1938.

  89 Copy quote

• People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  People, Envy, Gossip

  20 Copy quote

• If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Food, Breakfast, Want

  11 Copy quote

• A good style should show no signs of effort. What is written should seem a happy accident.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing, Effort, Style

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

  14 Copy quote

• At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Clever, Happy New Year

  Writer's Notebook (1949) p. 17 (written in 1896)

  24 Copy quote

• First, cut out all the wisdom, then cut out all the adjectives.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Cutting, Adjectives, Firsts

  13 Copy quote

• A man who is a politician at forty is a statesman at three score and ten. It is at this age, when he would be too old to be a clerk or a gardener or a police-court magistrate, that he is ripe to govern a country.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Country, Men, Police

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

  9 Copy quote

• Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Humility, Perfection, Dull

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

  9 Copy quote

• Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is a melody that he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Fashion, Beach, Lying

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1312, eBookIt.com

  64 Copy quote

• If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wise, People, Atheism

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “A Writer's Notebook”, p.61, Random House

  15 Copy quote

• There are two good things in life - freedom of thought and freedom of action.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Freedom, Things In Life, Two

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.130, Diversion Books

  39 Copy quote

• It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Independent, Dignity Of Work, Wealth

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.343, Diversion Books

  45 Copy quote

• A God that can be understood is no God. Who can explain the Infinite in words?

  W. Somerset Maugham

  God, Infinite, Understood

  5 Copy quote

• If a man hasn't what's necessary to make a woman love him, it's his fault, not hers.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Women, Men, Faults

  14 Copy quote

• Each one of us is alone in the world. He is shut in a tower of brass, and can communicate with his fellows only by signs, and the signs have no common value, so that their sense is vague and uncertain. We seek pitifully to convey to others the treasures of our heart, but they have not the power to accept them, and so we go lonely, side by side but not together, unable to know our fellows and unknown by them.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Lonely, Heart, Together

  W. Somerset Maugham (2006). “The Moon and Sixpence”, p.113, Courier Corporation

  10 Copy quote

• There was once a professor of law who said to his students. When you are fighting a case, if you have facts on your side hammer them into the jury, and if you have the law on your side hammer it into the judge. But if you have neither the facts nor the law, asked one of his listeners? Then hammer the hell into the table, answered the professor.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Fighting, Your Side, Law

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “A Writer's Notebook”, p.131, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Happiness

  Of Human Bondage (1915) ch. 51

  31 Copy quote

• Life wouldn’t be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present. When things are at their worst I find something always happens.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Worried, Human Bondage, Worst

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1876, eBookIt.com

  28 Copy quote

• Look after your laundry, and your soul will look after itself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Motivational, Thought Provoking, Soul

  15 Copy quote

• A dictator must fool all the people all the time and there's only one way to do that, he must also fool himself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  People, Atheism, Way

  W. Somerset Maugham (1939). “Christmas Holiday”

  17 Copy quote

• When a woman loves you she's not satisfied until she possesses your soul. Because she's weak, she has a rage for domination, and nothing less will satisfy her.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Women, Love You, Soul

  W. Somerset Maugham (2012). “The Moon and Sixpence”, p.109, Courier Corporation

  13 Copy quote

• The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Principles, Useful Things, Expediency

  Circle (1921) act 3

  35 Copy quote

• It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Life, Friendship, Time

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

  39 Copy quote

• Most people are such fools that it is really no great compliment to say that someone is above the average.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Work, Average, People

  8 Copy quote

• I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others to do for me.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Work, Life Is Short, Long Ago

  "A Writer's Notebook (1941)". Book by W. Somerset Maugham, 1946.

  19 Copy quote

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