W. Somerset Maugham
rules novel write
“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
impropriety soul wit
“Impropriety is the soul of wit.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
criticism praise
“People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
life refuse best quality
“It’s a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
mediocre person best
“Only a mediocre person is always at his best.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
secret meaning life discover yourself
“The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
peace work pleasure soul
“One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
truth believe majority many people
“The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
prepare consequence perform
“You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
human race heart right head inefficient
“I'll give you my opinion of the human race in a nutshell... their heart's in the right place, but their head is a thoroughly inefficient organ.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
speak something human race speech
“If nobody spoke unless he had something to say, the human race would very soon lose the use of speech.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
impermanence delight foolish
“Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
excess moderation habit
“Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
tradition guide jail prison
“Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
foolish majority
“If 50 million people say something foolish, it is still foolish.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
world disgust idea order chaos
“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 (1874-1965)
people poor writer write
“Well, you know when people are no good at anything else they become writers.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
writing want must
“We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
illusions resignation
“What do we any of us have but our illusions? And what do we ask of others but that we be allowed to keep them?”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
fool big esteem
“I'm afraid you've thought me a bigger fool than I am.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
england food eat breakfast
“To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
suffer character happiness petty vindictive revengeful
“It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
habit world good bad
“The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
good life freedom speech action
“You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
belief change life
“If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
art talent terrible
“There is nothing so terrible as the pursuit of art by those who have no talent.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
money freedom bondage
“You see, money to you means freedom; to me it means bondage.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
smashed pulp bus life misery
“I'd sooner be smashed into a mangled pulp by a bus when we cross the street than look forward to a life like yours.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
writer concern know judge
“The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
opinion power regard influence
“Unconsciously, perhaps, we treasure the power we have over people by their regard for our opinion of them, and we hate those upon whom we have no such influence.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
divorce america england husband butler
“Refecting on the high divorce rate in America as contrasted with England "American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in their butlers”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
style best unnotice writing
“The best style is the style you don't notice.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
desire overcome satisfy
“Often the best way to overcome desire is to satisfy it.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
fool position think clever politician
“There are many foolish people in the world and when a man in a rather high position puts on no frills, slaps them on the back, and tells them he'll do anything in the world for them, they are very likely to think him clever.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
angry laugh humor tolerance
“You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches tolerance.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
nation freedom comfort money value lose
“If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom, and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
good bad facts life
“There was neither good nor bad there. There were just facts. It was life.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
death futile life accomplish obituary
“His death had been as futile as his life. He died ingloriously, of a stupid disease, failing once more, even at the end, to accomplish anything.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
respect brain character
“I respect him. He has brains and character; and that, I may tell you, is a very unusual combination.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
reason excuse do like
“People don't want reasons to do what they'd like to. They want excuses.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
art refugee invent life food women
“Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and women, to escape the tediousness of life.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
drinking abolish consequence alcohol
“Why don’t you give up drinking?”
“Because I don’t choose. It doesn’t matter what a man does if he’s ready to take the consequences. Well, I’m ready to take the consequences. You talk glibly of giving up drinking, but it’s the only thing I’ve got left now. What do you think life would be to me without it? Can you understand the happiness I get out of my absinthe? I yearn for it; and when I drink it I savour every drop, and afterwards I feel my soul swimming in ineffable happiness. It disgusts you. You are a puritan and in your heart you despise sensual pleasures. Sensual pleasures are the most violent and the most exquisite. I am a man blessed with vivid senses, and I have indulged them with all my soul. I have to pay the penalty now, and I am ready to pay.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
right unhappy
“Unfortunately sometimes one can’t do what one thinks is right without making someone else unhappy.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
genius talent
“Genius is a word that is very loosely used nowadays. It is ascribed to persons to whom a more sober judgement would be satisfied to allow talent. Genius and talent are very different things. Many people have talent; it is not rare: genius is. Talent is adroit and dexterous; it can be cultivated; genius is innate, and too often strangely allied to grave defects. But what is genius?”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
write want can writing
“we do not write as we want but as we can”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
distressing morality chastisement sinner
“It is always distressing when outraged morality does not possess the strength of arm to administer direct chastisement on the sinner.”
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
life living worry future present
"Life wouldn't be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present."
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
human race nutshell heart head insufficient organ
"I'll give you my opinion of the human race in a nutshell...their heart's in the right place, but their head is a thoroughly inefficient organ."
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
peace work pleasure soul
"One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul."
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
world originality habit thought anger
"The world in general doesn't know what to make of originality; it is startled out of its comfortable habits of thought, and its first reaction is one of anger."
― W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)