W. Somerset Maugham: Trending quotes

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W. Somerset Maugham: 316 quotes19 likes

“D'you call life a bad job? Never! We've had our ups and downs, we've had our struggles, we've always been poor, but it's been worth it, ay, worth it a hundred times I say when I look round at my children.”

W. Somerset Maugham book Of Human Bondage

Source: Of Human Bondage (1915), Ch. 108

“She was making money. But she could not get over the idea that to earn her living was somewhat undignified, and she was inclined to remind you that she was a lady by birth.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Moon and Sixpence

Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 17, p. 63

“The great critic … must be a philosopher, for from philosophy he will learn serenity, impartiality, and the transitoriness of human things.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Summing Up

Source: The Summing Up (1938), p. 223

“Self-doubt, which is the artist’s bitterest enemy.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Moon and Sixpence

Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 43, p. 153

“There are men who are possessed by an urge so strong to do some particular thing that they can't help themselves, they've got to do it. They're prepared to sacrifice everything to satisfy their yearning.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Razor's Edge

The Razor's Edge (1943)

“It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late.”

W. Somerset Maugham book Of Human Bondage

Source: Of Human Bondage (1915), Ch. 51

“I have been forced to conclude from this that we know our friends by their defects rather than by their merits.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Summing Up

Source: The Summing Up (1938), p. 214

“Of course it was cause and effect, but in the necessity with which follows the other lay all tragedy of life.”

W. Somerset Maugham book Of Human Bondage

Source: Of Human Bondage (1915), Ch. 65

“Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.”

W. Somerset Maugham

Quoted in Conversations with Willie (1978) by Robin Maugham

“It is very natural that clever young men should be rather odious. They are conscious of gifts that they do not know how to use. They are exasperated with the world that will not recognize their merit. They have something to give, and no hand is stretched out to receive it. They are impatient for the fame they regard as their due.”

W. Somerset Maugham

"The voice of the turtle", p. 250
Short Stories, Collected short stories 1

“If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one, but the wise man is foolish to give them the lie.”

W. Somerset Maugham

"1901", p. 76. Sometimes misquoted as "If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing". Sometimes misattributed to Bertrand Russell or Anatole France
A Writer's Notebook (1946)

“The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes…”

W. Somerset Maugham

Source: Cakes and Ale: Or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930), p. 184

“Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole-time job.”

W. Somerset Maugham

Source: Cakes and Ale: Or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930), p. 15

“It may be that if I lead the life I've planned for myself it may affect others; the effect may be no greater than the ripple caused by a stone thrown in a pond, but one ripple causes another.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Razor's Edge

The Razor's Edge (1943)

“Men are always the same. Fear makes them cruel.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Moon and Sixpence

Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 55, p. 204

“Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less.”

W. Somerset Maugham

"1892", p. 1
A Writer's Notebook (1946)

“Anyone can tell the truth, but only very few of us can make epigrams.”

W. Somerset Maugham

"1896", p. 17
A Writer's Notebook (1946)

“I am a little shy of any assumption of moral indignation. There is always in it an element of self-satisfaction which makes it awkward to anyone who has a sense of humour.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Moon and Sixpence

Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 32, p. 116

“I have not been afraid of excess: excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Summing Up

Source: The Summing Up (1938), p. 48

“Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner.”

W. Somerset Maugham book Of Human Bondage

Source: Of Human Bondage (1915), Ch. 53