“It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched, for they are full of the truthless ideals which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real they are bruised and wounded.”
Source: Of Human Bondage (1915), Ch. 29
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W. Somerset Maugham 158
British playwright, novelist, short story writer 1874–1965Related quotes

“Wedding Day”, Earthly Paradise (1966) ed. Robert Phelps

The Believer interview (2013)

Letter to his family (18 October 1918); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker. It was also published in The Oak Parker (Oak Park, IL) on 16 November 1918. Only 19 years old at the time, Hemingway was recovering from wounds suffered at the front line while serving as a Red Cross volunteer.

“Who knew? If the illusion is quite perfect, who is to say it is not real?”
Source: Volkhavaar (1977), Chapter 9 (p. 78)

“Knowing not to have illusions is absolutely necessary in order to have dreams.”
Ibid., p. 276
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Saber não ter ilusões é absolutamente necessário para se poder ter sonhos.