“I did not then know the besetting sin of woman, the passion to discuss her private affairs with anyone who is willing to listen.”
Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 8, p. 31
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
W. Somerset Maugham 158
British playwright, novelist, short story writer 1874–1965Related quotes

“Intolerance is the besetting sin of moral fervour.”
Source: 1930s, Adventures of Ideas (1933), p. 63, Ch. 4 http://books.google.com/books?id=UZeJuLvNq80C&q="Intolerance+is+the+besetting+sin+of+moral+fervour"&pg=PA50#v=onepage
Madame de Pompadour.
On how she defines “author” in “Interview with Mystery Author Lucha Corpi” http://latinola.com/story.php?story=8074 in ¡Latino LA! (2009 Dec 4)

Book 1, Chapter 39
Discourses on Livy (1517)
Context: Anyone who studies present and ancient affairs will easily see how in all cities and all peoples there still exist, and have always existed, the same desires and passions. Thus, it is an easy matter for him who carefully examines past events to foresee future events in a republic and to apply the remedies employed by the ancients, or, if old remedies cannot be found, to devise new ones based upon the similarity of the events. But since these matters are neglected or not understood by those who read, or, if understood, remain unknown to those who govern, the result is that the same problems always exist in every era.

The Rubaiyat (1120)

“To get a woman, you have to be willing to risk losing her.”
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (2005)

Letter to John Page (15 July 1763); published in The Works of Thomas Jefferson (1905) http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=800&chapter=85791&layout=html&Itemid=27
1760s
Context: To begin an affair of that kind now, and carry it on so long a time in form, is by no means a proper plan … whatever assurances I may give her in private of my esteem for her, or whatever assurances I may ask in return from her, depend on it — they must be kept in private. Necessity will oblige me to proceed in a method which is not generally thought fair; that of treating with a ward before obtaining the approbation of her guardian. I say necessity will oblige me to it, because I never can bear to remain in suspense so long a time. If I am to succeed, the sooner I know it, the less uneasiness I shall have to go through. If I am to meet with a disappointment, the sooner I know it, the more of life I shall have to wear it off: and if I do meet with one, I hope in God, and verily believe; it will be the last.