“What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably… have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature.”

Newsweek, 23 May, 1960

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably……" by W. Somerset Maugham?
W. Somerset Maugham photo
W. Somerset Maugham 158
British playwright, novelist, short story writer 1874–1965

Related quotes

David Mitchell photo

“I would certainly have gone to MIT had I been accepted, but my thinking now is that if I did that, I would not have had enough free time in college to write Crypto++ and think about anonymous protocols, Tegmark's multiverse, anthropic reasoning, etc., and these spare-time efforts have probably done more for my "career" than the MIT name or what I might have learned there.”

Wei Dai Cryptocurrency pioneer and computer scientist

On his university experience, in a discussion thread https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MzfrRhB4Q7YgCW3f6/college-selection-advice#PuZtQ3excyvoPZh42 on LessWrong, March 2011
Context: Here's my experience. I applied to just MIT and my state university (University of Washington). I got on MIT's waiting list but was ultimately not accepted, so went to UW. I would certainly have gone to MIT had I been accepted, but my thinking now is that if I did that, I would not have had enough free time in college to write Crypto++ and think about anonymous protocols, Tegmark's multiverse, anthropic reasoning, etc., and these spare-time efforts have probably done more for my "career" than the MIT name or what I might have learned there.

Andrea Dworkin photo
Stephen Fry photo
Carly Simon photo

“Fear came in so much in my life that it did everything but completely stop me. When I was a little girl, I so wanted to be sociable, but I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to speak a sentence because I had such a bad stammer...”

Carly Simon (1943) American singer-songwriter, musician and author

On what Simon’s childhood in “Tales From the Trees: An Interview With Carly Simon” https://www.popmatters.com/tales-from-the-trees-an-interview-with-carly-simon-2495407885.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1 in PopMatters (2016 Nov 20)

Muhammad Ali photo

“All through my life, I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested.”

The Soul of a Butterfly, 2004
Variant: All through my life I have been tested. My will has been tested, my courage has been tested, my strength has been tested. Now my patience and endurance are being tested.
Source: The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey

Stacey Dash photo

“God spoke to me and God told me, "Keep your son,” And I did and he saved my life. My son saved my life. Had I not had my son, I would probably be dead right now.”

Stacey Dash (1967) American actress

EXCLUSIVE: Stacey Dash Says Not Having an Abortion 'Saved' Her Life, Reveals She's Abstaining From Sex Before Marriage http://www.etonline.com/news/190126_stacey_dash_says_not_having_an_abortion_saved_my_life_exclusive/ (June 2, 2016)

Susan B. Anthony photo

“I have many things to say. My every right, constitutional, civil, political and judicial has been tramped upon. I have not only had no jury of my peers, but I have had no jury at all.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

Account of Matilda Joslyn Gage (20 June 1873) to Kansas Leavenworth Times (3 July 1873)
Trial on the charge of illegal voting (1874)

Kevin Spacey photo
John Cleese photo

Related topics