W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham CHwas a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPlaywright
Date of Birth25 January 1874
humility perfection dull
Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.
thinking iron house-of-cards
I do not think you want too much sincerity in society. It would be like an iron girder in a house of cards.
love two meat
It takes two to make a love affair and a mans meat is too often a woman's poison.
love heart who-you-know
Love is not always blind and there are few things that cause greater wretchedness than to love with all your heart someone who you know is unworthy of love.
men two care
When a man's in love, he at once makes a pedestal of the Ten Commandments and stands on the top of them with his arms akimbo. When a woman's in love she doesn't care two straws for Thou Shalt and Thou Shalt Not.
stars shining gutters
The spirit is often most free when the body is satiated with pleasure; indeed, sometimes the stars shine more brightly seen from the gutter than from the hilltop.
taught prejudice youth
Clearly much that seemed valid seemed so only because he had been taught it from earliest youth.
two religion use
In religion above all things the only thing of use is an objective truth. The only God that is of use is a being who is personal, supreme and good, and whose existence is as certain as that two and two make four.
men world-love trouble
There's nothing the world loves more than a ready-made description which they can hang on to a man, and so save themselves all trouble in future.
strength strong wall
So long as some are strong and some are weak, the weak will be driven to the wall.
blessed heaven telephones
In heaven, when the blessed use the telephone they will say what they have to say and not a word besides.
truth brave speak
If truth is a value it is because it is true and not because it is brave to speak it.
drama believe doe
The drama is make-believe. It does not deal with truth but with effect.
may saint sin
The inclination to digress is human. But the dramatist must avoid it even more strenuously than the saint must avoid sin, for while sin may be venial, digression is mortal.