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
art may clique
An art is only great and significant if it is one that all may enjoy. The art of a clique is but a plaything.
god church fool
The Almighty can hardly be such a fool as the churches make out.
actors know-how knows
By the time an actor knows how to act any sort of part he is often too old to act any but a few.
thinking fiction stories
Just as the painter thinks with his brush and paints the novelist thinks with his story.
intelligent animal intellectual
The audience is a very curious animal. It is shrewd rather than intelligent. Its mental capacity is less than that of its most intellectual members.
fall play important
The audience is not the least important actor in the play and if it will not do its allotted share the play falls to pieces.
community desire exhilaration
Affection is created by habit, community of interests, convenience and the desire of companionship. It is a comfort rather than an exhilaration.
speaks-french cards diplomatic
It is good to be on your guard against an Englishman who speaks French perfectly; he is very likely to be a card-sharper or an attache in the diplomatic service.
people fool way
A dictator must fool all the people all the time and there's only one way to do that, he must also fool himself.
kindness grace quality
Loving-kindness is the better part of goodness. It lends grace to the sterner qualities of which this consists.
country men police
A man who is a politician at forty is a statesman at three score and ten. It is at this age, when he would be too old to be a clerk or a gardener or a police-court magistrate, that he is ripe to govern a country.
real men occupy-yourself
For if the proper study of mankind is man, it is evidently more sensible to occupy yourself with the coherent, substantial and significant creatures of fiction than with the irrational and shadowy figures of real life.
artist atheism limits
The artist can within limits make what he likes of his life... It is only the artist, and maybe the criminal, who can make his own.
men atheism world
Through the history of the world there have always been exploiters and exploited. There always will be ... because the great mass of men are made by nature to be slaves, they are unfit to control themselves, and for their own good need masters.