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
eye vanity judging
When we come to judge others it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world.
humor eye saint
The humorist has a good eye for the humbug; he does not always recognize the saint.
mean eye thinking
When people say they do not care what others think of them, for the most part they deceive themselves. Generally they mean only that they will do as they choose, in the confidence that no one will know their vagaries; and at the utmost only that they are willing to act contrary to the opinion of the majority because they are supported by the approval of their neighbours. It is not difficult to be unconventional in the eyes of the world when your unconventionality is but the convention of your set.
eye deception world
It is not difficult to be unconventional in the eyes of the world when your unconventionality is but the convention of your set.
happiness eye giving
You tend to close your eyes to truth, beauty and goodness because they give no scope to your sense of the ridiculous.
book reading eye
When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me.
carry discovered earliest nonsense wiser
From the earliest times the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser than they, and before the young had discovered what nonsense this was they were old too, and it profited them to carry on the imposture.
english expect hope perfection women
Perfection is what American women expect to find in their husbands... but English women only hope to find in their butlers.
happens love man woman
Love is what happens to a man and woman who don't know each other.
befall boy bring consequences few worse
Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate mother.
cute chance life-is
Life is so largely controlled by chance that its conduct can be but a perpetual improvisation.
love men knows
Love is what happens to men and women who don't know each other.
knows rules three writers-and-writing
There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
assumed clinging conscious difference duchess lady order persons rank station
Lady Hodmarsh and the duchess immediately assumed the clinging affability that persons of rank assume with their inferiors in order to show them that they are not in the least conscious of any difference in station between them.