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
happy-life space wish
I wish I could make you see how much fuller the life I offer you is than anything you have a conception of. I wish I could make you see how exciting the life of the spirit is and how rich in experience. It's illimitable. It's such a happy life. There's only one thing like it, when you're up in a plane by yourself, high, high, and only infinity surrounds you. You're intoxicated by the boundless space.
stars men space
On the earth, satellite of a star speeding through space, living things had arisen under the influence of conditions which were part of the planet's history; and as there had been a beginning of life upon it, so, under the influence of other conditions, there would be an end: man, no more significant than other forms of life, had come not as the climax of creation but as a physical reaction to the environment.
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.
illusion lost youth
It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who has lost it.
ease freedom lose soon thinks
Any nation that thinks more of its ease and comfort than its freedom will soon lose its freedom; and the ironical thing about it is that it will lose its ease and comfort too.
foolish forty man million people wise
If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one, but the wise man is foolish to give them the lie.
bitter common failure people spoils success
The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is erroneous, on the contrary, it makes them for the most part, humble, tolerant, and kind. Failure makes people bitter and cruel.