W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

1874–1965 England

William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and short story writer; often published as simply W. Somerset Maugham.

England
Novelists
Playwrights
Short story writers

Also known as: Maugham, William Somerset, Somerset Maugham, W. S. Maugham, William Somerset Maugham

Random W. Somerset Maugham quote

187 quotes

Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner.

Of Human Bondage (1915)

I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing on somebody's else advice.

Of Human Bondage (1915)

It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late.

Of Human Bondage (1915)

Sentimentality is only sentiment that rubs you up the wrong way.

A Writer's Notebook (1946)

No affectation of peculiarity can conceal a commonplace mind.

The Moon and Sixpence (1919)

The silence walked beside them like the ghost of a dead man.

'I sometimes think,' said the Eternal, 'that the stars never shine more brightly than when reflected in the muddy waters of a wayside ditch.'

The Riviera isn't only a sunny place for shady people.

The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.

The Moon and Sixpence (1919)

Self-doubt, which is the artist's bitterest enemy.

The Moon and Sixpence (1919)

"You bloody fool, you've killed the wrong man."

The Hairless Mexican (1927)

It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.

Cakes and Ale: Or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930)

Courage is the obvious virtue of the stupid.

Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose: you can smell it and that is all.

Cakes and Ale: Or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930)

The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.

The Summing Up (1938)

But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous sentiments and normal emotions.

The Moon and Sixpence (1919)

When the best way to the Governor’s favour was to be intelligent, intelligence would become the fashion.

Do you know that conversation is one of the greatest pleasures in life? But it wants leisure.

The Trembling of a Leaf (1921)

Money is like a sixth sense - and you can't make use of the other five without it.

What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories.

Points of View (1959)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: W. Somerset Maugham (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.