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The secret of play-writing can be given in two maxims: stick to the point, and, whenever you can, cut.
W. Somerset Maugham
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W. Somerset Maugham
Age: 90 †
Born: 1874
Born: January 1
Died: 1965
Died: January 1
Army Scout
Literary Critic
Novelist
Physician Writer
Playwright
Prosaist
Screenwriter
Writer
Paris
France
W. Somerset Maugham
Somerset Maugham
Point
Language
Given
Maxims
Two
Stick
Play
Sticks
Writing
Whenever
Cutting
Secret
More quotes by W. Somerset Maugham
Beauty is also a Gift of God, one of the most rare and precious, and we should be thankful if we are happy enough to possess it and thankful, if we are not, that others possess it for our pleasure.
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The great critic … must be a philosopher, for from philosophy he will learn serenity, impartiality, and the transitoriness of human things.
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You've been brought up like a gentleman and a Christian, and I should be false to the trust laid upon me by your dead father and mother if I allowed you to expose yourself to such temptation.' Well, I know I'm not a Christian and I'm beginning to doubt whether I'm a gentleman,' said Philip.
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I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.
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It seems that the creative faculty and the critical faculty cannot exist together in their highest perfection.
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A woman may be as wicked as she likes, but if she isn't pretty it won't do her much good.
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Advice to first year medical students: In anatomy, it is better to have learned and lost than never to have learned at all.
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You must not pursue a success, but fly from it.
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It might be that to surrender to happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories.
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Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.
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Comedy appeals to the collective mind of the audience and this grows fatigued while farce appeals to a more robust organ, their collective belly.
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Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art. ~Waddington
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You see, money to you means freedom to me it means bondage.
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For my part I cannot believe in a God who is angry with me because I do not believe in him. I cannot believe in a God who is less tolerant than I. I cannot believe in a God who has neither humour nor common sense.
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Reserve is an artificial quality that is developed in most of us but as the result of innumerable rebuffs.
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She’s wonderful. Tell her I’ve never seen such beautiful hands. I wonder what she sees in you.” Waddington, smiling, translated the question. “She says I’m good.” “As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue,” Kitty mocked.
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I wonder how anyone can have the face to condemn others when he reflects upon his own thoughts.
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Affection is created by habit, community of interests, convenience and the desire of companionship. It is a comfort rather than an exhilaration.
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When married people don't get on they can separate, but if they're not married it's impossible. It's a tie that only death can sever.
W. Somerset Maugham
It is not true that suffering ennobles the character happiness does that sometimes, but suffering for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.
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