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From the earliest time the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser, and before the young had discovered what nonsense this was they were old too, and it profited them to carry on the imposture.
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
Nonsense
Aging
Discovered
Carry
Imposture
Generations
Profited
Young
Rubbed
Time
Earliest
Wiser
More quotes by W. Somerset Maugham
There is nothing so terrible as the pursuit of art by those who have no talent.
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I've met so many people, often the scum of the earth, and found them, you know, quite decent. I am an uncomfortable stranger to moral indignation.
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It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and then they are angry with you, for it was the illusion they loved.
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Death doesn't affect the living because it has not happened yet. Death doesn't concern the dead because they have ceased to exist.
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The average American can get into the kingdom of heaven much more easily than he can get into the Boulevard St. Germain.
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Anyone can tell the truth, but only very few of us can make epigrams.
W. Somerset Maugham
Things were easier for the old novelists who saw people all of a piece. Speaking generally, their heroes were good through and through, their villains wholly bad.
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Tolerance is another word for indifference.
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The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.
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Because a man can write great works he is none the less a man.
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Have common sense and stick to the point.
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Are you sure you can prevent yourself from falling in love one of these days? Such things do happen, you know, even to the most prudent men.' Simon gave him a strange, one might even have thought a hostile, look. I should tear it out of my heart as I'd wrench out of my mouth a rotten tooth.
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Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.
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You must not pursue a success, but fly from it.
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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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It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it.
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Success. I don't believe it has any effect on me. For one thing I always expected it.
W. Somerset Maugham
People are always a little disconcerted when you don't recognize them, they are so important to themselves, it is a shock to discover of what small importance they are to others. [The human element]
W. Somerset Maugham
I'll give you my opinion of the human race in a nutshell... their heart's in the right place, but their head is a thoroughly inefficient organ.
W. Somerset Maugham
The good traveler has the gift of surprise.
W. Somerset Maugham
