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The humorist has a good eye for the humbug he does not always recognize the saint.
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
Eye
Doe
Good
Humorist
Always
Humbug
Humorists
Saint
Recognize
Humor
More quotes by W. Somerset Maugham
It is clear that men accept an immediate pain rather than an immediate pleasure, but only because they expect a greater pleasure in the future. Often the pleasure is illusory, but their error in calculation is no refutation of the rule.
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Women's hearts are like old china, none the worse for a break or two.
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In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally.
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But I am not sure it would contain any short stories. For the short story is a minor art, and it must content itself with moving, exciting and amusing the reader. ...I do not think that there is any (short story) that will give the reader that thrill, that rapture, that fruitful energy which great art can produce.
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The author always loads his dice, but he must never let the reader see that he has done so, and by the manipulation of his plot, he can engage the reader's attention so that he does not perceive the violence that has been done to him.
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Heaven knows what pains the author has been at, what bitter experience he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some chance reader a few hours' relaxation or to while away the tedium of a journey.
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Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.
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Oh, it's always the same,' she sighed, 'if you want men to behave well to you, you must be beastly to them if you treat them decently they make you suffer for it.
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Genius is talent provided with ideals.
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Her tears were partly tears of happiness, for she felt that the strangeness between them was gone. She loved him now with a new love because he had made her suffer.
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The nature of men and women - their essential nature - is so vile and despicable that if you were to portray a person as he really is, no one would believe you.
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I've always been interested in people, but I've never liked them.
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The trouble with young writers is that they are all in their sixties.
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Success. I don't believe it has any effect on me. For one thing I always expected it.
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I would sooner read a timetable or a catalog than nothing at all.
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The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.
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To write simply is as difficult as to be good.
W. Somerset Maugham
A good style should show no signs of effort. What is written should seem a happy accident.
W. Somerset Maugham
In the country the darkness of night is friendly and familiar, but in a city, with its blaze of lights, it is unnatural, hostile and menacing. It is like a monstrous vulture that hovers, biding its time.
W. Somerset Maugham
Loving-kindness is the better part of goodness.
W. Somerset Maugham
