Quote

Man's desire for the approval of his fellows is so strong, his dread of their censure so violent, that he himself has brought his enemy (conscience) within his gates and it keeps watch over him, vigilant always in the interests of its master to crush any half-formed desire to break away from the herd.

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
Within
Master
Formed
Interest
Brought
Approval
Half
Conscience
Crush
Desire
Masters
Gates
Herd
Strong
Watches
Fellows
Censure
Away
Watch
Interests
Vigilant
Always
Enemy
Keeps
Herds
Men
Break
Violent
Dread

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It wasn't until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, 'I don't know.'
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I like manual labor. Whenever I've got waterlogged with study, I've taken a spell of it and found it spiritually invigorating.
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Clearly much that seemed valid seemed so only because he had been taught it from earliest youth.
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As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue.
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It is one of the defects of my character that I cannot altogether dislike anyone who makes me laugh.
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As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times.
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What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably... have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature.
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There are times when I look over the various parts of my character with perplexity. I recognize that I am made up of several persons and that the person that at the moment has the upper hand will inevitably give place to another. But which is the real one? All of them or none?
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Women are constantly trying to commit suicide for love, but generally they take care not to succeed.
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If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one.
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I happen to think we’ve set our ideal on the wrong objects I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection.
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Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and women, to escape the tediousness of life.
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If truth is a value it is because it is true and not because it is brave to speak it.
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The drama is make-believe. It does not deal with truth but with effect.
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At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.
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