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 More Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham More Quotes From W. Somerset Maugham I wish I could make you see how much fuller the life I offer you is than anything you have a conception of. I wish I could make you see how exciting the life of the spirit is and how rich in experience. It's illimitable. It's such a happy life. There's only one thing like it, when you're up in a plane by yourself, high, high, and only infinity surrounds you. You're intoxicated by the boundless space. W. Somerset Maugham space wish happy-life 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 nonsense aging generations What does democracy come down to? The persuasive power of slogans invented by wily self-seeking politicians. W. Somerset Maugham atheism democracy self People talk of beauty lightly, and having no feeling for words, they use that one carelessly, so that it loses its force; and the thing it stands for, sharing its name with a hundred trivial objects, is deprived of dignity. They call beautiful a dress, a dog, a sermon; and when they are face to face with Beauty cannot recognise it. W. Somerset Maugham dog names beautiful Unfortunately sometimes one can't do what one thinks is right without making someone else unhappy. W. Somerset Maugham unhappy sometimes thinking It must be that there is something naturally absurd in a sincere emotion, though why there should be I cannot imagine, unless it is that man, the ephemeral inhabitant of an insignificant planet, with all his pain and all his striving is but a jest in an eternal mind. W. Somerset Maugham pain mind men When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character. W. Somerset Maugham inspirational friendship children I am told that today rather more than 60 per cent of the men who go to university go on a Government grant. This is a new class that has entered upon the scene. It is the white-collar proletariat. They do not go to university to acquire culture but to get a job, and when they have got one, scamp it. They have no manners and are woefully unable to deal with any social predicament. Their idea of a celebration is to go to a public house and drink six beers. They are mean, malicious and envious . They are scum. W. Somerset Maugham beer jobs mean As the cosmos are in place, so be it with your life. W. Somerset Maugham cosmos life The great man is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is a bundle of contradictory elements. He is inexhaustible. You never come to the end of the surprises he has in store for you. W. Somerset Maugham pieces greatness men 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. W. Somerset Maugham age time memories You know, of course, that the Tasmanians, who never committed adultery, are now extinct. W. Somerset Maugham adultery committed sex There is nothing so terrible as the pursuit of art by those who have no talent. W. Somerset Maugham pursuit talent art He is not famous. It may be that he never will be. It may be that when his life at last comes to an end he will leave no more trace of his sojourn on earth than a stone thrown into a river leaves on the surface of the water. But it may be that the way of life that he has chosen for himself and the peculiar strength and sweetness of his character may have an ever-growing influence over his fellow men so that, long after his death perhaps, it may be realized that there lived in this age a very remarkable creature. W. Somerset Maugham rivers character men Women are often under the impression that men are much more madly in love with them than they really are. W. Somerset Maugham madly-in-love love men Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. W. Somerset Maugham ecstasy hunger simple When people say they do not care what others think of them, for the most part they deceive themselves. Generally they mean only that they will do as they choose, in the confidence that no one will know their vagaries; and at the utmost only that they are willing to act contrary to the opinion of the majority because they are supported by the approval of their neighbours. It is not difficult to be unconventional in the eyes of the world when your unconventionality is but the convention of your set. W. Somerset Maugham eye mean thinking The trouble is that thinking looks like loafing. Who wants to pay people for daydreaming? W. Somerset Maugham learning teaching inspirational When things are at their worst, I find something always happens. W. Somerset Maugham human-bondage negativity entrepreneur It requires the feminine temperament to repeat the same thing three times with unabated zest. W. Somerset Maugham feminine zest three
