Here is the best 5 Somerset Maugham quotes selected from his vast collection of evocative literary works.
English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer William Somerset Maugham was a qualified doctor.
While he still studying for his degree in medicine. this British lad was already busy writing.
It was his working experience as a doctor, he found inspiration for his first novel “Liza of Lambeth” in 1897.
The novel “Of Human Bondage” is an autobiographical novel; it;s about his unhappiness and anxiety in his early life and also his experiences as a medical student.
Maugham traveled far and wide during his life to Europe, North America, the Far East, and the South Sea.
Maugham often used the experience he acquired and the observations he made abroad as material for his works.
For instance, his travel book “On A Chinese Screen“, a collection of short vignettes, based on his trip along the Yangtze River in 1919-1920.
All the eight stories in his “The Trembling Of A Leaf: Little Stories Of The South Sea Islands“, were inspired by journeys to the South Sea Islands of the Pacific.
In 1916, Maugham traveled to the South Pacific Islands when he was researching for “The Moon and Six Pence“, a novel based on artist Paul Gaugin’s life.
During his five months stay in the Federated Malay States (“F.M.S.”) in 1920s, then under British rule, Maugham came up a great collection of six stories, published under the title “The Casuarina Tree“.
Numerous of his work was adapted for both television shows and movies.
Maugham wrote over thirty plays, mainly light satiric comedies.
Personally I find Somerset Maugham, a great storyteller.
To quote one of his own words:
I have never pretended to be anything but a storyteller.
(Creatures Of Circumstance By W. Somerset Maugham, London: William Heinmann Ltd, 1947, The Author Excuses Himself, P. 4)
(The quote is also found in: Creatures Of Circumstance By W. Somerset Maugham, Piscataway, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2011, The Author Excuses Himself, P. 5)
Best 5 Somerset Maugham Quotes
Check out my best 5 Somerset Maugham quotes taken from his books:
“People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.” – William Somerset Maugham
(Of Human Bondage By William Somerset Maugham, New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 1915, L, P. 297) source
(The quote is also found in: Of Human Bondage By William Somerset Maugham, 1915, Collier By Special Arrangement With Doubleday, Doran, 1943, L, P. 267)
“Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less.” – William Somerset Maugham
(A Writer’s Notebook By W. Somerset Maugham, London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1915, 1892, P. 1) source
(The quote is also found in: A Writer’s Notebook By W. Somerset Maugham, New York: Arno Press, 1977, 1892. P. 1) source
“Reading does not make a man wise; it only makes him learned.” – William Somerset Maugham
(A Writer’s Notebook By W. Somerset Maugham, London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1915, 1892, P. 2) source
(The quote is also found in: A Writer’s Notebook By W. Somerset Maugham, New York: Doubleday, 1949, 1892, P. 2) source
“At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.” – William Somerset Maugham
(A Writer’s Notebook By W. Somerset Maugham, London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1915, 1896, P. 14) source
(The quote is also found in: A Writer’s Notebook By W. Somerset Maugham, New York: Doubleday, 1949, 1896, P. 18) source
“Men forget the horrible thoughts that wander through their own minds, and are indignant when they discover them in others.” – Somerset Maugham
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1948, 16, P. 53) source
(The quote is also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, New York: Random House, 2010, 16, P. 53) source
*This is the full list of authentic Somerset Maugham quotes about life, you should take your time to read them.
*Here is another great selection of Somerset Maugham The Summing Up quotes.