Somerset Maugham

Famous quotes containing the words somerset maugham, somerset and/or maugham:

    The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It is the achievement of beauty and delicacy. The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes.
    —W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1966)

    We learn resignation not by our own suffering, but by the suffering of others.
    —W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)

    The Americans ... have invented so wide a range of pithy and hackneyed phrases that they can carry on an amusing and animated conversation without giving a moment’s reflection to what they are saying and so leave their minds free to consider the more important matters of big business and fornication.
    —W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)