W. Somerset Maugham · 448 pages
Rating: (1.6K votes)
“I do not believe that I am a vindictive man, but when the immortal gods take a hand in the matter it is pardonable to observe the results with complacency.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“…I do not mind odious young men; it is when they are charming that I button up the pockets of my sympathy.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“I do not like these painted faces that look all alike; and I think women are foolish to dull their expression and obscure their personality with powder, rouge, and lipstick.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“We can only guess at the thoughts and emotions of our neighbors. Each one of us is a prisoner in a solitary tower and he communicates with the other prisoners, who form mankind, by conventional signs that have not quite the same meaning for them as for himself.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“...her very kindness was cruel because it was founded not on love but on reason...”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“Well, Henry, if I were you I wouldn’t worry”, said the lawyer. “My belief is that your boy’s born lucky, and in the long run that’s better than to be born clever or rich.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“From the standpoint of what eternity is it better to have read a thousand books than to have ploughed a million furrows?”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“It was difficult for her to preserve that haughty, sullen, and coldly indifferent demeanour that appears to be essential to the mannequin as she sails in with deliberate steps, turns round slowly and, with an air of contempt for the universe equalled only by the camel’s, sails out.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“annihilated them. ‘I have often wondered why men”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“Heaven knows, I'm the easiest woman in the world to get on with, but I will not be bullied by any man. After all, I have my self-respect to think of.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, quote from Collected Short Stories: Volume 1
“Rhett: If you've made up your mind to impale someone, do it with conviction.”
― Rowena Cherry, quote from Knight's Fork
“She found a small picture made entirely of feathers and was trying to decide whether it depicted a monkey climbing up the back of a man—or possibly a person climbing a flight of stairs or perhaps a cow next to a tree, when she saw a chess piece, sitting by itself on a small pedestal.
It was the white queen, carved from ivory. She stood with a regal frown, her body shadowed by the enormous crown that bloomed on her head. The crown was a hollow sphere, exquisitely carved with open work, and when Jemma peered inside she saw inside another sphere, also open, and inside that, yet another.”
― Eloisa James, quote from An Affair Before Christmas
“when attacked, centralized organizations tend to become even more centralized.”
― Ori Brafman, quote from The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations
“Easy, you know, does it, son.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, quote from Transparent Things
“The life of man upon earth is a warfare … — JOB 7:1”
― Saul D. Alinsky, quote from Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.
Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.