Do you agree with Somerset Maugham: culture is a mask that hides men’s faces?
William Somerset Maugham wrote the fascinating literary memoir “The Summing up” at the ripe age of sixty-four.
It was first published back in 1938. According to this British playwright, novelist and short story writer, this book is not is not an autobiography nor nor is it a book of recollections.
To quote this grand old man of letters, Maugham said, “to try to sort out my thoughts on the subjects that have chiefly interested me during the course of my life”.
It is packed with engaging account of the different stages of his life from 1890-1938.
That includes his childhood days, his initial success in theater, his transition from theater to fiction writing, and other various topics such as travel, literature, art, philosophy and his agnostic views.
Anyway, check out this captivating selection of quotes from Somerset Maugham’s “The Summing Up“:
“The prestige you acquire by being able to tell your friends that you know famous men proves only that you are yourself of small account.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 2; P.5)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, II; P.7)
“No one can tell the whole truth about himself.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 4; P.10)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, IV; P.10)
“There is a sort of man who pays no attention to his good actions, but is tormented by his bad ones. “
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 4; P.10)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, IV; P.11)
“I must write as though I were a person of importance; and indeed, I am- to myself.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 5; P.11)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, V; P.11)
“There is only one thing about which I am certain, and this is that there is very little about which one can be certain.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 5; P.12)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, V; P.12)
“I have not been afraid of excess: excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 15 ; P.47)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XV; P.35)
“The future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 15; P.50)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XV; P.37)
“There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and littleness, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 16; P.52)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XVI; P.38)
“I wonder how anyone can have the face to condemn others when he reflects upon his own thoughts.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 16; P.52)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XVI; P.38)
“Men forget the horrible thoughts that wander through their own minds, and are indignant when they discover them in others.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 16; P.53)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XVI; P.39)
“We learn resignation not by our own suffering, but by the suffering of others.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 19; P.62)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XIX; P.45)
“Fear for the most part will shatter every defence; even vanity is unnerved by it.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 19; P.63)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XIX; P.45)
“Reserve is an artificial quality that is developed in most of us but as the result of innumerable rebuffs.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 19; P.63)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XIX; P.45)
“A sense of humour leads you to take pleasure in the discrepancies of human nature.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 20; P.65)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XX; P.47)
“Our natural egoism leads us to judge people in their relation to ourselves. We want them to be certain things to us, and for us that is what they are; because the rest of them is no good to us, we ignore it.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 20; P.69)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XX; P.49)
“Men were moved by a savage egoism, that love was only the dirty trick nature played on us to achieve the continuation of the species.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 21; P.71)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XXI; P.51)
“Reverie is the groundwork of creative imagination.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 23; P.81)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XXIII; P.57)
“No reading is worth while unless you enjoy it.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 27; P.94)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XXVII; P.65)
“Imagination grows by exercise and contrary to common belief is more powerful in the mature than in the young.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 43; P.161)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XLIII; P.109-10)
“Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, Penguin Books, 1938, 48; P.128)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XLVIII; P.120)
“The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind. Failure makes people bitter and cruel.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 48; P.179)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XLVIII; P.121)
“The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1948; 49 P.53)
Note: Scroll down to page 53
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, XLIX; P.123)
“In civilized communities men’s idiosyncrasies are mitigated by the necessity of conforming to certain rules of behaviour. Culture is a mask that hides their faces.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 53; P.194)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LIII; P.131)
“I’ll give you my opinion of the human race in a nutshell…Their heart’s in the right place, but their head is a thoroughly inefficient organ.”
(Somerset Maugham: A Guide By Laurence Brander, Oliver & Boyd, 1963; P.91)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LV; P.137)
“It is salutary to train oneself to be no more affected by censure than by praise.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 60; P.220)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LX; P.148)
“The English are more interested in works of information than in works of art.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 60; P.220)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LX; P.148)
“Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 60; P.65
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LX; P.150)
“The writer does not feel with; he feels in…what the psychologists call empathy.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 61; P.226)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, 1976, LXI; P.152)
“The end of the artist is production while the end of other men is right action.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 61; P.226)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXI; P.152)
“The artist’s egoism is outrageous: it must be; he is by nature a solipsist and the world exists only for him to exercise upon it his powers of creation.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 61; P.227)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXI; P.152)
“We do not write because we want to; we write because we must. There may be other things in the world that more pressingly want doing: we must liberate our souls of the burden of creation.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 62; P.230)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXII; P.154)
“Life also is a school of philosophy, but it is like one of those modern kindergartens in which children are left to their own devices and work only at the subjects that arouse their interest.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 63; P.232)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIII; P.156)
“The determinist thinks that you cannot take a step in life that is not motivated by what you are at the moment; and you are not only your muscles, your nerves, your entrails and your brain; you are your habits, your opinions and your ideas.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 64; P.240)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIV; P.161)
“Man aimed at nothing but his own pleasure and that when he sacrificed himself for others it was only an illusion that led him to believe that he was seeking anything but his own gratification.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 66; P.247)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXVI; P.165)
“I decided that right and wrong were merely words and that the rules of conduct were no more than conventions that men had set up to serve their own selfish purposes.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 66; P.247)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXVI; P.165)
“The solipsist believes only in himself and his experience. He creates the world as the theatre of his activity, and the world he creates consists of himself and his thoughts and feelings; and beyond that nothing has being.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 67; P.225)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXVII; P.171)
“It may be that courage and sympathy are excellent and that they could not come into existence without danger and suffering.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 68; P.259)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXVIII; P.173)
“Some say that evil is logically necessary so that we may know good; some say that by the nature of the world there is an opposition between good and evil and that each is metaphysically necessary to the other.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, LXVIII; P.75
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXVIII; P.174)
“A God who is all-powerful may be justly blamed for the evil of the world and it seems absurd to consider him with admiration or accord him worship.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 69; P.262)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIX; P.175)
“Most of us find it embarrassing when flowering compliments are paid to us. It is strange that the devout should think God can be pleased when they slavishly pay them to him.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 69; P.76
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIX; P.175)
“Men are passionate, men are weak, men are stupid, men are pitiful; to bring to bear on them anything so tremendous as the wrath of God seems strangely inept.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 69; P.263)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIX; P.176)
“God is not so reasonable. He craves so urgently to be believed in that you might think he needed your belief in order to reassure himself of his own existence.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 69; P.263)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIX; P.176)
“He (God) promises rewards to those who believe in him and threatens with horrible punishment those who do not.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 69; P.77
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIX; P.176)
“For my part I cannot believe in a God who is angry with me because I do not believe in him. I cannot believe in a God who is less tolerant than I.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 69; P.77
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIX; P.176)
“Men have ascribed to God imperfections that they would deplore in themselves that does not prove that God does not exist. It proves only that the religions that men have accepted are but blind alleys cut into an impenetrable jungle and none of them leads to the heart of the great mystery.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 69; P.264)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIX; P.176-77)
“Experience has shown that the prevalence of a belief, no matter for how long it has been held, is no guarantee of its truth.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 69; P.265)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXIX; P.177)
“Consciousness cannot be extinguished by death; for the annihilation of consciousness is inconceivable, since only consciousness can conceive the annihilation of consciousness.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 70; P.78
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXX; P.180)
“If God is love, men are values to him, and it cannot be believed that what is of value to God can be allowed to perish.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, 1938, 70; P.274)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXX; P.180)
“Immortality is too stupendous a notion to be entertained in connection with common mortals. They are too insignificant to deserve eternal punishment or to merit eternal bliss.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 70; P.270)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXX; P.180)
“There is no reason for life and life has no meaning.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 71; P.272)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXI; P.182)
“Determinism tells us that choice follows the line of least resistance or the strongest motive.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 72; P.80
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXII; P.185)
“We are the playthings of nature. Earthquakes will continue to wreak havoc, droughts to ruin crops and unforeseen floods to destroy the prudent constructions of men.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 73; P.81
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXIII; P.187)
“There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the universe. To ignore it is childish; to bewail it senseless.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 73; P.81
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXIII; P.188)
“Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 73; P.286)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXIII; P.191)
“We are the product of our natures and our environment.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 74; P.289)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXIV; P.193)
“The egoism of man makes him unwilling to accept the meaninglessness of life.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 75; P.290)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXV; P.193)
“If truth is a value it is because it is true and not because it is brave to speak it.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 75; P.291)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXV; P.194)
“Beauty was like the summit of a mountain peak; when you had reached it there was nothing to do but to come down again.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 76; P.85
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXVI; P.195)
“If beauty is one of the great values of life, then it seems hard to believe that the aesthetic sense which enables men to appreciate it should be the privilege only of a class.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 76; P.298)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXVI; P.199)
“An art is only great and significant if it is one that all may enjoy.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 76; P.299)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXVI; P.199)
“The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.”
Note: This quote has no direct link to the book available on the Internet . But you will find it in this e-book: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, William Heinemann Ltd, 1938, 77; P.87
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXVII; P.200)
“Affection is created by habit, community of interests, convenience and the desire of companionship. It is a comfort rather than an exhilaration.”
(The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Random House, 2010, 77; P.301)
(Also found in: The Summing Up By W. Somerset Maugham, Pan Books, 1976, LXXVII; P.201)
Note:
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