W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

Make him laugh and he will think you a trivial fellow, but bore him in the right way and your reputation is assured.

W. Somerset Maugham

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Quotes to Explore

• I've made up little mantras for myself, catchphrases from a screenwriting book that doesn't exist. One is 'Write the movie you'd pay to go see.' Another is 'Never let a character tell me something that the camera can show me.'

  

  Taylor Sheridan
  • Up
  • Character
  • Book

• We should cease thinking about men as the enemy of children and women.

  

  Karen DeCrow
  • Men
  • Thinking
  • Women

• The Enlightenment view of mankind is a complete myth. It leads us into thinking we're sane and rational creatures most of the time, and we're not.

  

  J. G. Ballard
  • Time
  • Thinking
  • View

• I'm guilty of it myself, sort of thinking, 'Classic novels: snoozeville.' But there is a huge amount of wonderful material.

  

  Natasha Little
  • Thinking
  • Myself
  • Guilty

• I think that every so-called history book and film biography should be prefaced by the statement that what follows is the author's rendition of events and circumstances.

  

  Barbara Kruger
  • Book
  • History
  • Think

• I try to choose the projects that I think are the most well-written and well-executed, and the rest of it is so beyond my control to be almost not worth thinking about at all.

  

  Jack Davenport
  • Thinking
  • Think
  • Control

• When you're writing a book, you don't really think about it critically. You don't want to know too well what you're doing. First, you write the book, then you find the justification for it.

  

  E. L. Doctorow
  • Writing
  • Book
  • Doing

• I came up in the theater, and I learned pretty quickly that reading a review, whether it's good or bad, can strangely affect the next performances, because you're reacting to something that's been said about you. So I tend to avoid that stuff pretty studiously.

  

  Dallas Roberts
  • Up
  • Good
  • Bad

• Historical fiction is actually good preparation for reading SF. Both the historical novelist and the science fiction writer are writing about worlds unlike our own.

  

  Pamela Sargent
  • Good
  • Writing
  • Science

• I'm loyal. I'm real. I'm not afraid to say what I'm thinking.

  

  Carli Lloyd
  • Thinking
  • Real
  • Afraid

• It's easier to release an ebook than a print book.

  

  J. A. Konrath
  • Book
  • Easier
  • Print

• You need people around you that care about you and are thinking about you in your best interest. And keep your mind straight.

  

  Q'orianka Kilcher
  • People
  • Thinking
  • Mind

• Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.

  

  Malala Yousafzai
  • World
  • Book
  • Remember

• A tactic used by authors of virtually every single book I've ever read that propounds a conspiracy theory is to attack an agency as being part of a conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination, but when this same agency comes up with something favorable to the author's position, the author will cite that same agency as credible support for his argument.

  

  Vincent Bugliosi
  • Up
  • Book
  • Support

• Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.

  

  G. M. Trevelyan
  • Education
  • Reading
  • Worth

• I think my printing to this day looks like the printing right out of a comic book. Actually, I always wanted to be in a comic book. I watched cartoons when I was a kid, too, and both comics and cartoons lit fire in my imagination. This realm holds a lot of interest for me, a lot of passion for me. So to be comic-ized, yeah, that's cool.

  

  Nathan Fillion
  • Book
  • Day
  • Passion

• I have two daughters: One an open book, one a locked box. So the question of privacy is a challenging one. How much do kids need? How much should we give? How do we prepare them to live in a world where the very notion of privacy opens a generational chasm?

  

  Nancy Gibbs
  • World
  • Live
  • Book

• She was obsessed with French and Swedish cinema. I also remember our mother showing us 'Gone With the Wind' very early on. She absolutely loved Vivien Leigh, so it must have been a formative experience for me, thinking, 'Oh, maybe one day I'll be like Vivien Leigh.'

  

  Felicity Jones
  • Thinking
  • She
  • Experience

• There is a better way for everything. Find it.

  

  Thomas A. Edison
  • Way
  • Better
  • Everything

• Essentially this promise before curse, this superiority of God's love in Christ, must come from the Bible.

  

  Walter Lang
  • God
  • Love
  • Promise

• I read tons of books, listen to music non-stop, watch as many movies as possible, catch a play when I can, art shows, concerts, bar talks - I just try to engage in art, which to me is everywhere, as often as I can because narrative lives in it all.

  

  Jason Reynolds
  • Music
  • Art
  • Stop

• For the first time, I wasn't afraid to be smart, and she often stayed after school to work with me.

  

  Oprah Winfrey
  • Time
  • Work
  • School

• Make him laugh and he will think you a trivial fellow, but bore him in the right way and your reputation is assured.

  

  W. Somerset Maugham
  • Thinking
  • Book
  • Reading