W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

I happen to think we’ve set our ideal on the wrong objects; I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection.

W. Somerset Maugham

• Men
• Thinking
• Self

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Quotes to Explore

• Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today - but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.

  

  Isaac Asimov
  • May
  • Today
  • Science

• My sister, mom and I all wear the same size, so I shop a lot at a boutique called 'my mother's closet' that is right down the hall from my bedroom. She has vintage Comme des Garcons dresses that I feel so elegant wearing.

  

  Zoey Deutch
  • She
  • Mother
  • Mom

• I think artists are really the root of a tree. They can search for truth or reality in their own way, and the gallery can support them - the outside part of the tree, where it is more about reaching the outside world, connecting with the outside world. That is the role of the gallery, no? Why does the artist have to do that?

  

  A. Balasubramaniam
  • World
  • Why
  • Truth

• The idea of revenge coming from a 14-year-old girl isn't, you know, exactly right.

  

  Hailee Steinfeld
  • Girl
  • Know
  • Revenge

• Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying No to any authority - literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political.

  

  Ignazio Silone
  • Political
  • Religious
  • Mistake

• I'm convinced the fall of Aleppo will not end the war.

  

  Federica Mogherini
  • War
  • Fall
  • End

• I think it's the responsibility of a major opera house not only to cultivate debate and get people thinking, but also to be interfaced with things that challenge them. To challenge its audience and not just deliver things that they know, even though some of those things are wonderful.

  

  Wayne McGregor
  • People
  • Thinking
  • House

• I know people who prepare their roles in such a way that they technically look ahead and memorize their gestures, and then they stick to it. Those that are technically proficient enough can make it seem natural, but they do that and don't really take in what other people are doing.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • People
  • Know
  • Doing

• There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time as come.

  

  Victor Hugo
  • Time
  • World
  • Stronger

• In general, I tend to laugh too much. I always try to tell myself not to, but I think that's just part of getting through the job. It's not rocket science. I want to have a good time!

  

  Zach Woodlee
  • Time
  • Good
  • Job

• I started working professionally as soon as I could, doing weddings and things like that in high school, while everyone else was having keg parties. I just felt destined to do it and really committed and driven; it was something that just felt right all my life.

  

  Idina Menzel
  • Life
  • School
  • High

• How does a person feel when looking at the sky? He thinks that he doesn't have enough tongues to describe what he sees. Nevertheless, people have never stopping describing the sky, simply listing what they see.

  

  Umberto Eco
  • People
  • Sky
  • Looking

• Once in awhile, there's stuff that makes me say, That's what theatre's about. It has to be a human event on the stage, and that doesn't happen very often.

  

  Uta Hagen
  • Human
  • Theatre
  • Stage

• Different astronauts sleep in different ways.

  

  Sally Ride
  • Different
  • Sleep
  • Astronauts

• We're not going to make Evolution or any of our other products depend on Mono anytime in the near future.

  

  Nat Friedman
  • Future
  • Evolution
  • Depend

• The years keep going by and you realize, Wow. Doing these records is such a process: going on tour for a year and a half, then you get home and you want to do other things.

  

  Beck
  • Home
  • Year
  • Keep Going

• All in all, I think Kazan is Russia's sportiest city after Moscow, leaving all the others far behind.

  

  Marat Safin
  • Think
  • City
  • Leaving

• I look at singing and acting as one career, and I love the chance to do both in the same project. I need to do both. When I'm doing one, I miss the other.

  

  Vanity
  • Career
  • Singing
  • Chance

• Lots of male friendships begin as a cheeky snog. Or a little undercurrent of flirtation.

  

  Kate Winslet
  • Friendships
  • Begin
  • Lots

• Where some people may see loving grandparents, I see a pair of feckless boobs who can't drive, take way too long to shop, and don't even have the most basic grasps on the new technology. As a staunch supporter of the principles of Darwinism, I think that advances in modern medicine are starting to overrule the survival of the fittest, and it's to our [youngers'] detriment.

  

  Andy Rooney
  • People
  • Thinking
  • Long

• I've spent a lot of time self-reflecting. Especially as an actor, you have to know yourself really well in order to do things effectively. And when I dress, I dress for me. I don't dress to make other people think that I'm this way or that way.

  

  Teddy Sears
  • People
  • Time
  • Me

• I just felt like I presented a good enough case where it would be thrown out altogether, but to get it reduced to one day does prove something to me, ... If it wasn't for all of the prior incidents I've been involved with in my career, I don't think I would have gotten any games.

  

  Gary Sheffield
  • Good
  • Career
  • Games

• I happen to think we’ve set our ideal on the wrong objects; I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection.

  

  W. Somerset Maugham
  • Men
  • Thinking
  • Self