W. Somerset Maugham Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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Most modern science fiction went to school on 'Dune.' Even 'Harry Potter' with its 'boy protagonist who has not yet grown into his destiny' shares a common theme. When I read it for the first time, I felt like I had learned another language, mastered a new culture, adopted a new religion.
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We make a ladder for ourselves of our vices, if we trample those same vices underfoot.
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My mom bought me a white Strat, but that wasn't what I wanted, so I went to a guitar store in Cleveland and - the guy told me it was a really good deal - made an even swap for a blue Teisco Del Ray. I loved that guitar and used it a bunch.
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The haunting of history is ever present in Barcelona. I see cities as organisms, as living creatures. To me, Madrid is a man and Barcelona is a woman. And it's a woman who's extremely vain.
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Lukewarmness I account a sin, as great in love as in religion.
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I pretty much preach, teach and nag.
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The middle of 'America's Women' is about the Civil War, and how women, black and white, confronted slavery and abolition. As in every other period of crisis, the rules of sexual decorum were suspended due to emergency.
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A person's portrayal on TV isn't always how someone is.
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My parents were wonderful Christians. They were religious, but they were not fanatical in any way. I was the one who took it to the extreme. I was told in Sunday school that you had to accept Jesus into your heart if you didn't want to go to hell. So of course I did that a thousand times. But the catch was you had to mean it with all of your heart.
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Each time you choose not to act on a frightened part of your personality, you create authentic power - and you grow spiritually. The frightened parts of your personality come less frequently and with less intensity, and the loving parts fill more and more of your consciousness.
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Boys are so much drama.
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You've got to be before you can do and do before you can have.
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The gap between being a bad person and being a criminal is often wide.
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When the element of conversion with reference to a standard is eliminated from life, what remains is the irresponsible quest for thrills.
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Societies evolve based on new understandings and new science and new appreciation of who we are.
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I, marry? Oh, I could never bring myself to do it. I would have been in mortal misery all my life for fear my wife might say, 'That's a pretty little thing,' after I had finished a picture.
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Doing a life study while drunk and in the process of being seduced is never a formula for quality art.
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If none of us ever read a book that was 'dangerous,' had a friend who was 'different,' or joined an organization that advocated 'change,' we would all be just the kind of people Joe McCarthy wants.
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Don't terrorize. Organize. Don't burn. Give kids a chance to learn … The real answer to race problems in this country is education. Not burning and killing. Be ready. Be qualified. Own something. Be somebody. That's Black Power.
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I have a superhero complex. If I see anything bad happen, I run towards it, rather idiotically because, after all, what could I do?
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Ever since the Crusades, when Christians from western Europe were fighting holy wars against Muslims in the near east, western people have often perceived Islam as a violent and intolerant faith - even though when this prejudice took root Islam had a better record of tolerance than Christianity.
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I always knew that I was going to be a writer. There was no question in my mind about that.
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Tolerance is another word for indifference.
