Writing Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

A good rule for writers: do not explain overmuch.

— W. Somerset Maugham

The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.

— W. Somerset Maugham

Writing is the supreme solace.

— W. Somerset Maugham

It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.

— W. Somerset Maugham

You cannot write unless you write much.

— W. Somerset Maugham

To write simply is as difficult as to be good.

— W. Somerset Maugham

The secret of play-writing can be given in two maxims: stick to the point, and, whenever you can, cut.

— W. Somerset Maugham

Writing is a wholetime job: no professional writer can afford only to write when he feels like it.

— W. Somerset Maugham

The ideas for stories that thronged my brain would not let me rest till I had got rid of them by writing…

— W. Somerset Maugham

The trouble with young writers is that they are all in their sixties.

— W. Somerset Maugham

“There are three secrets to writing a novel. Unfortunately nobody knows what they are.”

— W. Somerset Maugham

“I would sooner a writer were vulgar than mincing; for life is vulgar, and it is life he seeks.”

— W. Somerset Maugham

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

— W. Somerset Maugham

I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.

— W. Somerset Maugham

There are men who are possessed by an urge so strong to do some particular thing that they can't help themselves, they've…

— W. Somerset Maugham

You cannot write well or much (and I venture the opinion that you cannot write well unless you write much) unless you…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“She was one of those writers, far from rare in the world of letters, who suppose that push and pull are an…

— W. Somerset Maugham

The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It…

— W. Somerset Maugham

What I'm trying to tell you is that there are men who are possessed by an urge so strong to do some…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“The moral I draw is that the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from…

— W. Somerset Maugham

An author spends months writing a book, and maybe puts his heart's blood into it, and then it lies about unread till…

— W. Somerset Maugham

There is a sort of man who pays no attention to his good actions, but is tormented by his bad ones. This…

— W. Somerset Maugham

No one can write a best seller by trying to. He must write with complete sincerity; the clichés that make you laugh,…

— W. Somerset Maugham

A writer need not devour a whole sheep in order to know what mutton tastes like, but he must at least eat…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“I used to think that one day I should write a really great novel, but I've long ceased even to hope for…

— W. Somerset Maugham

People do tell a writer things that they don't tell others. I don't know why, unless it is that having read one…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“It may be that in his rogues the writer gratifies instincts deep-rooted in him, which the manners and customs of a civilised…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“The disadvantages and dangers of the author’s calling are offset by an advantage so great as to make all its difficulties, disappointments,…

— W. Somerset Maugham

I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is…

— W. Somerset Maugham

As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only…

— W. Somerset Maugham

As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only…

— W. Somerset Maugham

Because a man can write great works he is none the less a man.

— W. Somerset Maugham

It has been said that good prose should resemble the conversation of a well-bred man.

— W. Somerset Maugham

Well, you know when people are no good at anything else they become writers.

— W. Somerset Maugham

Habits in writing as in life are only useful if they are broken as soon as they cease to be advantageous.

— W. Somerset Maugham

We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.

— W. Somerset Maugham

“Life is there to be lived rather than to be written about.”

— W. Somerset Maugham

The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes.

— W. Somerset Maugham

“Is it rash to assume that when a practised writer says a thing, he is more likely to mean what he says…

— W. Somerset Maugham

No author can create a character out of nothing. He must have a model to give him a starting point; but then…

— W. Somerset Maugham