Books Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

The crown of literature is poetry.

— W. Somerset Maugham

It is unsafe to take your reader for more of a fool than he is.

— W. Somerset Maugham

It is astonishing how many books I find there is no need for me to read at all.

— W. Somerset Maugham

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

— W. Somerset Maugham

The author always loads his dice, but he must never let the reader see that he has done so.

— W. Somerset Maugham

I never met an author who admitted that people did not buy his book because it was dull.

— W. Somerset Maugham

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

— W. Somerset Maugham

“There is no more merit in having read a thousand books than in having ploughed a thousand fields.”

— W. Somerset Maugham

The great American novel has not only already been written, it has already been rejected.

— W. Somerset Maugham

But the only important thing in a book is the meaning it has for you; it may have other and much more…

— W. Somerset Maugham

What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably...…

— 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

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

The novel may stimulate you to think. It may satisfy your aesthetic sense. It may arouse your moral emotions. But if it…

— W. Somerset Maugham

Heaven knows what pains the author has been at, what bitter experience he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some…

— W. Somerset Maugham

When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a…

— W. Somerset Maugham

You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an author no…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“He began to read at haphazard. He entered upon each system with a little thrill of excitement, expecting to find in each…

— 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

“In the week I promised myself I should naturally read, for to the habitual reader reading is a drug of which he…

— W. Somerset Maugham

But I am not sure it would contain any short stories. For the short story is a minor art, and it must…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“Why do you read then?' Partly for pleasure, because it's a habit and I'm just as uncomfortable if I don't read as…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“I feel it right to warn the reader that he can very well skip this chapter without losing the thread of such…

— 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

“Some people read for instruction, which is praiseworthy, and some for pleasure, which is innocent, but not a few read from habit,…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“Why d’you read then?” “Partly for pleasure, because it’s a habit and I’m just as uncomfortable if I don’t read as if…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“A sensible person does not read a novel as a task. He reads it as a diversion. He is prepared to interest…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“I don't see the use of reading the same thing over and over again,' said Phillip. 'That's only a laborious form of…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“His habit of reading isolated him: it became such a need that after being in company for some time he grew tired…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“Insensibly he formed the most delightful habit in the world, the habit of reading: When you are reconciled to the fact that…

— W. Somerset Maugham

“Most of these stories are on the tragic side. But the reader must not suppose that the incidents I have narrated were…

— W. Somerset Maugham

I would sooner read a time-table or a catalogue than nothing at all. They are much more entertaining than half the novels…

— W. Somerset Maugham

The author always loads his dice, but he must never let the reader see that he has done so, and by the…

— 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

“Some people read for instruction, which is praiseworthy, and some for pleasure, which is innocent, but not a few read from habit,…

— W. Somerset Maugham