Evil genius Quote by W. Somerset Maugham

““When one reads, and re-reads, Moby Dick , it seems to me that one gets a more convincing, a more definite, impression of the man than from anything one may learn of his life and circumstances; an impression of a man endowed by nature with a great gift blighted by an evil genius, so that, like the agave, no sooner had it put forth its splendid blooming than it withered; a moody, unhappy man tormented by instincts he shrank from with horror; a man conscious that the virtue had gone out of him, and embittered by failure and poverty; a man of heart craving for friendship, only to find that friendship too was vanity. Such, as I see him, was Herman Melville, a man whom one can only regard with deep compassion.””

W. Somerset Maugham

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2.9 out of 5 (3 ratings)

Evil genius Failure Herman Melville Life Moby Dick Nature

More by W. Somerset Maugham

“A man thinks it quite natural that he should fall out of love with a woman, but it never strikes him for a moment…

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

“A man's work reveals him. In social intercourse he gives you the surface that he wishes the world to accept, but in his book…

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species.

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

The world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither. We must be very humble. We must see the beauty of quietness. We must go through life so inconspicuously that Fate does not notice us. And let us seek the love of simple, ignorant people. Their ignorance is better than all our…

W. Somerset Maugham

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

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

“I wanted to live again and again. I was willing to accept every sort of life, no matter what its pain and sorrow; I…

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally.

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner.

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

“His love became a prison from which he longed to escape, but he had not the strength merely to open the door-that was all…

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

I did not believe him capable of love. That is an emotion in which tenderness is an essential part, but Strickland had no tenderness either for himself or for others; there is in love a sense of weakness, a desire to protect, an eagerness to do good and to give pleasure--if not unselfishness, at all events a selfishness which marvellously…

W. Somerset Maugham

If only the good were a little less heavy-footed

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.

W. Somerset Maugham

Image

Explore all 840 W. Somerset Maugham quotes

More Evil genius quotes

With the proper training, I could've been an evil genius.

George Carlin

Image

“The evil genius of darkness presided at its birth, it came forth under the veil of mystery, its true features being carefully concealed, and every deceptive art has been and is practicing to have this spurious brat received as the genuine offspring of heaven-born liberty. So fearful are its patrons that you should discern the imposition, that they have hurried…

Samuel Bryan

There is no such thing as an evil genius, as evil in it's self is stupidity.

David Farland

Image

They misspelled 'party.' How evil genius can they be?

Libba Bray

Image

It's no good choosing your first husband from a school for evil geniuses. Much too difficult to kill.

Gail Carriger

Image

“On the switchboard of my memory two pair of gloves have crossed wires - those leather gloves of Omi's and a pair of white ceremonial gloves. I never seem to be able to decide which memory might be real, which false. Perhaps the leather gloves were more in harmony with his coarse features. And yet again, precisely because of his…

Yukio Mishima

“As I gazed at Mao’s face wearing what was intended as a benign expression but was in fact a smirk of self-satisfaction, I wondered…

Nien Cheng

Image

I wouldn't say jamie is an evil genius. I'm not sure he's evil and I'm not sure he's a genius.

Adam Savage

Image

Concord is just as idiotic as ever in relation to the spirits and their knockings. Most people here believe in a spiritual world ...…

Henry David Thoreau

Image

“The idea that the euro has “failed” is dangerously naive. The euro is doing exactly what its progenitor – and the wealthy 1%-ers who adopted it – predicted and planned for it to do. … Removing a government's control over currency would prevent nasty little elected officials from using Keynesian monetary and fiscal juice to pull a nation out of…

Michael Hudson