When I was young I had an elderly friend who used often to ask me to stay with him in the country. He was a religious man and he read prayers to the assembled household every morning. But he had crossed out in pencil all the passages that praised God. He said that there was nothing so vulgar as to praise people to their faces and, himself a gentleman, he could not believe that God was so ungentlemanly as to like it.
W. Somerset Maugham
Related He thought about science, about faith, about man. he thought about how every culture, in every count... DAN BROWN It was a cold morning, and he shivered a little; but he had been taught by his uncle that his prayer... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Jerry Falwell said that the reason that September 11th happened, the reason that God allowed it to h... LEWIS BLACK What he really wanted (and it felt almost shameful to admit it to himself) was someone like — some... J.K. ROWLING He was very religious; he believed that he had a secret pact with God which exempted him from doing ... JORGE LUIS BORGES All I ever did to that apartment was hang fifty yards of yellow theatrical silk across the bedroom w... JOAN DIDION We can never make proper goodbyes. It was your last ride in a Checker cab and you had no warning. It... COLSON WHITEHEAD ...He was a greater craftsman even than Isaac, and he knew it, and so, presently, did Isaac. ELIZABETH GOUDGE This was the greatest gift that he had, the talent that fitted him for war; that ability not to igno... ERNEST HEMINGWAY I started to read James Baldwin very early on in my life. At a time, as a young adult in the Sixties... RAOUL PECK He was a man who was charged with the work he did in life because he was not one to ask questions - ... DOUGLAS ADAMS I had many friends to help me to fall; but as to rising again, I was so much left to myself, that I ... SAINT TERESA OF AVILA The park was the heart of the city. He had come to the city – and with a knowing in his blood – ... FLANNERY O'CONNOR Trent was a complete gentleman and waited patiently for me to speak with him. When he did get his ch... DOUG HOWARD Feast of the Conversion of Paul The God of Pharisaism was like the God of the Deists, He stood al... C. H. DODD 38. “A wet bird never flies at night.” (My grandfather said that to me when I was a child and wa... JAMES C. DOBSON We had to go all through the night thinking that our baby was dead. When God showed him to us, he wa... BARBARA MANDRELL He went out of his way I think to reassure us that he wasn't in danger and that he was in the hotel ... JOE CARROLL I called him to find out where he got the pamphlet and all he said was it was missing the label, ...... WILLIAM WATSON And I remember when I met him, it was so clear that he was the only one for me. We both knew it, rig... LANA DEL REY The reason that he got a sitting with Washington was that his father was Charles Wilson Peale, a ver... FRED VOSS He's for you and wants to help you be the person He created you to be. CRAIG GROESCHEL But he was no longer in Tollygunge. He had stepped out of it as he had stepped so many mornings out ... JHUMPA LAHIRI I remember him as a very special young man. He was very positive and he was a young man who was a jo... EVELYN FOX He needed the people and the clamour around him. There was no questions and no doubts when he stood ... AYN RAND THERE was a man in our town, and he was wondrous rich; He gave away his millions to the colleges... FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS He was without any comforts of God — no feeling that God loved him — no feeling that God pi... ROBERT MURRAY MCCHEYNE Muhammad Ali was a god, an idol and an icon. He was boxing. Any kid that had the opportunity to talk... SUGAR RAY LEONARD He tangibly had nothing, and he was up there thanking God for all that he had. There wasn't a dry ey... CAROL MOORE I think very much of the people, as an old friend said he thought of woman. He said when he lost his... ABRAHAM LINCOLN You go back to T. H. Huxley, who coined the term, what he said - and I came to believe he is right -... S. T. JOSHI He was like, 'Big G, what up? Who you walking with?' ... I said, 'Nobody. I'm just sightseeing.' He... GREG ODEN It was Adam, but he was too late. He couldn’t love me anymore. He would be so angry with me. I had... PATRICIA BRIGGS You're right,' said the corporal. 'It serves editors like that right. They only stir the people up. ... JAROSLAV HAšEK All his life Harry Bosch believed he had a mission. And to carry out that mission he needed to be bu... MICHAEL CONNELLY He had hold of the climber's climbing line in two hands and he was pulling down with all of his weig... ANDREW PETERSON There is no secret here when he stood in the Roosevelt Room and said 'I never had sexual relations w... CHARLES RUFF My father was famous for his photographic memory. He was in the OSS. They trained him to be captured... MARK HELPRIN I knew he had bought the ring but I had no idea he was going to ask me this morning. It was a comple... JULIE WILLIAMS I asked him if it were a mirage, and he said yes. I said it was a dream, and he agreed, But said it ... NEIL GAIMAN His friends told him that nobody was interested in his goddam soul unless it was the priest and he m... FLANNERY O'CONNOR I knew I was a grain of sand in the vast desert that never ended and he was a sparkling star in the ... ALEENA YASIN It wasn't as though he didn't have choices. He could have expanded his career, maybe further it with... BOB FULLER Horace’s pulse was racing and adrenaline was surging into his system. But he showed no sign of it.... JOHN FLANAGAN The coming together of a man and woman was a holy thing, after all. God had chosen this way of reple... NAOMI RAGEN I knowed a man in Paphlagonia who'd swallow a live snake every morning, when he got up. He used to s... NEIL GAIMAN You could see it in his demeanor that he wasn't used to this, ... He wasn't the same coach. A couple... MICHAEL ROBINSON In the morning of the world," he said, "when the dew still lay upon the Garden, man was created so t... ROBERT NATHAN Suddenly, I was just sure he was going to kiss me. He was there, I could feel his breath, the ground... SARAH DESSEN He was not anything like what was portrayed to me by several people. ... What I found was a young ma... HUE JACKSON Someone asked me...how it felt and I was reminded of a story that a fellow townsman of ours used to ... ADLAI E. STEVENSON II Luis said to me that as he turned away, he was right on the line, and he said the ball was over the ... RAFAEL BENITEZ He almost said to himself that he did not like her, before their conversation ended; he tried so har... ELIZABETH GASKELL He knew Alec enough by now to know the conflicting impulses that warred in him. He was conscientious... CASSANDRA CLARE He was too explosive for her to touch him so intimately. It would lead to the wrong things. And plac... JENNIFER LOWERY I'm so blessed. I was thankful to God that he delivered my prayers. DOUG YOUNG As a young kid, that (wide receiver) was the best lure for him to play. He had some success, so he j... LARRY HAYNES I just knew that God wasn't there. He was a man on a throne in Heaven, so he was easy to forget. FRANCES FARMER We may claim to believe in God, but we don't want to believe so much that it makes us different. CRAIG GROESCHEL The Third Tale There was once an invisible man who had grown tired of being unseen. It was not ... PATRICK NESS As a Scot and a Presbyterian, my father believed that man by nature was a mess and had fallen from a... NORMAN MACLEAN Franklin had so many interests that we worked hard to get as much in as possible. He was interested ... CAROLYN REBBERT Franklin had so many interests that we worked hard to get as much in as possible. He was interested ... CAROLYN R. REBBERT The Boasting Traveler
A man who had traveled in foreign lands boasted very much, on returning to his... AESOP Bob Novak called me before he went to print with the report and he said a CIA source had told him th... JOE WILSON Frodo drew the Ring out of his pocket again and looked at it. It now appeared plain and smooth, with... J.R.R. TOLKIEN He was about to go home, about to return to the place where he had had a family. It was in Godric’... J.K. ROWLING Dad is so persuasive that when he said that he wasn't, I believed him. We had people calling. The me... JOAN FELT Coach Zaleski taught me a lot my first year in Louisville, ... I knew the game but from a coaching s... TOMMY JOHNSON I went to Concord, a young woman from the backwoods, firm in belief that Emerson was the first of li... REBECCA HARDING DAVIS At first he was very discouraging, to my astonishment then, but now I fancy he did it as a forlorn h... ELIZABETH ANDERSON At first he was very discouraging, to my astonishment then, but now I fancy he did it as a forlorn h... ELIZABETH GARRETT ANDERSON ... the Scripture is like one big, unbroken story about people who decided to follow God and ended u... LECRAE MOORE Once the good man was dead, one wore his hat and another his sword as he had worn them, a third had ... G. C. (GEORG CHRISTOPH) LICHTENBERG The marquis de Carabas was not a good man, and he knew himself well enough to be perfectly certain t... NEIL GAIMAN I had two dreams about him after he died. I dont remember the first one all that well but it was abo... CORMAC MCCARTHY Sammy and I have been really close since 1986, when he was 16 years old. He didn't make the Rookie L... RUDY JARAMILLO I didn’t realize that in his wish to transform me was the proof that he didn’t like me as I was,... ELENA FERRANTE I began to think about God. I mean, the notion of a Supreme Being existing somewhere began to creep ... ERICH SEGAL I watched the black ocean in his eyes and saw this flash behind them and understood what he had mean... T.J. KLUNE I think Douglas was a real one-off. He was so clever and so intelligent and so well read in real sci... LALLA WARD The Christian, however, must bear the burden of a brother. He must suffer and endure the brother. It... DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (On WWI:) A man of importance had been shot at a place I could not pronounce in Swahili o... BERYL MARKHAM He has reminded me in this debate of an ancient god Aeneas whose mother was the Earth, and every tim... PHIL GRAMM Finally at 3:30 he called me as he was walking back to Brooklyn, ... He was late that morning so he ... TOM ELLIS He was not used to being at a loss. Usually, he was the gentleman with the plan. Every little detail... LISH MCBRIDE He was in good spirits when I spoke to him this morning. You could see that there was a little bit o... CRAIG RIVET So I told him I'd sell him a new wheel at cost, and I ordered it, but later he came in and said he'd... BRAD STEWART Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit... LOREN EISELEY The environment I was raised in, you had to, to survive. MARK WAHLBERG [He said] that it was a great delusion to think that the times of prayer ought to differ from other ... BROTHER LAWRENCE To call him a dog hardly seems to do him justice, though inasmuch as he had four legs, a tail, and b... HERMIONE GINGOLD I had a coach that was not a great player, but he taught with kids and juniors so that by the time h... GUY FORGET Harriet was silent. She suddenly saw Wimsey in a new light. She knew him to be intelligent, clean, c... DOROTHY L. SAYERS Like all men with a faculty that surpasses human requirements, his father was very nervous. Then, to... ERNEST HEMINGWAY He sounded so happy. He was really enthused. I could hear it in his throat that he had some problems... JUDY BARR He was like all freshmen: young, a little bit immature. We had to talk to him, stay on him and be su... RANDY FOYE So that when man can be in great distress having been betrayed and deserted by all friends he may fi... BHAGAT SINGH He was a professional rugby player in the area that I played as a youngster. So a lot of people who ... RYAN GIGGS I never saw him loafing to first. He used to run hard every ground ball, every fly ball. It was amaz... MATTY ALOU
More W. Somerset Maugham
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SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is funny about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the very best you will very often get i... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Love is a dirty trick played on us to achieve the continuation of the species. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We have long passed the Victorian era, when asterisks were followed after a certain interval by a ba... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacri... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches them tolerance. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large wi... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actuall... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Tolerance is only another name for indifference. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives by make-believe. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I do not confer praise or blame: I accept. I am the measure of all things. I am the centre of the wo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM D'you call life a bad job? Never! We've had our ups and downs, we've had our struggles, we've always... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and wo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you have loved as she has loved, you grow old beautifully. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is er... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity. The beauty o... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I was young I was amazed at Plutarch's statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is er... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who has lost it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Charm and nothing but charm at last grows a little tiresome. It's a relief then to deal with a man w... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Life isn't long enough for love and art. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When things are at their worst I find something always happens. 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 passage, pe... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There's always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There was an immeasurable distance between the quick and the dead: they did not seem to belong to th... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The important thing was to love rather than to be loved. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Men seek but one thing in life - their pleasure. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Life wouldn't be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's asking a great deal that things should appeal to your reason as well as your sense of the aesth... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know the... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You Europeans know nothing about America. Because we amass large fortunes you think we care for noth... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We didn't think much in the air corps of a fellow who wangled a cushy job out of his C.O. by butteri... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM