The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
Refecting on the high divorce rate in America as contrasted with England "American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in their butlers
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights differing expectations in marital perfection between American and English women.
W. Somerset Maugham's quote reflects on the contrasting expectations that American women hold towards their husbands in comparison to English women's more modest hopes for their butlers. It suggests that American women may seek an idealized form of perfection in their partners, which can contribute to dissatisfaction and the rising divorce rate, while English women have a more pragmatic view of relational aspirations.
Themes
DivorceExpectationsRelationshipsMarriagePerfection
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a discussion on marriage expectations in a relationship counseling session.
More from W. Somerset Maugham
All quotes →Cronshaw stopped for a moment to drink. He had pondered for twenty years the problem whether he loved liquor because it made him talk or whether he loved conversation because it made him thirsty.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
Are you sure you can prevent yourself from falling in love one of these days? Such things do happen, you know, even to the most prudent men.' Simon gave him a strange, one might even have thought a hostile, look. I should tear it out of my heart as I'd wrench out of my mouth a rotten tooth.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willing avoids the sight of distress.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
There in the mist, enormous, majestic, silent and terrible, stood the Great Wall of China. Solitarily, with the indifference of nature herself, it crept up the mountain side and slipped down to the depth of the valley.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
Similar quotes
I don't think it's necessarily healthy to go into relationships as a needy person. Better to go in with a full deck.
Anjelica HustonRead
No country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.
Barack ObamaRead
He that has not got a wife is not yet a complete man.
Benjamin FranklinRead
Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.
Emily PostRead
If it is a woman's function to give, she must be replenished, too.
Anne Morrow LindberghRead
When I think about my relationship with America, I feel like a battered wife: Yeah, he knocks me around a lot, but boy, he sure can dance.
Sarah VowellRead