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
People talk of beauty lightly, and having no feeling for words, they use that one carelessly, so that it loses its force; and the thing it stands for, sharing its name with a hundred trivial objects, is deprived of dignity. They call beautiful a dress, a dog, a sermon; and when they are face to face with Beauty cannot recognise it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Beauty is often misused and trivialized in everyday language, losing its true significance.
In this quote, W. Somerset Maugham critiques how people casually refer to various superficial items as beautiful, diluting the power and meaning of the term 'beauty.' By equating profound beauty with ordinary objects, individuals become desensitized and unable to appreciate genuine beauty when they encounter it.
Themes
BeautyMeaningWisdomTrivialityDignity
In practice
Example use cases
During an art exhibition, to emphasize the importance of understanding true beauty in art.
More from W. Somerset Maugham
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I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.
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The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willing avoids the sight of distress.
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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.
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