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
The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Principles can often be set aside for practical reasons or immediate results.
This quote by W. Somerset Maugham highlights the tension between adhering to principles and adapting to practical circumstances. It suggests that while principles are valuable, they may not always be practical in the face of expedient choices that serve immediate needs or goals, prompting reflection on the balance between integrity and practicality in decision-making.
Themes
PrincipleExpediencySacrificeDecision-MakingPracticality
In practice
Example use cases
In a business meeting discussing ethics versus profit, this quote can illustrate the challenges faced in decision-making.
More from W. Somerset Maugham
All quotes βCronshaw 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
Tea is nought but this: first you heat the water, then you make the tea. Then you drink it properly. That is all you need to know.
Sen No RikyuRead
Fly, dotard, fly! With thy wise dreams and fables of the sky.
Alexander PopeRead
The human being is an unequal creature. That is a fact. And we start off with the proposition. All the great religions, all the great movements, all the great political ideology, say let us make the human being as equal as possible. In fact, he is not equal, never will be.
Lee Kuan YewRead
Wood feeds the fire which burns it.
Leonardo Da VinciRead
Americanism is not a matter of skin or color.
Daniel InouyeRead
Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
George OrwellRead