W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

It is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are they the result of previous study?

Madam, before you flatter a man so grossly to his face, you should consider whether or not your flattery is worth his having.

An ounce of hypocrisy is worth a pound of ambition.

I abhor hypocrisy.

Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere.

The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.

Since we have to speak well of the dead, let's knock them while they're alive.

I get a lot of people coming up to me and saying, 'I really hate you.' And they say it in the nicest possible way, and I accept it. It's the people who come up to you and say, 'I really liked your character. Man, he was right!' Those are the ones you worry about.

Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy.

Never trust a man who speaks well of everybody.

One of the advantages of no longer running for public office is that I don’t have to pretend to be nice to people I dislike.

We tell only part of a man's qualities in his presence, and all of them when he is not present.

It might be said that the pose of absolute honesty is the most dishonest one of all.

We're against hypocrisy, lies, bigotry, show business, insincerity, phonies, and fakers.

Politeness is sometimes a great tax upon sincerity.

I love the religion of Christianity - which cometh from above - which is a pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of good fruits, and without hypocrisy.

Compliments are only lies in court clothes.

Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man... , But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians - wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage.

Architecture, like dress, is an exercise in good manners, and good manners involve the habit of skillful insincerity - the habit of saying "good morning" to those whose mornings you would rather blight, and of passing the butter to those you would rather starve.

Twas never merry world Since lowly feigning was called compliment.

It is undoubtedly true that some people mistake sycophancy for good nature, but it is equally true that many more mistake impertinence for sincerity.

It is a curious thing that when one speaks from the heart it is invariably in the worst of taste.

Flattery is a juggler, and no kin unto sincerity.

Religion is the most gentlemanly thing in the world. It alone will gentilize, if unmixed with cant.

The contrived language and the flattering attitude rarely come with the virtue.