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
Art should be appreciated with passion and violence, not with a tepid, depreciating elegance that fears the censoriousness of a common room.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Art should be experienced with intense emotion rather than with superficial coolness.
W. Somerset Maugham emphasizes that true appreciation of art requires passion and intensity. He criticizes a detached and overly refined approach to art, which he sees as inadequate, suggesting that art provokes strong feelings and should be embraced wholeheartedly, even if that means confronting criticism or societal norms.
Themes
ArtPassionAppreciationEmotionCriticism
In practice
Example use cases
During an art critique, I shared Maugham's view on appreciating art with passion to inspire my classmates.
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.
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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.
W. Somerset MaughamRead
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