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
Evil can be condoned only if in the beyond it is compensated by good and god himself needs immortality to vindicate his ways to man.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Evil may be accepted if ultimate justice is served through good in the afterlife, suggesting a need for divine validation.
In this quote, W. Somerset Maugham explores the complex nature of evil and the moral implications of our choices. He suggests that while evil actions might be tolerable in the short term, their reconciliation comes through the eventual triumph of good in the afterlife. This perspective introduces a divine element, proposing that even God requires immortality to justify and explain the presence of evil in the world to humanity.
Themes
EvilGoodJusticeImmortalityDivinePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on morality, one might use this quote to emphasize the balance of good and evil in life.
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
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
Walt WhitmanRead
Order and reason, beauty and benevolence, are characteristics and conceptions which we find solely associated with the mind of man.
Karl PearsonRead
Poor intricated soul! Riddling, perplexed, labyrinthical soul!
John DonneRead
What if consciousness is the ground of being? What if the possibilities discovered by quantum physics are the possibilities of consciousness itself? Remember there is already a class of people who think in this way. They are called mystics, and they say it is all God. Finally, a few scientists dared to say that some of the characteristics attributed to God are similar to what we describe as consciousness.
Amit GoswamiRead
The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led.
Edgar Allan PoeRead
Objective journalism is one of the main reasons that American politics has been allowed to be so corrupt for so long.
Hunter S. ThompsonRead