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
When we come to judge others it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
We often judge others based on an idealized image of ourselves rather than our true nature.
This quote by W. Somerset Maugham suggests that when we evaluate others, our judgments are shaped not by their true selves but by a distorted image of our own identity, selectively omitting aspects that we find unflattering. The observation emphasizes a common human tendency to maintain a facade for social acceptance, leading to a biased perspective when viewing the actions and qualities of others.
Themes
JudgmentVanitySelf-ImagePhilosophyBias
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about self-perception and biases, this quote can illustrate how our self-esteem impacts our views of others.
More from W. Somerset Maugham
All quotes →Cronshaw 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
Nothing in our lives is a mere insignificant detail to God.
Oswald ChambersRead
I don't think there's much point in bemoaning the state of the world unless there's some way you can think of to improve it. Otherwise, don't bother writing a book; go and find a tropical island and lie in the sun.
Peter SingerRead
The assumption that spending more of the taxpayer's money will make things better has survived all kinds of evidence that it has made things worse. The black family- which survived slavery, discrimination, poverty, wars and depressions- began to come apart as the federal government moved in with its well-financed programs to “help.”
Thomas SowellRead
Whether I praise or criticize someone's action, I imply that I am their judge, that I'm engaged in rating them or what they have done.
Marshall B. RosenbergRead
The immense popularity of American movies abroad demonstrates that Europe is the unfinished negative of which America is the proof
Mary MccarthyRead
There is no perfection only life
Milan KunderaRead