W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

We all do stupid things.

If you do not wish a man to do a thing, you had better get him to talk about it; for the more men talk, the more likely they are to do nothing else.

Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether.

Stupidity has a knack of getting its way.

Human beings can always be relied upon to exert, with vigor, their God-given right to be stupid.

No sooner does man discover intelligence than he tries to involve it in his own stupidity.

A foolish man may be known by six things: Anger without cause, speech without profit, change without progress, inquiry without object, putting trust in a stranger, and mistaking foes for friends.

What makes a fool is an inability to take even his own good advice.

It’s very hard to write regulations that will prevent people from acting foolishly—particularly when acting foolishly has recently made them a lot of money.

Fools rush in where fools have been before.

I've done a lot of dumb things in my life.

Nothing surprises me, particularly men and their propensity to be fools.

That isn’t greatness. That’s just foolishness.

Talkers are no good doers.

Every time I talked about making a picture I didn't do it. I had already done it - talking about it! I quit talking.

Stupid men are often capable of things the clever would not dare to contemplate.

The more time you spend talking about what you have been doing, the less time you have to do what you have been talking about. Eventually, you spend more and more time talking about less and less until finally you spend all of your time talking about nothing.

The right to be irresponsible and stupid is something I hold very dear. And luckily it is something I do well.

If you make a deal with a fool, don't be surprised when they act foolishly.

... it's always determined characters who make the greatest fools.

No fool can be silent at a feast.

There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise.

Folly is wont to have more followers and comrades than discretion.

Sometimes we meet a fool with wit, never one with discretion.

And if my present actions strike you as foolish, let's just say I've been accused of folly by a fool.