W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

I don't mind people thinking I'm stupid, but I don't want to give them any proof.

Whatever talents I possess may suddenly diminish or suddenly increase. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn't do to upset one's own vanity.

You think I am a fool, but you are a greater fool than I am.

I'm not Mr. Goody-Good or anything, but I'm not stupid.

When as smart as you think you are is as wrong as you turn out to be, your life can fall out from under you.

I don't really think of myself as stupid - but then, who does?

Don't think so much of your own Cunning, as to forget other Men's; a Cunning Man is overmatched by a cunning Man and a Half.

Once in a while, Jimmy would make up a word but he never once got caught out. ... He should have been pleased by his success with these verbal fabrications, but instead he was depressed by it. The memos telling him he'd done a good job meant nothing to him; all they proved was that no one was capable of appreciating how clever he had been. He came to understand why serial killers sent helpful clues to the police.

There are a great many simpletons who know themselves to be so, and who make a very cunning use of their own simplicity.

The best thing next to wit is a consciousness that it is not in us; without wit, a man might then know how to behave himself, so as not to appear to be a fool or a coxcomb.

I'm not insecure, but I'm not like, 'Hi, I'm confident.'

The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month.

Man forgives woman anything save the wit to outwit him.

The only thing I want to say is, I know I'm not Einstein, but I'm not the queen of the imbeciles either.

Any fool can say he is wise but only someone wise can admit he is a fool.

Every once in a while, I'll have a 'Do you know who I am?' moment, at least in my head. I hate that.

Every article I've read about myself always winds up concluding that I am not, in fact, completely stupid.

If I told people that I knew what I was doing, nobody would believe me, so why even try and fake it?

I think I think I am Superwoman sometimes but I am not.

Throughout the centuries, man has considered himself beautiful. I rather suppose that man only believes in his own beauty out of pride; that he is not really beautiful and he suspects this himself; for why does he look on the face of his fellow-man with such scorn?

I don't wanna sound pretentious talking about myself.

I said I was 'The Greatest,' I never said I was the smartest!

I'm not good at watching myself.

I don't want to believe my own hype.

I was smart, to tell you the truth. I'm not really bright, but I'm not stupid.