Quote by W. Somerset Maugham

The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

Summary

This quote suggests that being able to quote others can be a convenient way to appear clever or funny, even if one lacks original wit or cleverness. Quoting someone else's words can serve as a clever response or help make a point, but it doesn't necessarily indicate genuine intelligence or originality of thought. In this sense, quoting can be seen as a "substitute" or secondary option to display wit, especially when one's own creative ideas or humor fall short.

Topics

By W. Somerset Maugham

Liked the quote? Share it with your friends.

Random Quotations

I never had one hour's happiness in her society, and yet my

I never had one hour's happiness in her society, and yet my mind all round the four-and-twenty hours was harping on the happiness of having her with me unto death.

Charles Dickens

Happiness Estella Pip

England's genius filled all measure Of heart and soul, of st

England's genius filled all measure Of heart and soul, of strength and pleasure, Gave to the mind its emperor, And life was larger than before: Nor sequent centuries could hit Orbit and sum of Shakespeare's wit. The men who lived with him became Poets, for the air was fame.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men Life Strength Fame Mind

The war is dreadful. It is the business of the artist to fol

The war is dreadful. It is the business of the artist to follow it home to the heart of the individual fighters - not to talk in armies and nations and numbers - but to track it home.

David Herbert Lawrence

The Committee's review of a series of intelligence shortcomi

The Committee's review of a series of intelligence shortcomings, to include intelligence prior to 9/11 and the pre-war intelligence on Iraq, clearly reveal how vital a diverse intelligence workforce is to our national security.

How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and y

How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode.

W. Somerset Maugham

Life Love Women Breakup Affairs

Freedom is only granted us that obedience may be more perfec

Freedom is only granted us that obedience may be more perfect.

Adam and Eve are like imaginary number, like the square root

Adam and Eve are like imaginary number, like the square root of minus one... If you include it in your equation, you can calculate all manners of things, which cannot be imagined without it.

God Religion Science Mathematics Thinking Inspiration

I am willing to compete on my merits and on my character - n

I am willing to compete on my merits and on my character - not with the color of my skin. We talk about being a color-blind society, but I don't think the political process could actually handle that.

I have no problem with it. I don't look on homosexuality as

I have no problem with it. I don't look on homosexuality as an aberration. It's just they way they're born, and how could any relationship between two people in a committed relationship be wrong, regardless of gender?

Andrea Thompson

Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain

Language has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.

Love is the total absence of fear. Love asks no questions. I

Love is the total absence of fear. Love asks no questions. Its natural state is one of extension and expansion, not comparison and measurement.

Gerald G. Jampolsky

Before a thunderstorm there is a build-up of tension which i

Before a thunderstorm there is a build-up of tension which is only relieved by the explosive force of thunder and lightning. In human affairs there must be a clear distinction between the penalties for small and great crimes. Retribution for wrongdoing must be swiftly and surely applied if greater problems are to be prevented.