Quotations Weblog

It is usually fairly difficult for me to compose these pages. I search the books and web pages for a timely subject, and then search my quote books and literature for great quotes. This week, however, did not pose those problems. W. Somerset Maugham’s name jumped right out at me and there were plenty of quotes available in the quote books.

W. Somerset Maugham was born in Paris on January 25, 1874. He abandoned a medical career to pursue literature. Suffering from a stammer, he was able to express what he desired with eloquence through the printed word. He was the author of Rain (later made into a movie with Joan Crawford) and the ever popular Of Human Bondage (also made into a movie with Bette Davis).

Of Human Bondage was my first real experience with Somerset Maugham (although I didn’t know it at the time). When my sugar levels are erratic, I suffer from an insomnia that awakens me at 3 a.m. with nightmares. I am unable to return to sleep, and I can’t take a sleeping pill because I would sleep until noon. Instead, I have learned to stay awake and lose the two hours of sleep to bad movies and offset schedules. On one of these occasions, AMC was running the movie Of Human Bondage. I watched it strictly because of Bette Davis, but I expected the cheesy movie faire that Jezebel and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? had given me.

I was shocked to find an intelligent and moving screenplay about a club-footed and shy young man (Philip) who falls desperately in love with a cheap and no-good waitress (Mildred). The treatment of such a storyline I had never thought possible in a black and white movie. I expected love and foppery, and instead I was agonizing over the Philip’s choice of Mildred over the loving and wonderful woman he had found in later life. I had seen this scene replayed by my friends before, and I sat on my couch, bundled in a blanket, just as helpless to aid Philip as I had been when my friends made the same stupid choices. I was entranced and spellbound.

The following are some of the best quotes from this great author.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“Tea girls, warm and sweet. / Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham Suite.”

Tim Rice, “Chess”

• Of Human Bondage Paperback by W. Somerset Maugham – Immerse yourself in the original story of Philip and Mildred.
• Of Human Bondage VHS Tape starring Bette Davis – The movie that haunted me is just as good today as it was when it was filmed.
• Collected Short Stories: Volume 1 Paperback by W. Somerset Maugham – This collection is the first of a four volume collection of his short stories. There are 30 stories in all, including The Fall of Edward Barnard.
• Rain VHS Tape starring Joan Crawford – Another movie adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s work. Joan Crawford stars as a career woman on a Samoan island who is pursued by a religious man played by Walter Huston.

• W. Somerset Maugham Quotes – A small list of quotes from our featured gentleman. The attributes are simple, but there are a few there that are not listed in this week’s list.

When I think of Edgar Allan Poe, I smile deviously to myself. My reasons for this are more intense than I realized before starting this week’s column. I think I can blame my mom for this (rather convenient, don’t you suppose?)

After months of unexplained nightmares, my mother found out about my horror addiction. I had secretly been reading every scary book I could get my hands on. I consumed ghost stories, Big Foot legends, Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King and Ann Rice. The night terrors followed, and when my huddled form was discovered in the bed with a flashlight in one hand and a ghost story in the other, my reading material was banned. My mother literally grounded me from scary books (understand that I was 11 years old at the time).

Edgar Allan Poe, however, was another story. He was the one gore-master that my mother was glad to see me to read. It was only school that made me shy away from him. There is nothing more able to quench the flames of literary desire than being required to read something.

So, I sit here, on the eve of Edgar’s birthday, smiling to myself at the thought of him. Now, I avoid the horror genre, but the dark and curious side of me is drawn to it at times. It’s a fight with myself that I lose when the dark months of winter make me believe that there is no end to this evil season. This is the perfect time to immerse yourself into a good Poe story.

The following are my favorite quotes from Edgar Allan Poe. These were hard fought quotes, dredged from the bowels of his literature itself, since most quote books don’t cover him well, if at all.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”

Eleonora, 1841

• The Dark Eye : The Official Strategy Guide (Secrets of the Games Series.) Paperback by Colleen Green, Barbara Karg – There was a game available in 1996 called The Dark Eye. I was a wonderful game, in which you get to be the character in Edgar Allan Poe’s stories (for example, you hate Fortuno and you want him dead, so you have to lead him to your family’s crypt and brick him into it. If you haven’t read The Cask of Amontillado, you would be hard pressed to finish that section of the game). This is the guidebook to this game. I couldn’t find the game for you to buy, but it looks just like the cover of this book, so if you see it, snap it up because I enjoyed many hours of fun with it. (Last time I saw this game available, it was in a discount collection with a couple of other games, so you can try there.)
• The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Paperback by Edgar Allan Poe – Treat yourself to the work of this great man. My favorites are The Cask of Amontillado (perfect revenge story), The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar (Can hypnotism prevent you from dying? Find out here), and Berenice (not only premature burial, but also a tooth obsession). Read on and enjoy!
• The Best of Edgar Allan Poe Audio Cassette narrated by Edward Blake – If you prefer to listen to the horrors of madness and obsession, try this collection. The stories that are included are unabridged.
• Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Paperback by Daniel Hoffman – I had to recommend this biography, if only because of the title. Read about the life of Edgar Allan Poe.

• The Edgar Allan Poe Page – This site includes the complete works of Poe, other Poe links, lists of movies, and lots more. My favorite stories are there, so if you’re desperate to read Berenice because of all my ravings, feel free. The text is easy to access and read (it’s just that you can’t curl up with a computer like you can with a book from Amazon.com, that’s all).

This week launches the new feature on our site called Motivational Quotes of the Day. It is updated daily, like the regular Quotes of the Day page, but chooses its quotes from my very own collection of over 1000 quotes. This collection started in a recipe box at my place of employment in 1996. I was in a job that I despised and every day was a struggle not to quit or murder someone. I began collecting motivational quotes to retain my sanity. It took more than one of these a week to keep me going, so by the time I quit I had a substantial collection. When I came home with my possessions in a cardboard box, the recipe box of quotations was beside the plants and under the pictures. Although he despises motivational quotes, Mike eyed the box with envy. After much discussion and even more additions to the collection we have finally made it available to you.

The following are some of “the greatest” from the collection.

“Please write again soon. Though my own life is filled with activity, letters encourage momentary escape into others’ lives and I come back to my own with greater contentment.”

Elizabeth Hailey, “A Woman of Independent Means”

“One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness.”

Josh Billings

“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.”

Benjamin Disraeli

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

Mark Twain

“I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: ‘Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.’ I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have – When he gives everything that is in him to do the job he has before him. That is all you can ask of him and that is what I have tried to do.”

Harry S. Truman

“Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night”

“Live well. It is the greatest revenge.”

The Talmud

• Life 101 Hardcover by Peter McWilliams – Reading one of his books is tantamount to reading them all, but this is the one I recommend. A wonderfully positive book with lots of quotations, many of which found their way into the Motivational Quotes of the Day collection.
• Good AdviceHardcover by William Safire, Leonard Safir (Compiler) – Many quotes from the Motivational Quote of the Day page are from this book. There is no better place to find good advice about life, business dealings and fear than from people who have gone through it before. This small little book is organized by subject. I really like this book and have read the entire thing a few times, but there are two things that go against it: the attributes are simple, and there are many Unknowns or Proverbs. I don’t really like to use quotes by Unknown because I suspect that someone said them, but they aren’t getting credit for it. Aside from those minor problems, this book is a lot of fun with cute pictures and great organization.
• Do It! Let’s Get Off Our Butts Hardcover by Peter McWilliams – Although it shares much of its information with Life 101, there is nothing more motivational than this book. It combines wisdom with methods of motivating yourself. All of that with wonderful quotations to boot.
• 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself Hardcover by Steve Chandler – More quick tips for getting the life you have always desired. Get rid of those negative thoughts and that pessimistic attitude. Recipient of the King Features Syndicate 1997 AudioBook of the Year Award.

• Motivating Moments – A quotation collection also containing motivational, inspirational and positive quotes. Organized into three groups: Customer Service and Sales, Motivational & Positive Quotes, and Inspirational Quotes.

This month marks two events in Thomas Paine’s life. Firstly, on January 29, 1737, Thomas Paine was born. Quite a few years later, on January 10, 1776, Common Sense was published. I am ashamed to say that I knew very little about Thomas Paine before I started this week’s page. I was aware that he was some sort of governmental philosopher (no funny quotes there) and that he was generally the source of many quotes that people tended to ask about. I suspected that he was the man who said, “These are the times that try men’s souls,” but I knew little else of the man.

I don’t know what to think of this figure. On one hand, he seems to be a great American Patriot. The thoughts and ideas visited in Common Sense are the kind of fodder that I was taught from a very young age. On the other, he seems to be a master of propaganda. Common Sense tends to decide for the reader what is the only way for America to go. He went so far as to state at the beginning of the section “Of the present ability of America, with some miscellaneous reflexions” that it was inevitable that America separate with England without any argument otherwise. The act of naming the pamphlet Common Sense was in itself a propaganda-type move.

Maybe I distrust this figure because he is the origin of a governmental system in which I have little trust. His suggestions of representation merely infuriate me because I am a Democrat living in a state that has voted Republican ever since I could vote. I have no voice in my home state, no matter how many committees I join or how many flyers I hand out. I feel as though my third grade teacher lied to me when she said that there should be no taxation without representation, because I am not represented. Until I resolve my issue with the present governmental system, I doubt I will be able to make a decision on Thomas Paine.

Until then, enjoy these famous (and not so famous, but true) quotes from Thomas Paine.

Introduction and quote compilation by Laura S. Moncur, Staff Writer.

“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”

Common Sense, 1776, Introduction

• Rights of Man and Common Sense Hardcover – Two of the most influential pamphlets written by Thomas Paine. They are available online through other avenues, but I’m fully convinced that every library should have a copy of these.
• Thomas Paine : Collected Writings Hardcover – Or if you prefer, this selection contains almost all of his work. It includes Common Sense, The Crisis, Rights of Man, The Age of Reason, and other pamphlets, articles, and letters. 906 pages of philosophy from the American and French Revolutions.
• Thomas Paine Videocassette VHS Tape by Carl Shapiro – Originally aired on Cable TV, this 40 minute video discusses Thomas Paine’s works and life.

• Biography of Thomas Paine – A concise biography of his life by Benni Leemhuis. Although it tends to idolize him a bit, all the facts are listed.