“ It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive. ”
W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence (1919). copy citation
| Author | W. Somerset Maugham |
|---|---|
| Source | The Moon and Sixpence |
| Topic | happiness suffering |
| Date | 1919 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/222/222-h/222-h.htm |
Context
“"If he's in any real want I'm prepared to help him a little. I'd send you a certain sum of money, and you could give it him gradually, as he needed it."
"That's very good of you," I said. But I knew it was not kindness that prompted the offer. It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.
CHAPTER XVIII In point of fact, I met Strickland before I had been a fortnight in Paris. I quickly found myself a tiny apartment on the fifth floor of a house in the Rue des Dames, and for a couple of hundred francs bought at a second-hand dealer's enough furniture to make it habitable.” source
"That's very good of you," I said. But I knew it was not kindness that prompted the offer. It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.
CHAPTER XVIII In point of fact, I met Strickland before I had been a fortnight in Paris. I quickly found myself a tiny apartment on the fifth floor of a house in the Rue des Dames, and for a couple of hundred francs bought at a second-hand dealer's enough furniture to make it habitable.” source
Meaning and analysis
