# Cakes And Ale

- Author: [William Somerset Maugham](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham.md)
- Quotes: 7
- Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/cakes-and-ale

## Quotes

> It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.

p. 157

> It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it.

p. 14

> Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose: you can smell it and that is all.

p. 140

> The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes...

p. 184

> ...when you are young you take the kindness people show you as your right...

p. 166

> Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole-time job.

p. 15

> ...you know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an author no good to get a reputation for cynicism.

p. 137