# Quote — William Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up

> I do not believe they are right who say that the defects of famous men should be ignored. I think it is better that we should know them. Then, though we are conscious of having faults as glaring as theirs, we can believe that that is no hindrance to our achieving also something of their virtues.

- Author: [William Somerset Maugham](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham.md)
- Book: [The Summing Up](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up.md)
- Page: 71
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham#The_Summing_Up_(1938)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up/i-do-not

## More from this book

> Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long.

p. 290 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up/old-age-is-ready.md)

> We are not the same persons this year as last ; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.

p. 306 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up/we-are-not.md)

> I have been forced to conclude from this that we know our friends by their defects rather than by their merits.

p. 214 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-somerset-maugham/the-summing-up/i-have-been.md)