A Quote by W. Somerset Maugham

The first duty of a woman is to be pretty, the second is to be well-groomed, and the third is never to contradict.

W. Somerset Maugham

Quote Topics

Contradict Duty First Never Pretty Second Third Well Woman

Quote Author

W. Somerset Maugham
British - Novelist
January 25, 1874 - December 16, 1965

These first few years, it's more trying to figure it out. What's going on in the NBA? Where do I fit in? Then my second year, I'm a player. 'Can he actually start?' I played pretty well my second year. My third year, now I gotta solidify myself. Now I'm here, and it's about winning for me.

Devin Booker

I believe that Western civilization, after some disgusting glitches, has become almost civilized. I believe it is our first duty to protect that civilization. I believe it is our second duty to improve it. I believe it is our third duty to extend it if we can.

P. J. O'Rourke

The first word gives origin to the second, the first and second to the third, and the third to the fourth, and so on. You cannot begin with the second word.

N. Scott Momaday

At first, I didn't even realize how low on the totem pole I am. First of all, I'm a woman. Second of all, I'm of color. Third of all, I'm queer.

Victoria Monet

Ill-luck is, in nine cases out of ten, the result of taking pleasure first and duty second, instead of duty first and pleasure second.

Theodore T. Munger

You don't want to be first, right? You want to be second or third. You don't want to be - Facebook is not the first in social media. They're the third, right? Similarly, you know, if you look at Steve Jobs' history, he's never been first.

Malcolm Gladwell

The first Halloween was very well made. The second one was also well made, though I didn't like it as well as the first one. The third one had nothing to do with the series at all and perhaps shouldn't have been made at all.

Donald Pleasence

I hope I'm beginning a new cycle of energy and creativity. If so, it'll really be my third career. The first was as a straight comic in the Sixties. The second was as a counterculture performer in the Seventies. The third will be...well, that's for others to judge.

George Carlin

First, do it. Second, do it well. Third, do it well and fast — that means you're a professional.

David Belle

My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.

David Brin

God, immortality, duty - how inconceivable the first, how unbelievable the second, how peremptory and absolute the third.

George Eliot

A man's first duty is to his own conscience and honor; the party and country come second to that, and never first.

Mark Twain

I see and write things first as an artist, second as a woman, and third as a New Yorker. All three have built-in perspectives that aren't neutral.

Laurie Anderson

Well, the first two movies of any size that I did were a movie called 'Everybody's All American' that Taylor Hackford directed - I was pretty diva on that - and then 'Pretty Woman,' which is probably my first real breakthrough.

James Newton Howard

The tripartite structure - so you remember the third brother, second brother, first brother, or the first dervish, second dervish, and third dervish. This is very like embroidering a cloth, as you have to know where you are with the knots.