Daily Inspiration Quote by W. Somerset Maugham

Maugham’s “salutary” is doing quiet work: it frames emotional self-discipline not as saintly renunciation, but as a practical health measure, a tonic against the social weather. Coming from a playwright who spent his life in the public market of approval, the line reads less like Zen serenity and more like professional hygiene. Theater teaches you fast that applause can be provincial, and boos can be performative; both are often about the audience’s needs, not your work’s worth. His advice isn’t “ignore feedback.” It’s: don’t let the feedback own your nervous system.

The symmetry of “censure” and “praise” is the tell. Most people claim to want criticism more than flattery, but they actually want criticism that validates their self-image. Maugham is suspicious of both forms of external judgment because both can distort craft. Praise tempts you to repeat yourself, to become the reliable product. Censure tempts you to contort, to preempt the next hit by sanding down anything risky. Either way, you start writing for imagined juries.

Context matters: Maugham built a career on cool observation and unsentimental clarity, often viewed as “middlebrow” by literary gatekeepers even as audiences devoured him. That position makes the line sting: he’s not defending sensitivity; he’s proposing an armor that’s also an ethic. Be steady enough to take notes, arrogant enough not to beg for love, and detached enough to keep your own counsel when the room gets loud.