Daily Inspiration Quote by W. Somerset Maugham

Beauty, in Maugham's hands, is less a gift than a gatekeeper: a social force with taste, pride, and a hair-trigger allergy to being handled clumsily. The line flatters itself with that dry, clubby opener, "It is well known", as if he is merely reporting settled anthropology. He isn't. He's slipping a knife into the genteel myth that charm and attractiveness are naturally allied with warmth. Beauty, here, is aristocratic - not morally elevated, just accustomed to deference.

The real target is "timid advances". Maugham is diagnosing a particular species of comic failure: the joke offered as a plea. Humour becomes courtship, a way for the less powerful to negotiate entry into a room ruled by surfaces. When that courtship is hesitant, it reads not as modesty but as neediness. Beauty, trained by constant attention, expects confidence as its matching currency; anything tentative feels like an imposition. The "good grace" phrase is doing quiet work too, implying that Beauty could respond generously if it wanted to, but etiquette is optional when you're the one being pursued.

As a playwright, Maugham is writing for the stage's cruel lighting: timing, status, and desire are visible. His subtext is about power dynamics masquerading as taste. Humour can puncture beauty's authority - but only when it's bold enough to be a weapon, not a request for approval.