Of Human Bondage by W.S. Maugham

"It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it;" ~ Maugham

W. Somerset Maugham was an English novelist, playwright and short story writer famous for his novel, Of Human Bondage. The book is said to be based on his own life. It was made into a movie and became equally popular at the time starring Leslie Howard (Gone with the Wind fame) and Bette Davis.

The book provokes. As demonstrated in his writings, faithful love has no place. And then again, it can be attributed to the writer's tormented emotional life, from his unhappy childhood and perhaps even unhappier adult existence. Maugham often wrote satire and humour, but he told his stories well that endeared him to his readers.  

Here's a favourite quote I'd like to share, something worth reflecting:

"It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched for they are full of the truthless ideal which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real, they are bruised and wounded. It looks as if they were victims of a conspiracy; for the books they read, ideal by the necessity of selection, and the conversation of their elders, who look back upon the past through a rosy haze of forgetfulness, prepare them for an unreal life. They must discover for themselves that all they have read and all they have been told are lies, lies, lies; and each discovery is another nail driven into the body on the cross of life.” ~ W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage