On Hypocrisy

William Somerset Maugham was one of the most celebrated and successful writers of the twentieth century. His works include the oft read Of Human Bondage, The Razor’s Edge, and The Letter. Though not a Christian, his insight into the human condition is often penetrating. In the brief excerpt below, he trains his keen novelist's eye on the sin of hypocrisy.

"Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-wracking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole-time job."

W. Somerset Maugham, Cakes and Ale (London: William Heinemann, 1930), 14.