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Skip to content </a> <header id="masthead" class="site-header"> <div class="site-branding-container"> <div class="site-branding"> <p class="site-title"><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/" rel="home">Quote Investigator®</a></p> <p class="site-description"> Tracing Quotations </p> <nav id="site-navigation" class="main-navigation" aria-label="Top Menu"> <div class="menu-section-menu-container"><ul id="menu-section-menu" class="main-menu"><li id="menu-item-18859" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-18859"><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/about/">About the Website</a></li> <li id="menu-item-442880" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-442880"><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/search/">Search & Authors</a></li> <li id="menu-item-18858" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-18858"><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/resources/">Resources</a></li> <li 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hentry category-uncategorized tag-w-somerset-maugham entry"> <header class="entry-header"> <h1 class="entry-title">Quote Origin: Life Is Too Short To Do Anything For Oneself That One Can Pay Others To Do For One</h1> <div class="entry-meta"> <span class="byline"><svg class="svg-icon" width="16" height="16" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" viewBox="0 0 24 24" version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><path d="M12 12c2.21 0 4-1.79 4-4s-1.79-4-4-4-4 1.79-4 4 1.79 4 4 4zm0 2c-2.67 0-8 1.34-8 4v2h16v-2c0-2.66-5.33-4-8-4z"></path><path d="M0 0h24v24H0z" fill="none"></path></svg><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted by</span><span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/author/garson/">quoteresearch</a></span></span> <span class="posted-on"><svg class="svg-icon" width="16" height="16" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><defs><path id="a" d="M0 0h24v24H0V0z"></path></defs><clipPath id="b"><use xlink:href="#a" overflow="visible"></use></clipPath><path clip-path="url(#b)" d="M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12s4.5 10 10 10 10-4.5 10-10S17.5 2 12 2zm4.2 14.2L11 13V7h1.5v5.2l4.5 2.7-.8 1.3z"></path></svg><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/11/24/life-pay/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2024-11-24T01:48:26-05:00">November 24, 2024</time></a></span> <span class="comment-count"> </span> </div> </header> <div class="entry-content"> <h4 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>W. Somerset Maugham? Popular Influencer? Apocryphal?</strong></h4> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cpayment08.jpg"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="1024" height="562" src="https://quoteinvestigator.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cpayment08-1024x562.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-446467" srcset="https://quoteinvestigator.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cpayment08-1024x562.jpg 1024w, https://quoteinvestigator.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cpayment08-300x165.jpg 300w, https://quoteinvestigator.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cpayment08-768x422.jpg 768w, https://quoteinvestigator.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cpayment08.jpg 1537w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><strong>Illustration of symbolic dollar coins from Unsplash</strong></figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Question for Quote Investigator: </strong>A popular modern influencer has recommended outsourcing all the unpleasant or unimportant tasks of life. I was reminded of a saying I heard many years ago:</p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>Life is too short to do anything for oneself that one can pay others to do for one.</p> </blockquote> <p>I do not recall who said this. The person was probably wealthy. Would you please trace this quotation?</p> <p><strong>Reply from Quote Investigator:</strong> W. Somerset Maugham was a highly successful dramatist, novelist, and short story writer. His novels included “Of Human Bondage”, “The Moon and Sixpence”, and “The Razor’s Edge”. In 1938 Maugham published “The Summing Up” which presented his ideas about life and art. Boldface added to excerpts by <strong>QI</strong>:<sup data-fn="03b5514a-2009-4999-9219-290bf1db1bc2" class="fn"><a href="#03b5514a-2009-4999-9219-290bf1db1bc2" id="03b5514a-2009-4999-9219-290bf1db1bc2-link">1</a></sup></p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>I have travelled; I live in a house with a view of the sea, silent and apart from other habitations, in the middle of a garden, with spacious rooms. <strong>I have always thought life too short to do anything for oneself that one can pay others to do for one</strong> and I have been rich enough to afford myself the luxury of only doing for myself what I alone can do.</p> <p> I have been able to entertain my friends and to help people whom I wanted to help. All this I owe to the favour of the public.</p> </blockquote> <p>The original phrasing of the quotation differed from the common current version. The phrase “I have always thought” has been excised, and the word “is” has been inserted into modern instances.</p> <p>Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.</p> <span id="more-446464"></span> <p>In 1966 the saying appeared as the solution of a puzzle in “The Saturday Review”:<sup data-fn="1ea50fbb-a48e-4794-9b6f-9c92b9b770bb" class="fn"><a href="#1ea50fbb-a48e-4794-9b6f-9c92b9b770bb" id="1ea50fbb-a48e-4794-9b6f-9c92b9b770bb-link">2</a></sup></p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>Answer to Literary Crypt No. 1195<br><strong>Life is too short to do anything for oneself that one can pay others to do for one.</strong> —W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM</p> </blockquote> <p>In 1990 the compilation “Friendly Advice” edited by Jon Winokur contained an entry for the quotation with the word “is”. Maugham received credit.<sup data-fn="9e718171-3d6a-4033-b367-966bc0b67b69" class="fn"><a href="#9e718171-3d6a-4033-b367-966bc0b67b69" id="9e718171-3d6a-4033-b367-966bc0b67b69-link">3</a></sup></p> <p>In 2000 “The Times Book of Quotations” included this entry:<sup data-fn="fb64e7e1-38f8-4f31-9d55-de7c417711a0" class="fn"><a href="#fb64e7e1-38f8-4f31-9d55-de7c417711a0" id="fb64e7e1-38f8-4f31-9d55-de7c417711a0-link">4</a></sup></p> <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow"> <p>Maugham, William Somerset (1874-1965)<br>English writer, dramatist and physician<br><strong>Life is too short to do anything for oneself that one can pay others to do for one.</strong><br>The Summing Up (1938)</p> </blockquote> <p>In conclusion, W. Somerset Maugham deserves credit for this quotation. He wrote it in his 1938 book “The Summing Up”. Modern versions of the quotation are usually slightly altered.</p> <p>Image Notes: Illustration of money as symbolic dollar coins from Allison Saeng at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.</p> <p>Acknowledgement: Great thanks to the anonymous person whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.</p> <ol class="wp-block-footnotes"><li id="03b5514a-2009-4999-9219-290bf1db1bc2">1938 Copyright, The Summing Up by W. Somerset Maugham, Chapter: xli, Quote Page 153, The Literary Guild of America, New York. (Verified with scans) <a href="#03b5514a-2009-4999-9219-290bf1db1bc2-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 1">↩︎</a></li><li id="1ea50fbb-a48e-4794-9b6f-9c92b9b770bb">1966 July 9, The Saturday Review, Volume 49, Fraser Young’s Literary Crypt No. 1196, Quote Page 27, Column 3, Saturday Review, Associates, New York. (Unz) <a href="#1ea50fbb-a48e-4794-9b6f-9c92b9b770bb-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 2">↩︎</a></li><li id="9e718171-3d6a-4033-b367-966bc0b67b69">1990, Friendly Advice, Compiled and edited by Jon Winokur, Section: Life, Quote Page 145, Dutton, New York. (Verified with scans) <a href="#9e718171-3d6a-4033-b367-966bc0b67b69-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 3">↩︎</a></li><li id="fb64e7e1-38f8-4f31-9d55-de7c417711a0">2000, The Times Book of Quotations, Section: Life, Quote Page 424, HarperCollins, Glasgow, United Kingdom. (Verified on with hardcopy) <a href="#fb64e7e1-38f8-4f31-9d55-de7c417711a0-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 4">↩︎</a></li></ol> </div> <footer class="entry-footer"> <span class="byline"><svg class="svg-icon" width="16" height="16" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" viewBox="0 0 24 24" version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><path d="M12 12c2.21 0 4-1.79 4-4s-1.79-4-4-4-4 1.79-4 4 1.79 4 4 4zm0 2c-2.67 0-8 1.34-8 4v2h16v-2c0-2.66-5.33-4-8-4z"></path><path d="M0 0h24v24H0z" fill="none"></path></svg><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted by</span><span class="author vcard"><a class="url fn n" href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/author/garson/">quoteresearch</a></span></span><span class="posted-on"><svg class="svg-icon" width="16" height="16" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><defs><path id="a" d="M0 0h24v24H0V0z"></path></defs><clipPath id="b"><use xlink:href="#a" overflow="visible"></use></clipPath><path clip-path="url(#b)" d="M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12s4.5 10 10 10 10-4.5 10-10S17.5 2 12 2zm4.2 14.2L11 13V7h1.5v5.2l4.5 2.7-.8 1.3z"></path></svg><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/11/24/life-pay/" rel="bookmark"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2024-11-24T01:48:26-05:00">November 24, 2024</time></a></span><span class="cat-links"><svg class="svg-icon" width="16" height="16" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M10 4H4c-1.1 0-1.99.9-1.99 2L2 18c0 1.1.9 2 2 2h16c1.1 0 2-.9 2-2V8c0-1.1-.9-2-2-2h-8l-2-2z"></path><path d="M0 0h24v24H0z" fill="none"></path></svg><span class="screen-reader-text">Posted in</span><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/category/uncategorized/" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a></span><span class="tags-links"><svg class="svg-icon" width="16" height="16" aria-hidden="true" role="img" focusable="false" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24"><path d="M21.41 11.58l-9-9C12.05 2.22 11.55 2 11 2H4c-1.1 0-2 .9-2 2v7c0 .55.22 1.05.59 1.42l9 9c.36.36.86.58 1.41.58.55 0 1.05-.22 1.41-.59l7-7c.37-.36.59-.86.59-1.41 0-.55-.23-1.06-.59-1.42zM5.5 7C4.67 7 4 6.33 4 5.5S4.67 4 5.5 4 7 4.67 7 5.5 6.33 7 5.5 7z"></path><path d="M0 0h24v24H0z" fill="none"></path></svg><span class="screen-reader-text">Tags: </span><a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/tag/w-somerset-maugham/" rel="tag">W. 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