W. Somerset Maugham Quote

[...] the Eternal turned his attention to the three shades who stood humbly and yet hopefully before him. The quick, with so short a time to live, when they talk of themselves, talk too much; but the dead, with eternity before them, are so verbose that only angels could listen to them with civility.

"The judgement seat", p. 314 - Short Stories - Collected short stories 1