In the first place it's not true that people improve as you know them better: they don't. That's why one should only have acquaintances and never make friends. An acquaintance shows you only the best of himself, he's considerate and polite, he conceals his defects behind a mask of social convention; but we grow so intimate with him that he throws the mask aside, get to know him so well that he doesn't trouble any longer to pretend; then you'll discover a being of such meanness, of such trivial nature, of such weakness, of such corruption, that you'd be aghast if you didn't realize that that was his nature and it was just as stupid to condemn him as to condemn the wolf because he ravens or the cobra because he strikes.
W. Somerset Maugham
Related The leader of men in warfare can show himself to his followers only through a mask, a mask that he m... JOHN KEEGAN A man's work reveals him. In social intercourse he gives you the surface that he wishes the world to... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The best thing about him is that even if his down, he never shows it. After he was dropped (in 2002)... CHANDRAKANT PANDIT God wanted to redeem men and open the way of salvation to those who seek Him. But men make themselve... BLAISE PASCAL Such is the nature of compassionate being that, even when he knows that someone has made Facebook ac... DR HITESH C SHETH The liberty of man consists solely in this, that he obeys the laws of nature because he has himself ... MIKHAIL BAKUNIN Dale could, in the blink of an eye, make you so mad, you wanted to go over and sock him. Then he'd g... BILL DAVIS He doesn't know this now, but in the years to come he will, again and again, test Harold's claims of... HANYA YANAGIHARA Well, it's hard to say who John was because he was such a complicated character, ... You know, he re... JOAQUIN PHOENIX As time passed and he grew to know people better, he began to think of himself as an extraordinary m... SHERWOOD ANDERSON Food Allergies Are Not Due to Food, Rather Are Due to the Constant Contamination of That Food That Y... THEHEALTHFOODGURU For all his secrecy and fear of being seen, he was touched that we had observed him so closely, and ... TIM KREIDER The nature of psychological compulsion is such that those who act under constraint remain under the ... ALDOUS HUXLEY Remember particularly that you cannot be a judge of anyone. For no one can judge a criminal until he... FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY …in that moment, as he saw and smelled how irresistible its effect was and how with lightning spee... PATRICK SüSKIND [A man], who is in prosperity, while he sees that others have to contend with great wretchedness and... IMMANUEL KANT The real meaning of persona is a mask, such as actors were accustomed to wear on the ancient stage; ... ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER He was lonely because he could imagine himself as anything but himself and as anywhere but where he ... WENDELL BERRY And if Amsterdam was hell, and if hell was a memory, then he realized that perhaps there was some pu... PAUL AUSTER He used to hide his true self because he feared people wouldn’t like him, or would judge him for b... SCOTT STABILE He was not a stupid man. He was managed by reasonably clever people who understood his value. But he... DESMOND MORTON At man's core there is a voice that wants him never to give in to fear. But if it is true that in ge... GEORGES BATAILLE As to Caesar, when he was called upon, he gave no testimony
against Clodius, nor did he affirm that... PLUTARCH He felt that race was not a characteristic that was a part of his identity, but one that was project... DEXTER PALMER He wasn't the biggest or the fastest, but he was one of the ones who worked the hardest to make hims... DAVID REAM There isnt such a reasonable fellow in the world, to hear him talk. He Tom Brown never wants anythin... THOMAS HUGHES I think people forgave him for that. He was always such a macho guy, but that night, he wasn't. But ... HANK KAPLAN A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of hi... ALBERT SCHWEITZER He didn’t at all see why the busy bee should be proposed as a model to him; he supposed the Bee li... CHARLES DICKENS He had this never-flagging satirical wit that was always entertaining -- except when you were in the... ARTHUR GELB I think Douglas was a real one-off. He was so clever and so intelligent and so well read in real sci... LALLA WARD You have to be patient with him. Travis doesn't remember much about it, but he was close to his mom,... JAMIE MCGUIRE His friends told him that nobody was interested in his goddam soul unless it was the priest and he m... FLANNERY O'CONNOR He ran as he'd never run before, with neither hope nor despair. He ran because the world was divided... KARL MARLANTES As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be made to think of himself ... C.S. LEWIS The thing I told Rod is that I would have hated to have to try and coach him. He just didn't listen,... DARREN PERRY A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of hi... ALBERT SCHWEITZER And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get; / Even s... BIBLE I think he just loved being with the bears because they didn't make him feel bad. I get it too. When... MICHAEL THOMAS FORD But of that day and hour no one knows neither the angels in heaven nor the Son but only the Father.�... JOHN OWEN That part of Christ's nature which was profoundly human helps us to understand him and love him ... NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS But if he is angry at the world for doing him harm, why does he take it out on his loving partner? C... SUSAN WEITZMAN Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts,... OSCAR WILDE Any human being should be capable of three things to earn such title: live alone, hunt and drive any... ROBIN SACREDFIRE You may fancy the Lord had His own power to fall back upon. But that would have been to Him just the... GEORGE MACDONALD And he should know! ... No, well, Terry had me take tango lessons to prepare for the movie just beca... MATT DAMON If you can control a mans thinking, you dont have to worry about his actions. If you can determine w... CARTER WOODSON If you were in a skid, Pedro would come in and stop the bleeding at times. He can give you a boost w... NOMAR GARCIAPARRA The perfection of His relation to us swallows up all our imperfections, all our defeats, all our evi... GEORGE MACDONALD Here is one fact 1 minute to finish the class, 1 day to die, one day behind that fact, one day in th... DEYTH BANGER If it were true love, he would never make you sacrifice your dignity to be with him. He would respec... SHANNON L. ALDER He wanted to be loved for being just what he was. In this community of Yskalnari there was harmony, ... MICHAEL ENDE Masquerades disclose the reality of souls. As long as no one sees who we are, we can tell the most i... FERNANDO PESSOA Millions of people acknowledge today that they do not know the meaning of life. JAMES C. DOBSON Let me implore the reader to try to believe, if only for a moment, that God, who made these deservin... C.S. LEWIS There is no such thing as a good influence. Because to influence a person is to give him one's own s... OSCAR WILDE I'm disappointed for him that he has made such a clumsy start. He's inexperienced and got caught out... LUC LONGLEY [He estimated that he made] over 30 ... It's such an icon. ... And it's only with hindsight, you see... PADME AMIDALA What you don't understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God... BORIS PASTERNAK He was the only performer in that round who didn't receive any recognition. And it's a shame, becaus... NIKITA FITENKO Truth to tell, it was a bit difficult for him at first to get used to such limitations, but later it... NIKOLAI GOGOL She hadn’t needed him to escape that place. But rather than making him angry, it only made him pro... D.B. REYNOLDS You want to raise your child in such a way that you don%uFFFDt have to control him, so that he will ... L. RON HUBBARD He could have put off surgery a month or two, but I think he put that carrot out there for himself, ... TIM PURPURA A good villain exudes charisma and power. He has principles, though; that just gives him a level of ... PUSHA T I don't know where his psyche is but if I had a guy beating down on my door like that, a thorn in my... ANTONIO TARVER The true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living... GEORGE BERNARD SHAW His habit of reading isolated him: it became such a need that after being in company for some time h... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM What grief is not taken away by time? What passion will survive an unequal battle with it? I knew a ... NIKOLAI GOGOL We saw that he was frustrated with himself a little bit. As older guys, we have to stay on him, make... CARL EVERETT The best thing—in Shadow's opinion, perhaps the only good thing—about being in prison was a feel... NEIL GAIMAN Tyrion felt the heat rise in him. “It was not my dagger,” he insisted. “How many times must I ... GEORGE R.R. MARTIN How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine." The Q... LEWIS CARROLL Every man has some reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He ha... FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not d... CHARLES DICKENS Feast of Richard Hooker, Priest, Anglican Apologist, Teacher, 1600 Commemoration of Martin of Porres... C. HAROLD DODD His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politic... SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Sometimes I think the people to feel the saddest for are people who are unable to connect with the p... DOUGLAS COUPLAND Continuing a short series on forgiveness: Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner. ("To know all i... W. H. AUDEN People are so nice, you know. It's such a credit to Howard Stern - the audience base that he cre... ARTIE LANGE If he's the best in this conference, that's saying something. He sure is striking the ball well. He ... HARRISON HEARNE He adjusted a play tonight so that he could get a catch. It's a situation, because of our lineup, th... DARRIN HORN I just wish moments weren’t so fleeting!' Isaac called to the man on the roof, 'They pass so quick... ROMAN PAYNE Have you ever wondered why Cinderella's stepmother was bitter and greedy? Have you ever wondered why... MARYALLE TAN I think very much of the people, as an old friend said he thought of woman. He said when he lost his... ABRAHAM LINCOLN He was just such a good guy and he would give you the shirt off his back, it didn't matter, it didn'... JACK TAYLOR Commemoration of Samuel Seabury, First Anglican Bishop in North America, 1796 Here you have the... WILLIAM LAW He felt a lack of security. No place existed in all the world that could be called safe, and he knew... ALAN SILLITOE He's not a typical Storm Cat in that he has a great mind. You wouldn't know that he was in the barn ... ELLIOTT WALDEN It hardly mattered. She was tired of waiting for him to acknowledge who he was. Tired of donning a f... ELIZABETH HOYT Whenever one speaks of lonely people one takes too much for granted. One thinks people all know what... RAINER MARIA RILKE The person who knows one thing and does it better than anyone else, even if it only be the art of ra... OG MANDINO He thought because he didn't carry the money out of the restaurant that he could get out of the char... KIRK TALLEY And so we see the paradox that evolution has handed us. If man is the only animal whose consciousnes... ERNEST BECKER A man with few friends is only half-developed; there are whole sides of his nature which are locked ... RANDOLPH BOURNE Sosa was great because he appealed not only to the Hispanic audience, but he appealed to the African... BOB CRAMER Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an ... ABRAHAM LINCOLN Social man regards all those by whom he is surrounded as enemies, or beings who may become such. He ... WILLIAM GODWIN He was my right-hand man, no question. He worked with me most of the time as my offensive line coach... BILL MARION Stacy had this more fluid style. You meet him, he's just such a nice guy. Tony's an awesome ... JOHN ROBINSON
More W. Somerset Maugham
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SOMERSET MAUGHAM The writer is more concerned to know than to judge. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Habits in writing as in life are only useful if they are broken as soon as they cease to be advantag... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are two good things in life -- freedom of thought and freedom of action. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Any nation that thinks more of its ease and comfort than its freedom will soon lose its freedom; and... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom, and the irony of it is that... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The Americans, who are the most efficient people on the earth, have carried [phrase-making] to such ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM A bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, he told her, to which she retorted that a proverb was ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I am told that today rather more than 60 per cent of the men who go to university go on a Government... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without d... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It was a cold morning, and he shivered a little; but he had been taught by his uncle that his prayer... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You're beginning to dislike me, aren't you? Well, dislike me. It doesn't make any difference to me n... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When a woman loves you she's not satisfied until she possesses your soul. Because she's weak, she ha... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries o... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one, but the wise man is fooli... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Men have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature; and the error is ineradic... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The great critic...must be a philosopher, for from philosophy he will learn serenity, impartiality, ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection has one grave defect. It is apt to be dull. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection is what American women expect to find in their husbands... but English women only hope to... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, i... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I've always been interested in people, but I've never liked them. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is well known that Beauty does not look with a good grace on the timid advances of Humor. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches tolerance. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The Americans who are the most efficient people on earth...have invented so wide a range of pithy an... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate m... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The ideal has many names, and beauty is but one of them. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM No one can write a best seller by trying to. He must write with complete sincerity; the clich?s that... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We seek pitifully to convey to others the treasures of our heart, but they have not the power to acc... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Common sense and nature will do a lot to make the pilgrimage of life not too difficult. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Common-sense appears to be only another name for the thoughtlessness of the unthinking. It is made o... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Lady Hodmarsh and the duchess immediately assumed the clinging affability that persons of rank assum... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It seems that the creative faculty and the critical faculty cannot exist together in their highest p... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammere... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM No egoism is so insufferable as that of the Christian with regard to his soul. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People who ask for your criticism want only praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an aut... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is salutary to train oneself to be no more affected by censure than by praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and then they are... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's a funny thing about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the b... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Only a mediocre person is always at his best. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the uni... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willing avoids the sight of distress. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Tradition is a guide and not a jailer. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You know that the Tasmanians, who never committed adultery, are now extinct. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasin... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM From the earliest times the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser than they, and bef... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Anyone can tell the truth, but only very few of us can make epigrams. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can do anything in this world if you are prepares to take the consequences. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Has it occurred to you that transmigration is at once an explanation and a justification of the evil... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Money is like a sixth sense, and you can't make use of the other five without it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Wives are people who feel they don't dance enough. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The well-dressed man is he whose clothes you never notice. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I would sooner read a timetable or a catalog than nothing at all. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM For the memory of love is sweet, though the love itself were in vain. And what I have lost of pleasu... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection is what American women expect to find in their husbands... but English women only hope ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The end of culture is right living. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I knew that suffering did not enoble; it degraded. It made men selfish, petty and suspicious. It abs... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifice... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The average American can get into the kingdom of heaven much more easily than he can get into the Bo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you're eighteen your emotions are violent, but they're not durable. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You learn more quickly under the guidance of experienced teachers. You waste a lot of time going dow... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Often the best way to overcome desire is to satisfy it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's always difficult to make conversation with a drunk, and there's no denying it, the sober are at... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Tao. Some of us look for the Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. I... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The crown of literature is poetry. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering f... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM They were talking more distantly than if they were strangers who had just met, for if they had been ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pl... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I would sooner read a time-table or a catalogue than nothing at all. They are much more entertaining... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequence than to have a really affectionate mo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know the... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain su... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with i... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Unfortunately sometimes one can't do what one thinks is right without making someone else unhappy. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People do tell a writer things that they don't tell others. I don't know why, unless it is that havi... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perhaps the most important use of money - It saves time. Life is so short, and there's so much to do... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are few things so pleasant as a picnic eaten in perfect comfort. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The dead look so terribly dead when they're dead. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We who are of mature age seldom suspect how unmercifully and yet with what insight the very young ju... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's a toss-up when you decide to leave the beaten track. Many are called, but few are chosen. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is very difficult to know people and I don't think one can ever really know any but one's own cou... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I never spend more than one hour in a gallery. That is as long as one's power of appreciation persis... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I like manual labor. Whenever I've got waterlogged with study, I've taken a spell of it and found it... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM An author spends months writing a book, and maybe puts his heart's blood into it, and then it lies a... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM All important persons have about them someone in a subordinate position who has their ear. These dep... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM A man ought to work. That's what he's here for. That's how he contributes to the welfare of the comm... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM To write simply is as difficult as to be good. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is funny about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the very best you will very often get i... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I was young I had an elderly friend who used often to ask me to stay with him in the country. H... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Love is a dirty trick played on us to achieve the continuation of the species. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We have long passed the Victorian era, when asterisks were followed after a certain interval by a ba... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacri... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches them tolerance. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large wi... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actuall... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Tolerance is only another name for indifference. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives by make-believe. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I do not confer praise or blame: I accept. I am the measure of all things. I am the centre of the wo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM D'you call life a bad job? Never! We've had our ups and downs, we've had our struggles, we've always... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and wo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you have loved as she has loved, you grow old beautifully. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is er... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity. The beauty o... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I was young I was amazed at Plutarch's statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is er... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who has lost it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Charm and nothing but charm at last grows a little tiresome. It's a relief then to deal with a man w... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Life isn't long enough for love and art. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When things are at their worst I find something always happens. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, pe... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There's always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There was an immeasurable distance between the quick and the dead: they did not seem to belong to th... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The important thing was to love rather than to be loved. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Men seek but one thing in life - their pleasure. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Life wouldn't be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's asking a great deal that things should appeal to your reason as well as your sense of the aesth... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know the... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You Europeans know nothing about America. Because we amass large fortunes you think we care for noth... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We didn't think much in the air corps of a fellow who wangled a cushy job out of his C.O. by butteri... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM