“A man's work reveals him. In social intercourse he gives you the surface that he wishes the world to accept, but in… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
In business sharp practice sometimes succeeds, but in art honesty is not only the best but the only policy. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“And if I am not mistaken here is the secret of the greatness that was Spain. In Spain it is men that… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art. ~Waddington — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Art, if it is to be reckoned as one of the great values of life, must teach man humility, tolerance, wisdom and… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
There are directors who desire to be artistic. It is pathetic to compare the seriousness of their aim with the absurdity of… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Yet magic is no more than the art of employing consciously invisible means to produce visible effects. Will, love and imagination are… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
An art is only great and significant if it is one that all may enjoy. The art of a clique is but… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“I had not then acquired the technique that I flatter myself now enables me to deal competently with the works of modern… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Art is a manifestation of emotion, and emotion speaks a language that all may understand. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“To my mind the most interesting thing in art is the personality of the artist; and if that is singular, I am… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“I have written this because it may have escaped the notice of many who have admired her [Marie Tempest] brilliant performances that… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Art should be appreciated with passion and violence, not with a tepid, depreciating elegance that fears the censoriousness of a common room. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
The ballet. I saw in the fugitive beauty of a dancer's gesture a symbol of life. It was achieved at the cost… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“I wonder if it matters that what they have aimed at is illusion. Their lives are in themselves beautiful. I have an… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“Humility is a virtue that is enjoined upon us. So far as the artist is concerned, with good reason; indeed, when he… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Reverie is the groundwork of creative imagination; it is the privilege of the artist that with him it is not as with… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
But I am not sure it would contain any short stories. For the short story is a minor art, and it must… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“A man thinks it quite natural that he should fall out of love with a woman, but it never strikes him for a moment… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“A man's work reveals him. In social intercourse he gives you the surface that he wishes the world to accept, but in his book… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
The world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither. We must be very humble. We… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“There is no more merit in having read a thousand books than in having ploughed a thousand fields.” — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“I wanted to live again and again. I was willing to accept every sort of life, no matter what its pain and sorrow; I… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“His love became a prison from which he longed to escape, but he had not the strength merely to open the door-that was all… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
I did not believe him capable of love. That is an emotion in which tenderness is an essential part, but Strickland had no tenderness… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
