Charm and nothing but charm at last grows a little tiresome. It's a relief then to deal with a man who isn't… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history. Sometimes a… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
She could not admit but that he had remarkable qualities, sometimes she thought that there was even in him a strange and… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
It must be that there is something naturally absurd in a sincere emotion, though why there should be I cannot imagine, unless… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
What was it in the human heart that made you despise a man because he loved you? — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Genius is talent provided with ideals. Genius starves while talent wears purple and fine linen. The man of genius of today will… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“There are men whose sense of humour is so ill developed that they still bear a grudge against Copernicus because he dethroned… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
She loved three things — a joke, a glass of wine, and a handsome man. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Marco Polo tells the tale of The Old Man in the Mountains and how he recruits new members to his Band of… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Evil can be condoned only if in the beyond it is compensated by good and god himself needs immortality to vindicate his… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
In civilized communities men's idiosyncrasies are mitigated by the necessity of conforming to certain rules of behavior. Culture is a mask that… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
She’s wonderful. Tell her I’ve never seen such beautiful hands. I wonder what she sees in you.” Waddington, smiling, translated the question.… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Failure make people bitter and cruel. Success improves the character of the man. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Are you sure you can prevent yourself from falling in love one of these days? Such things do happen, you know, even… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
The great man is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is a bundle of contradictory elements.… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“Some people read for instruction, which is praiseworthy, and some for pleasure, which is innocent, but not a few read from habit,… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
He is not famous. It may be that he never will be. It may be that when his life at last comes… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
It is clear that men accept an immediate pain rather than an immediate pleasure, but only because they expect a greater pleasure… — 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