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 Accepting Copy Share Image
“Then the horrid fact was disclosed that the new head had a mania for general information. He had doubts about the utility… — W. Somerset Maugham New Head Copy Share Image
“There was no meaning in life, and man by living served no end. It was immaterial whether he was born or not… — W. Somerset Maugham Death Copy Share Image
“He lit his pipe again, smiling to himself quietly, with that painful smile of his, as though he were enjoying a joke… — W. Somerset Maugham Painful Smile Copy Share Image
“Oh, my dear, it's rather hard to take quite literally the things a man says when he's in love with you." "Didn't… — W. Somerset Maugham Love Copy Share Image
“He could not bear the thought of discussing his situation, he could endure it only by determining resolutely not to think about… — W. Somerset Maugham Mind Copy Share Image
“He realized that he was manacled hand and foot with fetters that were only more intolerable because they consisted of nothing more… — W. Somerset Maugham Causing pain Copy Share Image
“Nothing, I suppose, exasperates a woman more than the sexual desire for her of a man who is physically repellent to her,… — W. Somerset Maugham Sexual desire Copy Share Image
“I was growing stale in London. I was tired of doing much the same thing everyday. My friends pursued their course with… — W. Somerset Maugham Friendship Copy Share Image
“Here was food for reflection: Kitty had never heard the Chinese spoken of as anything but decadent, dirty, and unspeakable. It was… — W. Somerset Maugham Caught Glimpse Copy Share Image
“When one reads, and re-reads, Moby Dick , it seems to me that one gets a more convincing, a more definite, impression… — W. Somerset Maugham Evil genius Copy Share Image
You've been brought up like a gentleman and a Christian, and I should be false to the trust laid upon me by… — W. Somerset Maugham Christian Copy Share Image
People do tell a writer things that they don't tell others. I don't know why, unless it is that having read one… — W. Somerset Maugham Book Copy Share Image
The last words he said to me when I bade him good-night were: Tell Amy it's no good coming after me. Anyhow,… — W. Somerset Maugham Able Copy Share Image
“It is very difficult to know people and I don't think one can ever really know any but one's own countrymen. For… — W. Somerset Maugham Children Copy Share Image
“I’m not afraid of my fear. It’s folly, the Christian argument that you should live always in view of your death. The… — W. Somerset Maugham Afraid Copy Share Image
“He seemed to see his fellow creatures grotesquely, and he was angry with them because they were grotesque; life was a confusion… — W. Somerset Maugham Humor Copy Share Image
We find things beautiful because we recognize them and contrariwise we find things beautiful because their novelty surprises us. — W. Somerset Maugham Beautiful 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 Cases Copy Share Image
Throw yourself into the hurly-burly of life. It doesn't matter how many mistakes you make, what unhappiness you have to undergo. It… — W. Somerset Maugham Experience Copy Share Image
“Oh, my dear, you musn’t be offended just because I’ve taken away from you the satisfaction of thinking that you have been… — W. Somerset Maugham Deceiving Copy Share Image
“He was left a good deal to himself. He had been inclined to talkativeness, but gradually he became silent. He began to… — W. Somerset Maugham Extrovert Copy Share Image
The worst of having so much tact was that you never quite knew whether other people were acting naturally or being tactful… — W. Somerset Maugham Acting Copy Share Image
Our natural egoism leads us to judge people by their relations to ourselves. We want them to be certain things to us,… — W. Somerset Maugham Certain Copy Share Image
The life force is vigorous. The delight that accompanies it counter-balances all the pains and hardships that confront men. It makes life… — W. Somerset Maugham Accompany Copy Share Image
The audience is a very curious animal. It is shrewd rather than intelligent. Its mental capacity is less than that of its… — W. Somerset Maugham Animal Copy Share Image
You cannot write well or much (and I venture the opinion that you cannot write well unless you write much) unless you… — W. Somerset Maugham Habit Copy Share Image
Beauty is also a Gift of God, one of the most rare and precious, and we should be thankful if we are… — W. Somerset Maugham Beauty Copy Share Image
“If I have succeeded at all in giving the complicated impression that Strickland made on me, it will not seem outrageous to… — W. Somerset Maugham Love Copy Share Image
It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and… — W. Somerset Maugham Dignity Copy Share Image
Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better… — W. Somerset Maugham Aim Copy Share Image
“The illusion of free will is so strong in my mind that I can't get away from it, but I believe it… — W. Somerset Maugham Free Copy Share Image
“Happily men don't realise how stupid they are, or half the world would commit suicide. Knowledge is a will-of-the-wisp, fluttering ever out… — W. Somerset Maugham Ignorance Copy Share Image
The tragedy of love is not death or separation. How long do you think it would have been before one or other… — W. Somerset Maugham Bears Copy Share Image
We are like people living in a country whose language they know so little that, with all manner of beautiful and profound… — W. Somerset Maugham Aunt Copy Share Image
“What on earth did you want with an early Christian sarcophagus, Elliot?" "To put myself in it, my dear fellow. It was… — W. Somerset Maugham Christianity Copy Share Image
“The idealist withdrew himself, because he could not suffer the jostling of the human crowd; he had not the strength to fight… — W. Somerset Maugham Idealism Copy Share Image
“And the poor lady, so small in her black satin, shrivelled up and sallow, with her funny corkscrew curls, took the little… — W. Somerset Maugham Heart break 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 Art Copy Share Image
“A sensible person does not read a novel as a task. He reads it as a diversion. He is prepared to interest… — W. Somerset Maugham Books Copy Share Image
![“The worst of having so much tact was that you never quite knew whether other people were acting naturally or being tactful too. [The human element]” quote by W. Somerset Maugham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f61/w-somerset-maugham-237_acting_the-worst-of-having-so-much-tact-was-tha_1198360.jpg)
