“I wasn't frightened for myself; I was indignant; it was the wickedness of it that broke me.” — W. Somerset Maugham Indignant Copy Share Image
The humorist has a good eye for the humbug; he does not always recognize the saint. — W. Somerset Maugham Comedy Copy Share Image
“She did not know why it seemed to her so tragic to cry in her sleep.” — W. Somerset Maugham Sleep Copy Share Image
“...peace of mind: Thou shalt have it only, the answer seemed to come to me, when thou has ceased to desire it.” — W. Somerset Maugham Peace Copy Share Image
Do you know that conversation is one of the greatest pleasures in life? But it wants leisure. — W. Somerset Maugham Communication Copy Share Image
One can be very much in love with a woman without wishing to spend the rest of one's life with her. — W. Somerset Maugham Love Copy Share Image
The trouble with young writers is that they are all in their sixties. — W. Somerset Maugham Sixties Copy Share Image
At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely. — W. Somerset Maugham Dinner Copy Share Image
There's nothing the world loves more than a ready-made description which they can hang on to a man, and so save themselves… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“You think pleasure is only of the senses; the wretched slaves who manufactured your morality despised a satisfaction which they had small… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
With the superciliousness of extreme youth, I put thirty-five as the utmost limit at which a man might fall in love without… — W. Somerset Maugham Extremes Copy Share Image
I am afraid of people with too much charm. They devour you. In the end you are made a sacrifice to the… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“Martha I thought you loved her. Bernard Enough to want her happiness above all things. Martha You are forty-five, aren’t you? I… — W. Somerset Maugham Happiness Copy Share Image
“I only wanted to suggest to you that self-sacrifice is a passion so overwhelming that beside it even lust and hunger are… — W. Somerset Maugham Passion 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 Copy Share Image
“He had talked of getting occupation of this sort so long that he had not the face to refuse outright, but the… — W. Somerset Maugham Career Copy Share Image
“C.-C.: My dear Arnold, we all hope that you have before you a distinguished political career. You can't learn too soon that… — W. Somerset Maugham Integrity Copy Share Image
To bear failure with courage is the best proof of character that anyone can give... You will find that people forget the… — W. Somerset Maugham Advice Copy Share Image
“I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but… — W. Somerset Maugham Belonging Copy Share Image
Has it occurred to you that transmigration is at once an explanation and a justification of the evil of the world? If… — W. Somerset Maugham Bears Copy Share Image
“The particular value attached of virginity is a fabrication of the male, due partly to superstition, partly to masculine vanity, and partly,… — W. Somerset Maugham Sexual intercourse Copy Share Image
“According to your proclivities, you may take a snow-clad Alpine peak, as it rises to the empyrean in radiant majesty, as symbol… — W. Somerset Maugham Dreams Copy Share Image
“In the week I promised myself I should naturally read, for to the habitual reader reading is a drug of which he… — W. Somerset Maugham Books Copy Share Image
It has been said that metaphysics is the finding of bad reasons for what we believe upon instinct. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Women's hearts are like old china, none the worse for a break or two. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“No one ever died of love yet," said the prioress with a savage bitterness.” — W. Somerset Maugham Bitterness Copy Share Image
“wasn’t my fault, it was the circumstances. Can’t you forgive me?” — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
The ideas for stories that thronged my brain would not let me rest till I had got rid of them by writing… — W. Somerset Maugham Brain Copy Share Image
You tend to close your eyes to truth, beauty and goodness because they give no scope to your sense of the ridiculous. — W. Somerset Maugham Beauty Copy Share Image
Just as the painter thinks with his brush and paints the novelist thinks with his story. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefore. — W. Somerset Maugham Rain Copy Share Image
The trouble is that thinking looks like loafing. Who wants to pay people for daydreaming? — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
A man marries to have a home, but also because he doesn't want to be bothered with sex and all that sort… — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. — W. Somerset Maugham Money Copy Share Image
No action is in itself good or bad, but only such according to convention. — W. Somerset Maugham Action Copy Share Image
As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times. — W. Somerset Maugham Differences Copy Share Image
By the time an actor knows how to act any sort of part he is often too old to act any but… — W. Somerset Maugham Actor Copy Share Image
Dying is the most hellishly boresome experience in the world! Particularly when it entails dying of 'natural causes'. — W. Somerset Maugham Copy Share Image
“I never expected you to love me, I didn't see any reason that you should, I never thought myself very lovable.” — W. Somerset Maugham Love Copy Share Image
