W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

Quotes about:

• We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Life, Change

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

  145 Copy quote

• Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Change, Enjoy It While It Lasts, Delight

  "The Razor's Edge". Book by W. Somerset Maugham, 1944.

  148 Copy quote

• To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Life, Book, Reading

  124 Copy quote

• It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

  The Mixture as Before "The Treasure" (1940)

  115 Copy quote

• If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Freedom, Patriotic, Libertarian Party

  "Strictly Personal" by W. Somerset Maugham, (ch. 31), 1941.

  110 Copy quote

• The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Secret, Life Is

  101 Copy quote

• The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Believe, People, Guarantees

  54 Copy quote

• The most valuable thing I have learned from life is to regret nothing.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wisdom, Regret, Life Is

  4 Copy quote

• Dullness is the first requisite of a good husband.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Husband, Firsts, Good Husband

  0 Copy quote

• Often the best way to overcome desire is to satisfy it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Temptation, Desire, Way

  6 Copy quote

• The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Life, Change

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

  67 Copy quote

• The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Education, Book, Reading

  90 Copy quote

• It was such a beautiful day I decided to stay in bed.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Beautiful, Beautiful Day, Bed

  1 Copy quote

• Throw yourself into the hurly-burly of life. It doesn't matter how many mistakes you make, what unhappiness you have to undergo. It is all your material ... Don't wait for experience to come to you; go out after experience. Experience is your material.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Mistake, Waiting, Matter

  26 Copy quote

• It's no use crying over spilt milk, because all of the forces of the universe were bent on spilling it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Use, Milk, Cry

  "Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maugham, (Ch. 68), 1915.

  13 Copy quote

• You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Positive Thinking, World

  "The Circle: A Comedy in Three Acts". Play by W. Somerset Maugham, 1921.

  14 Copy quote

• The world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither. We must be very humble. We must see the beauty of quietness. We must go through life so inconspicuously that Fate does not notice us. And let us seek the love of simple, ignorant people. Their ignorance is better than all our knowledge. Let us be silent, content in our little corner, meek and gentle like them. That is the wisdom of life.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Humble, Ignorance, Fate

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1377, eBookIt.com

  46 Copy quote

• If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Motivational, Change, Believe

  25 Copy quote

• An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Giving Up, Unfortunate Things, World

  12 Copy quote

• Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Failure

  15 Copy quote

• 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

  Soul, World, Finding Peace

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “The Painted Veil”, p.119, Random House

  53 Copy quote

• Why should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly? Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul. And when he has made it, it is not given to all to know it. To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is a melody that he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Fashion, Beach, Lying

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1312, eBookIt.com

  58 Copy quote

• The well dressed man is he whose clothes you never notice

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Clothes, Well Dressed

  14 Copy quote

• Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Simple, Hunger, Ecstasy

  W. Somerset Maugham (1930). “Cakes and Ale”

  7 Copy quote

• Tolerance is only another name for indifference.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Names, Tolerance, Atheism

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “A Writer's Notebook”, p.34, Random House

  10 Copy quote

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