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”

  152 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)

  120 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Secret, Life Is

  107 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.

  116 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

  132 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.

  162 Copy quote

• There is nothing so degrading as the constant anxiety about one's means of livelihood.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Mean, Anxiety, Human Bondage

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.342, Diversion Books

  6 Copy quote

• What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Time, Memories, Age

  Points of View Ch. 1

  17 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

  16 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Believe, People, Guarantees

  59 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wisdom, Regret, Life Is

  13 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.

  17 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

  50 Copy quote

• The future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  One Day, Doe, Seems

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.50, Random House

  8 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”

  73 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Education, Book, Reading

  96 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Temptation, Desire, Way

  9 Copy quote

• Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Failure

  18 Copy quote

• The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity. The beauty of the morning and the radiance of noon are good, but it would be a very silly person who drew the curtains and turned on the light in order to shut out the tranquillity of the evening. Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Beauty, Morning, Silly

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

  38 Copy quote

• Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Men, Association, Sometimes

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1429, eBookIt.com

  31 Copy quote

• The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Funny, Science

  16 Copy quote

• A dictator must fool all the people all the time and there's only one way to do that, he must also fool himself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  People, Atheism, Way

  W. Somerset Maugham (1939). “Christmas Holiday”

  15 Copy quote

• The important thing was to love rather than to be loved.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Life, Important

  W. Somerset Maugham (2009). “Of Human Bondage”, p.760, The Floating Press

  17 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

  15 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

  30 Copy quote

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