W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

Quotes about:

• 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.

  180 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

  147 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.

  129 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Secret, Life Is

  119 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)

  126 Copy quote

• Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Humility, Perfection, Dull

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

  10 Copy quote

• 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”

  168 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Believe, People, Guarantees

  66 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Education, Book, Reading

  102 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Wisdom, Regret, Life Is

  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

  57 Copy quote

• Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Failure

  22 Copy quote

• At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Clever, Happy New Year

  Writer's Notebook (1949) p. 17 (written in 1896)

  24 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

  17 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”

  18 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

  19 Copy quote

• Art is a manifestation of emotion, and emotion speaks a language that all may understand.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Art, May, Emotion

  W. Somerset Maugham (2012). “The Moon and Sixpence”, p.2, Courier Corporation

  29 Copy quote

• Simplicity and naturalness are the truest marks of distinction.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Simplicity, Distinction, Mark

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

  15 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”

  79 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

  58 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”

  41 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.

  21 Copy quote

• I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Time, Past, Thinking

  W. Somerset Maugham (2012). “The Moon and Sixpence”, p.59, Courier Corporation

  15 Copy quote

• From the earliest time the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser, and before the young had discovered what nonsense this was they were old too, and it profited them to carry on the imposture.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Generations, Aging, Nonsense

  Cakes and Ale ch. 11 (1930)

  27 Copy quote

• There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing, Real Talk, Story Writers

  44 Copy quote

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