W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

Quotes about:

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Secret, Life Is

  110 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

  136 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.

  163 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.

  118 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)

  121 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”

  155 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

• 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.

  19 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

• 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

  51 Copy quote

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Temptation, Desire, Way

  9 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

  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

  17 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”

  75 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.

  18 Copy quote

• Simplicity and naturalness are the truest marks of distinction.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Simplicity, Distinction, Mark

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

  12 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

• 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

• Dullness is the first requisite of a good husband.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Husband, Firsts, Good Husband

  5 Copy quote

• Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Sarcastic, Depressing

  79 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

  11 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

  57 Copy quote

• Life isn't long enough for love and art.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Life, Famous Love, Art

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “The Moon and Sixpence (月亮與六便士)”, p.336, Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.

  17 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)

  25 Copy quote

• Life is so largely controlled by chance that its conduct can be but a perpetual improvisation.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Life, Cute, Chance

  43 Copy quote

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