W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.

W. Somerset Maugham

• Life
• Better
• Perfection

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Quotes to Explore

• Whatever work you do, you think are you doing this for the good of the nation? That's the basic training. The other basic training is discipline. Your life should be disciplined. The other thing they say is what work you get, do it well.

  

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• Let me tell you something - being thought of as a beautiful woman has spared me nothing in life. No heartache, no trouble. Love has been difficult. Beauty is essentially meaningless and it is always transitory.

  

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• I really feel that the best actors out there are very centric. They're really connected. They're not in a, 'What about me' state, and I think that's a good lesson in life.

  

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• I want to love life.

  

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• Cooking for people is an enormously significant expression of generosity and soulfulness, and entertaining is a way to be both generous and creative. You're sharing your life with people. Of course, it's also an expression of your own need for approval and applause. Nothing wrong with that.

  

  Ted Allen
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• All he cares about is going out there with his Jack Daniels bottle. Nothing has changed. That's kind of sad. If David was doing better than he used to be, then that would be different. But it was a joke and he made it that way.

  

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• I'm half living my life between reality and fantasy at all times. It's best not to ask questions and just enjoy.

  

  Lady Gaga
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• Helping people boost themselves out of poverty is the best way to make a lasting positive difference in a person's life.

  

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• Instead of reading a paper, we now read the news online. Instead of buying books at a store, we buy them on-line. What's so revolutionary? The Internet has mainly affected our leisure life.

  

  Ha-Joon Chang
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• In retrospect, I have devoted my scientific life mainly to the question to what extent infectious agents contribute to human cancer, trusting that this will contribute to novel modes of cancer prevention, diagnosis and, hopefully, later on, also to cancer therapy.

  

  Harald zur Hausen
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• According to my parents, I just started drumming when I was two. I traveled with them from five to seven on the road, playing percussion. Between 8 and 12, my dad sort of prepared me by teaching me every aspect of road life.

  

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• Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society.

  

  Karl Marx
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• Rap culture is interesting and different and has purpose but it has a non-romantic view of life and of social feelings. There may be a void in that.

  

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• My life, my family and my friends are back in the U.K., so ideally I would love the kind of career that is split between London and New York.

  

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• I think that we all stand on the dartboard of life. Roughly 30,000 people a year are going to catch a dart labeled pancreatic cancer, and that's unfortunate. It's not what I would have chosen. But I in no way feel like I deserved it.

  

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• Big doesn't necessarily mean better. Sunflowers aren't better than violets.

  

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• The few times in my life where I had four or five movies in a row, it was a nightmare. I felt trapped. I felt like my life was planned for a year and a half or two years, and it was terrible. Most of the time, everything collapsed.

  

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• Big will always be a part of my life. But I'm still on this Earth, so I have to live my life for now and the future.

  

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• The moment when a man's head drops off is seldom or never, I am inclined to think, precisely the most agreeable of his life. Nevertheless, like the greater part of our misfortunes, even so serious a contingency brings its remedy and consolation with it, if the sufferer will but make the best, rather than the worst, of the accident which has befallen him.

  

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• The old wanderlust had gotten into his blood, the joy of the unbound life, the joy of seeking, of hoping without limit.

  

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• During the Obama years, the Republicans have done an unprecedented amount of stonewalling on cabinet-and-below appointees. I would also argue that their war on judicial nominees has been way beyond what went before. Really, if the president nominated God to serve on the D.C. Court of Appeals, Mitch McConnell would threaten a filibuster.

  

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• I'm a traditionalist with suits. It doesn't need extra pockets, and I don't want headphone jacks in my jacket. I appreciate designers who do different things, but for me, the most basic version of that item is what I want.

  

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• Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.

  

  W. Somerset Maugham
  • Life
  • Better
  • Perfection