W. Somerset Maugham Quotes
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I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.
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The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes.
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When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me.
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Tolerance is another word for indifference.
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In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally.
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It's no use crying over spilt milk, because all of the forces of the universe were bent on spilling it.
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The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned.
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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. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.
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It was like making a blunder at a party; there was nothing to do about it, it was dreadfully mortifying, but it showed a lack of sense to ascribe too much importance to it.
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The passing moment is all we can be sure of; it is only common sense to extract its utmost value from it.
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Conscience is the guardian in the individual of the rules which the community has evolved for its own preservation.
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Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way.
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Passion is destructive; if it does not destroy, it dies.
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The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.
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It is salutary to train oneself to be no more affected by censure than by praise.
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He knew that women appreciated neither irony nor sarcasm, but simple jokes and funny stories. He was amply provided with both.
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Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five.
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Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequence than to have a really affectionate mother.
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The trouble with young writers is that they are all in their sixties.
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There are men whose sense of humour is so ill developed that they still bear a grudge against Copernicus because he dethroned them from the central position in the universe. They feel it a personal affront that they can no longer consider themselves the pivot upon which turns the whole of created things.
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I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.
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'You bloody fool, you've killed the wrong man.'
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Any nation that thinks more of its ease and comfort than its freedom will soon lose its freedom; and the ironical thing about it is that it will lose its ease and comfort too.
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The subjunctive mood is in its death throes, and the best thing to do is to put it out of its misery as soon as possible.