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W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

W. Somerset Maugham quotes

British Playwright, Writer January 25, 1874 – December 16, 1965

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Quotes

For myself I can say that, having had every good thing that money can buy, an experience like another, I could part without a pang with every possession I have. We live in uncertain times and our all may yet be taken from us. With enough plain food to satisfy my small appetite, a room to myself, books from a public library, pens and paper, I should regret nothing. W. Somerset Maugham
For men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they are born, the city apartment or farm in which they learnt to walk, the games they played as children, the old wives tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the sports they followed, the poets they read, and the God they believed in. It is all these things that have made them what they are, and these are the things that you can't come to know by hearsay... W. Somerset Maugham
People talk of beauty lightly, and having no feeling for words, they use that one carelessly, so that it loses its force; and the thing it stands for, sharing its name with a hundred trivial objects, is deprived of dignity. They call beautiful a dress, a dog, a sermon; and when they are face to face with Beauty cannot recognise it. W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham quote: "We know our friends by their defects rather than by their merits."
We know our friends by their defects rather than by their merits. W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham quote: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham quote: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."
Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened. W. Somerset Maugham
But beauty is not the only thing that makes a woman attractive; indeed, great beauty is often somewhat chilling: you admire, but are not moved. W. Somerset Maugham
I forgive them because they're human and weak. The longer I live, the more I am overwhelmed by the utter, utter weakness of men; they do try to do their duty, they do their best honestly, they seek straight ways, but they're dreadfully weak. And so I think one ought to be sorry for them and make all possible allowances. W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham quote: "It is well known that Beauty does not look with a good grace..."
It is well known that Beauty does not look with a good grace on the timid advances of Humour. W. Somerset Maugham
I used to listen to the monks repeating the Lord's Prayer; I wondered how they could continue to pray without misgiving to their heavenly father to give them their daily bread. Do children beseech their earthly father to give them sustenance? They expect him to do it, they neither feel gratitude to him for doing so nor need to, and we have only blame for a man who brings children into the world that he can't or won't provide for. It seemed to me that if an omnipotent creator was not prepared... W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham quote: "Desire is sad."
Desire is sad. W. Somerset Maugham
You don't know the difference between truth and make-believe. You never stop acting. It's second nature to you. You act when there's a party here. You act to the servants, you act to father, you act to me. To me you act the part of the fond, indulgent, celebrated mother. You don't exist, you're only the innumerable parts you've played. I've often wondered if there was ever a you or if you were never anything more than a vehicle for all these other people that you've pretended to be. When I've... W. Somerset Maugham
You poor lonely boy,' she cried, 'it's so dreadful for you to have no parents.'Well, as my mother was a whore, and my father a drunk, I daresay I don't miss much. W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham quote: "In business sharp practice sometimes succeeds, but in art..."
In business sharp practice sometimes succeeds, but in art honesty is not only the best but the only policy. W. Somerset Maugham
The moral I draw is that the writer should seek his reward in the pleasure of his work and in release from the burden of thought; and, indifferent to aught else, care nothing for praise or censure, failure or success. W. Somerset Maugham

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