Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

About W. Somerset Maugham:

William Somerset Maugham was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s.
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He knew that she had been dreaming that night and he knew what her dreams were about. She had forgotten them. He forebode to look at her. It gave him a grim, horrible, and rather uncanny sensation to think that a vivid, lacerating life could go on wh...

W. Somerset Maugham

In the first place it's not true that people improve as you know them better: they don't. That's why one should only have acquaintances and never make friends. An acquaintance shows you only the best of himself, he's considerate and polite, he concea...

W. Somerset Maugham

I've got no mother, no wife, no kids. I had, but my mother's dead, and I lost my wife and my kids when I had my trouble. Women are bitches. It's hard for a chap to live without any affection in his life.

W. Somerset Maugham

Then this must be my answer: We know that the attributes of God are infinite and it has always seemed strange to me that men have never given Him credit for common sense. It is hard to believe that He would have created so beautiful a world if He had...

W. Somerset Maugham

El arte es la naturaleza vista a traves de una personalidad

W. Somerset Maugham

Melville, by his own account, spent four months in the valley. He was well treated. He made friends with a girl called Fayaway, swam and boated with her, and except for his fear of being eaten was happy enough.

W. Somerset Maugham

We paint from within outward - if we force our vision on the world it calls us great painters; if we don't it ignores us; but we are the same. We don't attach any meaning to greatness or smallness. What happens to our work afterward is unimportant; w...

W. Somerset Maugham

But Philip was impatient with himself; he called to mind his idea of the pattern of life: the unhappiness he had suffered was no more than part of a decoration which was elaborate and beautiful; he told himself strenuously that he must accept with ga...

W. Somerset Maugham

Insensibly he formed the most delightful habit in the world, the habit of reading: he did not know that thus he was providing himself with a refuge from all the distress of life; he did not know either that he was creating for himself an unreal world...

W. Somerset Maugham

He began to read at haphazard. He entered upon each system with a little thrill of excitement, expecting to find in each some guide by which he could rule his conduct; he felt himself like a traveller in unknown countries and as he pushed forward the...

W. Somerset Maugham

He was not crying for the pain they had caused him, nor for the humiliation he had suffered when they looked at his foot, but with rage at himself because, unable to stand the torture, he had put out his foot of his own accord.

W. Somerset Maugham

People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.

W. Somerset Maugham

He found that it was easy to make a heroic gesture, but hard to abide by its results.

W. Somerset Maugham

I know that I shall die struggling for breath, and I know that I shall be horribly afraid. I know that I shall not be able to keep myself from regretting bitterly the life that has brought me to such a pass; but I disown that regret. I now, weak, old...

W. Somerset Maugham

It is clear that men accept an immediate pain rather than an immediate pleasure, but only because they expect a greater pleasure in the future. Often the pleasure is illusory, but their error in calculation is no refutation of the rule. You are puzzl...

W. Somerset Maugham

It's no use crying over spilt milk, because all of the forces of the universe were bent on spilling it.

W. Somerset Maugham

It might be that to surrender to happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories.

W. Somerset Maugham

On the earth, satellite of a star speeding through space, living things had arisen under the influence of conditions which were part of the planet's history; and as there had been a beginning of life upon it, so, under the influence of other conditio...

W. Somerset Maugham

It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because they are good for him, and when they are good for other people as well they are thought virtuous: if he finds pleasure in helping others he is benevo...

W. Somerset Maugham

He was always seeking for a meaning in life, and here it seemed to him that a meaning was offered; but it was obscure and vague . . . He saw what looked like the truth as by flashes of lightening on a dark, stormy night you might see a mountain range...

W. Somerset Maugham

Benevolence is often very peremptory.

W. Somerset Maugham

Author Bio

  • NameW. Somerset Maugham
  • DescriptionBritish playwright, novelist, short story writer
  • AliasesW. Somerset Maugham
  • BornJanuary 25, 1874
  • DiedDecember 16, 1965
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionPlaywright; Novelist; Writer
  • WorksOf Human Bondage; The Razor's Edge