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
Related It had been startling and disappointing to me to find out that story books had been written by peopl... EUDORA WELTY I don't feel when I'm writing that I'm drawing from any other writer, but of course I mu... CHARLES MCCARRY With a goose-quill and a few sheets of paper, I mock myself of the universe. They say I am the son o... PIETRO ARETINO By the side of the everlasting Why there is a Yes--a transitory Yes if you like, but a Yes. E.M. FORSTER I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it's better t... RAY BRADBURY Both my mum and dad were great readers, and we would go every Saturday morning to the library, and m... GERALDINE BROOKS I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated libra... MAYA ANGELOU We cannot buy it. We are too poor. Then men who have made the law have taken our own drink from us, ... NEIL M. GUNN Is it not eminently just that I should give myself entirely and without reserve to Him Who drew me o... FATHER JOHN NICHOLAS GROU, S.J. When I had nothing more to lose, I was given everything. When I ceased to be who I am, I found mysel... PAULO COELHO I would have thought I got a good response from the players. I can only be myself and whatever has c... GLENN ROEDER I may be out of a job, ... but I can live with myself that I stood up for what I believed in and to ... BOB ROSE I have come to realize that destiny can hurt a person as much as it can bless them, and I find mysel... NICHOLAS SPARKS Every night, I was read to. Every Friday, we were taken to the library. I always received at least o... AVI I’m going to my room,” Jessie Kay called. “Y’all do me a favor and argue loud enough so I ca... GENA SHOWALTER I really like the fact that I can have a life for myself and have enough time to have a great time w... DAWN LANDAU I get facials. I get a manicure and pedicure every week. I get my hair cut, and I oil myself down fr... BERNIE MAC Nothing can substitute for just plain hard work. I had to put in the time to get back. And it was a ... ANDRE AGASSI I have seen extreme lows because of factors that were not in my hands - be it not having money to bu... SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT I tried to keep myself away from him by using con words like "fidelity" and "adultery", by telling m... ERICA JONG If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explan... C.S. LEWIS If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explan... C. S. LEWIS Almost every day I can feel myself suffering mainly in the head, I can explain the pain to myself bu... HéLèNE CIXOUS I had a lot of things I wanted to do… I want to be a teacher…I also want to be an astronaut…an... TITE KUBO There is nothing you can say in answer to a compliment. I have been complimented myself a great many... MARK TWAIN There is nothing you can say in answer to a compliment. I have been complimented myself a great many... MARK TWAIN If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probabl... C.S. LEWIS And I came to understand, in a way I never had before, that books are truly the stuff of miracles. I... T.A. BARRON I know from personal experience that, while these snacks may not be a necessary part of a healthy di... BILL LOCKYER Unsubscribe from should-a, would-a, could-a MICHAEL H. DANSBURY The role of the
Christian is to let other people know what Jesus has done, not to
think of themselve... LEWIS N. ROE Naturalistic atheism debunks itself. It
has no power to explain even some
of the most basic principl... LEWIS N. ROE It's important to understand that if
someone calls themselves a Christian, it does not automatically... LEWIS N. ROE In one way or another, every mission that I have ever set out on to rescue myself is yet another mis... CRAIG D. LOUNSBROUGH I grew up pretty much entertaining myself. So I know what its like to be in a room by myself and hav... CHERI OTERI I can't distract myself enough here, for sketches to a new opera are constantly buzzing around i... RICHARD WAGNER I learned to love myself, because I sleep with myself every night and I wake up with myself every mo... GABOUREY SIDIBE All other swindlers upon earth are nothing to the self-swindlers, and with such pretences did I chea... CHARLES DICKENS I should say that I was a visual person. I experience with my eyes and never, or rarely, with my ear... FRITZ LANG I've been in a serious conversation with one of my children, and a fan has come up. I've bee... HELEN REDDY My main goal is to stay alive. To keep fooling myself into hanging around. To keep getting up every ... HENRY ROLLINS I say, I can not identify that thing which is called happiness, that thing whose token is a laugh, o... HERMAN MELVILLE Sometimes I regret that I don't have a bit more fun with money. I should have spoilt myself a bi... DARCEY BUSSELL All schools should teach children basic cooking skills. Every school should be able to buy sustainab... ZAC GOLDSMITH If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is... C.S. LEWIS I heard every word between you. I knew you could take care of yourself, and yet … ” He went back... SARAH J. MAAS There was some really good pitching from both sides. I think there were a few jitters from our side,... JOE GIRARDI For myself, it's out of my control. I can only play my best and see what happens. Obviously I want t... JOSE THEODORE I bought my parents some stuff. That feels kind of good to be able to do that. I got them a place in... ADAM SANDLER It was from my own early experience that I decided there was no use to which money could be applied ... ANDREW CARNEGIE I know not how I may seem to others, but to myself I am but a small child wandering upon the vast sh... PLATO But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered b... GEORGE WASHINGTON And some small gnarled place inside me hated her for her weakness, for her neglect, for the months s... SUZANNE COLLINS To have him do something so special, so out of the ordinary, was breathtaking. I could see he had ta... CAROL FOX I can see myself volunteering years from now. I want to be able to touch lives in small levels like ... BRANDA TILLOW I bought seeds for the garden and had great success with it, going around to all the houses in my vi... INGVAR KAMPRAD People a lot of times say that they live one life, say that we all live one... no you are in mistake... DEYTH BANGER I know at my church a lot of the times we sung from hymn books and as we got older we started to cha... CHARLES KING We can imagine the books we'd like to read, even if they have not yet been written, and we can imagi... ALBERTO MANGUEL Everyone has highs and lows that they have to learn from, but every morning I start off with a good ... LINDSAY LOHAN I like to surround myself with people that have dreams and that fight for them every day. EMERAUDE TOUBIA It's because of you when I'm in bed in the morning that I can wind my spring and tell myself I have ... HARUKI MURAKAMI It's fun to imagine what you could do with that kind of money. I could buy that island I've wanted t... JOHNNY DEPP Every faculty and virtue I possess can be used as an instrument with which to worry myself. HALE WHITE I drink what I can afford to buy for myself without you having to tell people that I have a spending... TURYASINGURA NELSON DERRICK I've changed in my sympathies since I've become a mother myself. In high school I went throu... SARAH DESSEN I'm asking God to bless you with something that unsettles you, disturbs you, and upsets you. CRAIG GROESCHEL I had a lot of conversations with my family, my close friends, with my pastor, with God, and kind of... CAITLYN JENNER I'm lucky in that I can't see myself doing an office job every day. I'm lucky that I can... RAJIV OUSEPH I, myself, spent 9 years in an insane asylum and never had any suicidal tendencies, but I know that ... ANTONIN ARTAUD Right from the first, I could see a calmness in you - that sort of inner tranquility that they write... AMOR TOWLES I wish I could say we all lived happily ever after. I can't. But I can say we lived. Our love for Na... LISA ANN SANDELL I like playing a character every day. I like having something to go back to. I always enjoyed that w... ERIC MCCORMACK The last fumble, I really felt it wasn't a fumble, but it's over with now, there's nothing I can do ... ANDRE WOODSON I know this is one of the unthinkable taboos of our society, but I had discovered in myself a talent... TANA FRENCH We had been everywhere. We had really seen nothing. And I catch myself thinking today that our long ... VLADIMIR NABOKOV I cannot live a life where I'm deprived. I'd much rather be five, 10 pounds heavier. With my... DREW BARRYMORE The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of a... HENRY DAVID THOREAU This time around I was so lonely that I was forced to be face to face with myself. Realizing at the ... KANDI DOUGHERTY I'm pretty demanding with myself and my work, and I always put a lot of pressure on myself. I tr... FEDE ALVAREZ I don't really have an aversion to watching myself. I think I've been doing it for long enou... MAE WHITMAN Now with my friend I desire not to share or participate, but to
engross his sorrows, that, by makin... SIR THOMAS BROWNE I like to remind myself that every morning I'm making a choice to live. SEBASTIAN HORSLEY Somebody's dream was taken away. I try to put myself in those shoes, and I can't. I really try, and ... ERIC BERNOTAS I asked myself, if we opened the season with Atlanta and had 3-2 games every day, will this man be r... GRADY LITTLE Life is so much easier when I allow myself to be myself and go with the flow. Whatever that looks li... TAYLOR SCHILLING I don't really consider myself to be an actor of any particular style. My aim with every role I unde... BENJAMIN BRATT Since I live with a roommate, paying rent can be a struggle, but it's good to know that when I'm hun... DEMETRI SHIRTS In the books I have written, I have created in my mind a universe. My kids say I have a village in m... ISABEL ALLENDE The atheist might have
no proof for the
supernatural, but they
also have no proof
against it. If we ... LEWIS N. ROE I had a happy childhood, with many stimulations and support from my parents who, in postwar times, w... CHRISTIANE NUSSLEIN-VOLHARD I cannot remember a time when I was not in love with them--with the books themselves, cover and bind... EUDORA WELTY From my inception I had a confidence about myself that would be mistaken as arrogance. So, from my i... DEDRICK D. L. PITTER All I can say for certain is that, beneath the scrambled chaos of my memories, I feel a driving impe... ALASTAIR REYNOLDS I try to live life so that I can live with myself. JOHN GREEN When I was growing up, my house was filled with books. My mother was an educator, and my father was ... JEFF KINNEY I feel like I can contribute. I'm not playing the way that I want to. With the new rules and with th... DAVE ANDREYCHUK In a game like this, every second counts. Every possession counts. That's the biggest thing you can ... MUSTAFA SHAKUR I know from personal experience how damaging it can be to live with bitterness and unforgiveness. I ... JOYCE MEYER But that our feasts
In every mess have folly, and the feeders
Digest it with a custom, I shoul... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
More W. Somerset Maugham
The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Writing is the supreme solace. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, on... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We learn resignation not by our own suffering, but by the suffering of others. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I'll give you my opinion of the human race in a nutshell... their heart's in the right place... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM In the country the darkness of night is friendly and familiar, but in a city, with its blaze of ligh... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character. W. 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SOMERSET MAUGHAM The writer is more concerned to know than to judge. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Habits in writing as in life are only useful if they are broken as soon as they cease to be advantag... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are two good things in life -- freedom of thought and freedom of action. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Any nation that thinks more of its ease and comfort than its freedom will soon lose its freedom; and... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom, and the irony of it is that... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The Americans, who are the most efficient people on the earth, have carried [phrase-making] to such ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM A bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, he told her, to which she retorted that a proverb was ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I am told that today rather more than 60 per cent of the men who go to university go on a Government... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without d... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It was a cold morning, and he shivered a little; but he had been taught by his uncle that his prayer... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You're beginning to dislike me, aren't you? Well, dislike me. It doesn't make any difference to me n... 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... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When a woman loves you she's not satisfied until she possesses your soul. Because she's weak, she ha... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries o... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one, but the wise man is fooli... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Men have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature; and the error is ineradic... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The great critic...must be a philosopher, for from philosophy he will learn serenity, impartiality, ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection has one grave defect. It is apt to be dull. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection is what American women expect to find in their husbands... but English women only hope to... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, i... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I've always been interested in people, but I've never liked them. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is well known that Beauty does not look with a good grace on the timid advances of Humor. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches tolerance. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The Americans who are the most efficient people on earth...have invented so wide a range of pithy an... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate m... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The ideal has many names, and beauty is but one of them. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM No one can write a best seller by trying to. He must write with complete sincerity; the clich?s that... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We seek pitifully to convey to others the treasures of our heart, but they have not the power to acc... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Common sense and nature will do a lot to make the pilgrimage of life not too difficult. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Common-sense appears to be only another name for the thoughtlessness of the unthinking. It is made o... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Lady Hodmarsh and the duchess immediately assumed the clinging affability that persons of rank assum... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It seems that the creative faculty and the critical faculty cannot exist together in their highest p... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammere... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM No egoism is so insufferable as that of the Christian with regard to his soul. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People who ask for your criticism want only praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an aut... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is salutary to train oneself to be no more affected by censure than by praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and then they are... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's a funny thing about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the b... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Only a mediocre person is always at his best. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the uni... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willing avoids the sight of distress. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Tradition is a guide and not a jailer. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You know that the Tasmanians, who never committed adultery, are now extinct. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasin... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM From the earliest times the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser than they, and bef... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Anyone can tell the truth, but only very few of us can make epigrams. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can do anything in this world if you are prepares to take the consequences. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Has it occurred to you that transmigration is at once an explanation and a justification of the evil... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Money is like a sixth sense, and you can't make use of the other five without it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Wives are people who feel they don't dance enough. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The well-dressed man is he whose clothes you never notice. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I would sooner read a timetable or a catalog than nothing at all. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM For the memory of love is sweet, though the love itself were in vain. And what I have lost of pleasu... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection is what American women expect to find in their husbands... but English women only hope ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The end of culture is right living. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I knew that suffering did not enoble; it degraded. It made men selfish, petty and suspicious. It abs... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifice... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The average American can get into the kingdom of heaven much more easily than he can get into the Bo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you're eighteen your emotions are violent, but they're not durable. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You learn more quickly under the guidance of experienced teachers. You waste a lot of time going dow... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Often the best way to overcome desire is to satisfy it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's always difficult to make conversation with a drunk, and there's no denying it, the sober are at... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Tao. Some of us look for the Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. I... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM 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 Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The crown of literature is poetry. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering f... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM They were talking more distantly than if they were strangers who had just met, for if they had been ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pl... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I would sooner read a time-table or a catalogue than nothing at all. They are much more entertaining... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequence than to have a really affectionate mo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Self-control might be as passionate and as active as the surrender to passion... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know the... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain su... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with i... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Unfortunately sometimes one can't do what one thinks is right without making someone else unhappy. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People do tell a writer things that they don't tell others. I don't know why, unless it is that havi... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Perhaps the most important use of money - It saves time. Life is so short, and there's so much to do... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are few things so pleasant as a picnic eaten in perfect comfort. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The dead look so terribly dead when they're dead. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We who are of mature age seldom suspect how unmercifully and yet with what insight the very young ju... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's a toss-up when you decide to leave the beaten track. Many are called, but few are chosen. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is very difficult to know people and I don't think one can ever really know any but one's own cou... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I never spend more than one hour in a gallery. That is as long as one's power of appreciation persis... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I like manual labor. Whenever I've got waterlogged with study, I've taken a spell of it and found it... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM An author spends months writing a book, and maybe puts his heart's blood into it, and then it lies a... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM All important persons have about them someone in a subordinate position who has their ear. These dep... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM A man ought to work. That's what he's here for. That's how he contributes to the welfare of the comm... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM To write simply is as difficult as to be good. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is funny about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the very best you will very often get i... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I was young I had an elderly friend who used often to ask me to stay with him in the country. H... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Love is a dirty trick played on us to achieve the continuation of the species. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We have long passed the Victorian era, when asterisks were followed after a certain interval by a ba... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacri... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches them tolerance. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large wi... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actuall... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Tolerance is only another name for indifference. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Man has always sacrificed truth to his vanity, comfort and advantage. He lives by make-believe. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I do not confer praise or blame: I accept. I am the measure of all things. I am the centre of the wo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Follow your inclinations with due regard to the policeman round the corner. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM D'you call life a bad job? Never! We've had our ups and downs, we've had our struggles, we've always... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and wo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM People ask for criticism, but they only want praise. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When you have loved as she has loved, you grow old beautifully. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is er... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity. The beauty o... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the ... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I was young I was amazed at Plutarch's statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic, and self-complacent is er... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who has lost it. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Charm and nothing but charm at last grows a little tiresome. It's a relief then to deal with a man w... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Life isn't long enough for love and art. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When things are at their worst I find something always happens. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, pe... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There's always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM There was an immeasurable distance between the quick and the dead: they did not seem to belong to th... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefo... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The important thing was to love rather than to be loved. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Men seek but one thing in life - their pleasure. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Life wouldn't be worth living if I worried over the future as well as the present. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It's asking a great deal that things should appeal to your reason as well as your sense of the aesth... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know the... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM You Europeans know nothing about America. Because we amass large fortunes you think we care for noth... W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM