W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

354 Sourced Quotes

Reverie is the groundwork of creative imagination; it is the privilege of the artist that with him it is not as with other men an escape from reality, but the means by which he accedes to it.

W. Somerset Maugham
It was not till quite late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say: "I don't know."

W. Somerset Maugham
"Do you like card tricks?" "No, I hate card tricks," I answered. "Well, I ll just show you this one." He showed me three.

W. Somerset Maugham
[Money] is the string with which a sardonic destiny directs the motions of its puppets.

W. Somerset Maugham
Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate mother.

W. Somerset Maugham
Of all the hokum with which this country [America] is riddled the most odd is the common notion that it is free of class distinctions.

W. Somerset Maugham
If truth is a value it is because it is true and not because it is brave to speak it.

W. Somerset Maugham
There was an immeasurable distance between the quick and the dead: they did not seem to belong to the same species; and it was strange to think that but a little while before they had spoken and moved and eaten and laughed.

W. Somerset Maugham
There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the universe. To ignore it is childish, to bewail it senseless.

W. Somerset Maugham
He exulted in the possession of himself once more; he realized how much of the delight of the world he had lost when he was absorbed in that madness which they called love; he had had enough of it; he did not want to be in love anymore if love was that.

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
Our wise old church...has discovered that if you will act as if you believed belief will be given to you; if you pray with doubt, but pray with sincerity, your doubt will be dispelled; if you will surrender yourself to the beauty of that liturgy the power of which over the human spirit has been proved by the experience of the ages, peace will descend upon you.

W. Somerset Maugham
She's wonderful. Tell her I've never seen such beautiful hands. I wonder what she sees in you. Waddington, smiling, translated the question. She says I'm good. As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue, Kitty mocked.

W. Somerset Maugham
Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.

W. Somerset Maugham
I know that you're selfish, selfish beyond words, and I know that you haven't the nerve of a rabbit, I know you're a liar and a humbug, I know that you're utterly contemptible. And the tragic part is'—her face was on a sudden distraught with pain—'the tragic part is that notwithstanding I love you with all my heart.

W. Somerset Maugham
Why did you look at the sunset?' Philip answered with his mouth full: Because I was happy.

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 world.

W. Somerset Maugham
Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.

W. Somerset Maugham
I held my breath, for to me there is nothing more awe-inspiring than when a man discovers to you the nakedness of his soul.

W. Somerset Maugham
The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth.

W. Somerset Maugham
Illusions are like umbrellas - you no sooner get them than you lose them, and the loss always leaves a little painful wound.

W. Somerset Maugham
I can only guess that it made the world he went back to...strangely without meaning. Though he lived in it, though he even enjoyed it, it remained utterly remote. I think it had lost sense for him. In his heart was the reflection of a lovely dream that he could never quite recall.

W. Somerset Maugham
There is only one way to win hearts and that is to make oneself like unto those of whom one would be loved.

W. Somerset Maugham
Make him laugh and he will think you a trivial fellow, but bore him in the right way and your reputation is assured.

W. Somerset Maugham
Life is really very fantastic, and one has to have a peculiar sense of humor to see the fun of it.

W. Somerset Maugham