W. Somerset Maugham Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old W. Somerset Maugham quotes, W. Somerset Maugham sayings, and W. Somerset Maugham proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.'

People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise. W. Somerset Maugham
The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefore. 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
Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young. W. Somerset Maugham
Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved. W. Somerset Maugham
Perfect is determined in shortened measures of time, not over long periods of time or lifetimes. It would be unnatural. W. Somerset Maugham
The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned. W. Somerset Maugham
If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself. W. Somerset Maugham
Common sense and nature will do a lot to make the pilgrimage of life not too difficult. W. Somerset Maugham
Tolerance is another word for indifference. W. Somerset Maugham
Tradition is a guide and not a jailer. W. Somerset Maugham
When we come to judge others it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world. W. Somerset Maugham
Our natural egoism leads us to judge people by their relations to ourselves. We want them to be certain things to us, and for us that is what they are; because the rest of them is no good to us, we ignore it. W. Somerset Maugham
The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill. W. Somerset Maugham
What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories. W. Somerset Maugham
Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. W. Somerset Maugham
Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long. W. Somerset Maugham
When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character. W. Somerset Maugham
If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom, and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too W. Somerset Maugham
There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. 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, changing, continue to love a changed person. 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
Life is so largely controlled by chance that its conduct can be but a perpetual improvisation. W. Somerset Maugham
It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive. W. Somerset Maugham
Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. W. Somerset Maugham
Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. W. Somerset Maugham
The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself. W. Somerset Maugham
It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. It does not improve the temper. W. Somerset Maugham
Poker's the only game fit for a grown man. Then, your hand is against every man's, and every man's is against yours. W. Somerset Maugham
Her lips were like living fire. He could not take his own away. He forgot everything. W. Somerset Maugham