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.'

The passing years are like a mist sweeping up from the sea of time so that my memories acquire new aspects. W. Somerset Maugham
If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts. W. Somerset Maugham
For if the proper study of mankind is man, it is evidently more sensible to occupy yourself with the coherent, substantial and significant creatures of fiction than with the irrational and shadowy figures of real life. W. Somerset Maugham
Benevolence is often very peremptory. W. Somerset Maugham
There is no object to life. To nature nothing matters but the continuation of the species. W. Somerset Maugham
The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willing avoids the sight of distress. W. Somerset Maugham
The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety. W. Somerset Maugham
How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode. W. Somerset Maugham
Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. W. Somerset Maugham
Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. W. Somerset Maugham
To drink a glass of sherry when you can get a dry Martini is like taking a stagecoach when you can travel by the Orient Express. W. Somerset Maugham
The Riviera isn't only a sunny place for shady people. W. Somerset Maugham
There are few things so pleasant as a picnic lunch eaten in perfect comfort. W. Somerset Maugham
In heaven, when the blessed use the telephone they will say what they have to say and not a word besides. W. Somerset Maugham
The writer is free to work in whatever place and whatever time he chooses; he is free to idle if he feels ill or dispirited. W. Somerset Maugham
Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot, like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole-time job. W. Somerset Maugham
Deprive him [the habitual reader] of printed matter and he grows nervous, moody and restless; then, like the alcoholic bereft of brandy who will drink shellac or methylated spirit, he will make do with the advertisements of a paper five years old; he will make do with a telephone directory. W. Somerset Maugham
People often feed the hungry so that nothing may disturb their own enjoyment of a good meal. W. Somerset Maugham
Beauty is an ecstasy, it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose. You can smell it and that is all. 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
People often feed the hungry so that nothing may disturb their own enjoyment of a good meal. W. Somerset Maugham
A woman may be as wicked as she likes, but if she isn't pretty it won't do her much good. W. Somerset Maugham
Love was only the dirty trick nature played on us to achieve continuation of the species. W. Somerset Maugham
The greatest tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love. W. Somerset Maugham
Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequences than to have a really affectionate mother. W. Somerset Maugham
I'm not only my spirit but my body, and who can decide how much I, my individual self, am conditioned by the accident of my body? Would Byron have been Byron but for his club foot, or Dostoevsky Dostoevsky without his epilepsy? W. Somerset Maugham
It was Sunday, and there was a feeling of quietness. 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
How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realize that to you it was only an episode. W. Somerset Maugham
It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it. W. Somerset Maugham