What does democracy come down to? The persuasive power of slogans invented by wily self-seeking politicians.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMFailure make people bitter and cruel. Success improves the character of the man.
More W. Somerset Maugham Quotes
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In France you get freedom of action: you can do what you like and nobody bothers, but you must think like everybody else. In Germany you must do what everybody else does, but you may think as you choose. They’re both very good things.
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A bird in the hand was worth two in the bush, he told her, to which she retorted that a proverb was the last refuge of the mentally destitute.
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It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, ‘I don’t know.’
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She loved three things – a joke, a glass of wine, and a handsome man.
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The most valuable thing I have learned from life is to regret nothing.
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Now the answer … is plain, but it is so unpalatable that most men will not face it. There is no reason for life and life has no meaning.
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The tragedy of love is not death or separation. How long do you think it would have been before one or other of them ceased to care?
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When I look back upon the girl I was I hate myself. But I never had a chance. I’m going to bring up my daughter so that she’s free and can stand on her own feet.
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He is not famous. It may be that he never will be. It may be that when his life at last comes to an end he will leave no more trace of his sojourn on earth than a stone thrown into a river leaves on the surface of the water.
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I’ll give you my opinion of the human race in a nutshell… their heart’s in the right place, but their head is a thoroughly inefficient organ.
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The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.
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To bear failure with courage is the best proof of character that anyone can give.
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But it may be that the way of life that he has chosen for himself and the peculiar strength and sweetness of his character may have an ever-growing influence over his fellow men so that, long after his death perhaps, it may be realized that there lived in this age a very remarkable creature.
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Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.
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When you are young you take the kindness people show you as your right.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM