You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMYou know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMThe world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMI want a girl because I want to bring her up so that she shan’t make the mistakes I’ve made.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMYou demand unselfishness from others, which is a preposterous claim that they should sacrifice their desires to yours. Why should they?
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMImagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMIf it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMWe do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMI personally prefer freedom of thought. But in England you get neither: you’re ground down by convention. You can’t think as you like and you can’t act as you like. That’s because it’s a democratic nation. I expect America’s worse.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMHe had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without it.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMA mother only does her children harm if she makes them the only concern of her life.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMThe secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMWhy should you think that beauty, which is the most precious thing in the world, lies like a stone on the beach for the careless passer-by to pick up idly?
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMYou can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMLove is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMUnfortunately sometimes one can’t do what one thinks is right without making someone else unhappy.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMYou will find as you grow older that the first thing needful to make the world a tolerable place to live in is to recognize the inevitable selfishness of humanity.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM