More from W. Somerset Maugham
We know our friends by their defects rather than by their merits.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham I wish I could make you see how much fuller the life I offer you is than anything you have a conception of.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham For my part I cannot believe in a God who is angry with me because I do not believe in him. I cannot believe in a God who is less tolerant than I. I cannot believe in a God who has neither humour nor common sense.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham Don’t wait for experience to come to you; go out after experience. Experience is your material.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham Life isn’t long enough for love and art.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don’t.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham You demand unselfishness from others, which is a preposterous claim that they should sacrifice their desires to yours. Why should they?
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham Love is what happens to men and women who don’t know each other.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham When you are reconciled to the fact that each is for himself in the world you will ask less from your fellows. They will not disappoint you, and you will look upon them more charitably.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham If nobody spoke unless he had something to say, the human race would very soon lose the use of speech.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham I am told that today rather more than 60 per cent of the men who go to university go on a Government grant. This is a new class that has entered upon the scene. It is the white-collar proletariat. They do not go to university to acquire culture but to get a job, and when they have got one, scamp it.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham To recognize it you must repeat the adventure of the artist. It is a melody that he sings to you, and to hear it again in your own heart you want knowledge and sensitiveness and imagination.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham Unfortunately sometimes one can’t do what one thinks is right without making someone else unhappy.
W. Somerset MaughamW. Somerset Maugham
Original quotes
From our community writers
We were dirt poor but we had each other. We didn’t need much to have a lot.
Brad NeatonBrad Neaton Always show kindness and love to others. Your words might be filling the empty places in someone else heart.
Alexander KandovAlexander Kandov One quick sip of your memory I let it slip, and I go on without you.
Emma SchippersEmma Schippers If the scars on my heart were visible to the naked eye, maybe you’d think twice about inflicting more.
Laura Natoli-KearneyLaura Natoli-Kearney I am getting better at forgetting you. I am slowly but steadily learning the art of forgetting you.
Juana GarciaJuana Garcia Paper and pen petrify me, for they pierce right through me, drawing deep blue blood, leaving me utterly cold.
Shreya JoshiShreya Joshi Spend time with people who get excited over even the smallest victories you earn.
Sonia SabnisSonia Sabnis I wonder if you were the poison or the antidote.
Ginnie BaleGinnie Bale
Meet the writers
More on almighty
If the ways of the Almighty are not humanly logical, it is not the fault of the Almighty but of the limitations of human logic.
Maria MontessoriMaria Montessori To be able to thank Allah for a blessing is a blessing within itself.
Al-Shafi'iAl-Shafi'i I contact Allah the Holy the Merciful on a daily basis.
Al-Saadi GaddafiAl-Saadi Gaddafi It’s the Power of the Almighty, the Splendor of Nature, and then you.
Al FrankenAl Franken No matter what face he wears, Satan has one overmastering ambition, one burning desire-to dethrone the Almighty and to place himself upon the highest throne of the universe.
Adrian RogersAdrian Rogers When Israel was from bondage led,Led by the Almighty’s handFrom out of foreign land,The great sea beheld and fled.
Abraham CowleyAbraham Cowley Our fates are in the hands of An Almighty God, to whom I can with pleasure confide my own
Abraham ClarkAbraham Clark Nothing short of the Almighty Power of God can Save us – it is not in our Numbers, our Union, or our Valour that I dare trust.
Abraham ClarkAbraham Clark