The world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAMIt is bad enough to know the past; it would be intolerable to know the future.
More W. Somerset Maugham Quotes
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Unfortunately sometimes one can’t do what one thinks is right without making someone else unhappy.
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The essential element of love is a belief in its own eternity.
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The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.
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Of all the hokum with which this country [America] is riddled, the most odd is the common notion that it is free of class distinctions.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM -
The most valuable thing I have learned from life is to regret nothing.
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Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young.
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When a woman loves you she’s not satisfied until she possesses your soul. Because she’s weak, she has a rage for domination, and nothing less will satisfy her.
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Words have weight, sound and appearance; it is only by considering these that you can write a sentence that is good to look at and good to listen to.
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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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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.
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There are two good things in life – freedom of thought and freedom of action.
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If you don’t change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?
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Often the best way to overcome desire is to satisfy it.
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To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.
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One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one’s soul.
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You learn more quickly under the guidance of experienced teachers.
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People talk of beauty lightly, and having no feeling for words, they use that one carelessly, so that it loses its force; and the thing it stands for, sharing its name with a hundred trivial objects, is deprived of dignity.
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Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.
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Impropriety is the soul of wit.
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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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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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If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself.
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I wish I could make you see how much fuller the life I offer you is than anything you have a conception of.
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I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don’t.
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I want a girl because I want to bring her up so that she shan’t make the mistakes I’ve made.
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Dullness is the first requisite of a good husband.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM