“ ... I was perturbed by the suspicion that the anguish of love contemned was alloyed in her broken heart with the pangs, sordid in my young mind, of wounded vanity. I had not yet learnt how contradicto… W. Somerset Maugham
“ I've been quite happy. Look, here are my proofs. Remember that I am indifferent to discomforts which would harass other folk. What do the circumstances of life matter if your dreams make you lord para… W. Somerset Maugham
“ The highest activities of consciousness have their origins in physical occurrences of the brain just as the loveliest melodies are not too sublime to be expressed by notes. W. Somerset Maugham
“ The man I am writing about 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… W. Somerset Maugham
“ Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. W. Somerset Maugham
“ Startled the world many years ago by stating in effect that if the amount of pleasure obtained from each be equal there is nothing to choose between poetry and push-pin. Since few people now know what… W. Somerset Maugham
“ Most of these stories are on the tragic side. But the reader must not suppose that the incidents I have narrated were of common occurrence. The vast majority of these people, government servants, plan… W. Somerset Maugham
“ He was terribly conscious that he only had one life and it seemed to sad to think that he had wasted it. He could never surmount his immeasurable regret. And that's why I tell you that Byring is right… W. Somerset Maugham
“ Philip knew by now that whenever anyone was angry with him his first thought was to say something about his club-foot. His estimate of the human race was determined by the fact that scarcely anyone fa… W. Somerset Maugham
“ Melville, by his own account, spent four months in the valley. He was well treated. He made friends with a girl called Fayaway, swam and boated with her, and except for his fear of being eaten was hap… W. Somerset Maugham
“ It was not a curse upon mankind, but the balm which reconciled it to existence. W. Somerset Maugham
“ To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. W. Somerset Maugham
“ People wonder at the romantic lives of poets and artists, but they should rather wonder at their gift of expression. The occurrences which pass unnoticed in the life of the average man in the existenc… W. Somerset Maugham
“ He had talked of getting occupation of this sort so long that he had not the face to refuse outright, but the thought of doing anything filled him with panic. At last he declined the opportunity and b… W. Somerset Maugham
“ It was a sordid scene. Philip leaned over the rail, staring down, and he ceased to hear the music. They danced furiously. They danced round the room, slowly, talking very little, with all their attent… W. Somerset Maugham
“ What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories. W. Somerset Maugham
“ The dining-room was in the good taste of the period. It was very severe. There was a high dado of white wood and a green paper on which were etchings by Whistler in neat black frames. The green curtai… W. Somerset Maugham
“ I began to meditate upon the writer's life. It is full of tribulation. First he must endure poverty and the world's indifference; then, having achieved a measure of success, he must submit to a good g… W. Somerset Maugham
“ When people say they do not care what others think of them, for the most part they deceive themselves. Generally they mean only that no one will know their vulgarities; and at the utmost only that the… W. Somerset Maugham
