More from William Somerset Maugham

  1. Life isn't long enough for love and art.
  2. A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.
  3. I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.
  4. Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.
  5. It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and …
  6. It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to…
  7. She saw shrewdly that the world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willingly avoids the sight of distress.
  8. Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose: you can sme…

All William Somerset Maugham quotes