793 Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive.

Writing is a wholetime job: no professional writer can afford only to write when he feels like it.

Look after your laundry, and your soul will look after itself.

From old habit, unconsciously he thanked God that he no longer believed in Him.

When some incident has shattered the career you’ve mapped out for yourself, a folly, a crime or a misfortune, you mustn’t think you’re down and out. It may be a stroke of luck, and when you look back years later you may say to yourself that you wouldn’t for anything in the world exchange the new life disaster has forced upon you for the dull, humdrum existence you would have led if circumstances hadn’t intervened.

An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.

Tolerance is only another name for indifference.

Any society that values wealth above freedom will lose its freedom, and will ultimately lose its wealth as well

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.