793 Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

I forget who it was that recommended men for their soul's good to do each day two things they disliked: it was a wise man, and it is a precept that I have followed scrupulously; for every day I have got up and I have gone to bed.

I [Death] was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

You learn more quickly under the guidance of experienced teachers. You waste a lot of time going down blind alleys if you have no one to lead you.

Everyone had some defect, or body or of mind: he thought of all the people he had known (the whole world was like a sick house and there was no rhyme or reason in it), he saw a long procession, deformed in body, warped in mind, some with illness of the flesh, weak hearts or weak lungs, and some with illness of the spirit, languor of will, or craving for liquor. At that moment he felt a holy compassion for them all. …The words of the dying God crossed his memory: Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

She loved three things — a joke, a glass of wine, and a handsome man.

I happen to think we’ve set our ideal on the wrong objects; I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection.

You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches tolerance.

We who are of mature age seldom suspect how unmercifully and yet with what insight the very young judge us.

It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. It does not improve the temper.