793 Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

When you're eighteen your emotions are violent, but they're not durable.

Considering how foolishly people act and how pleasantly they prattle, perhaps it would be better for the world if they talked more and did less.

The essential element of love is a belief in its own eternity.

The last words he said to me when I bade him good-night were: Tell Amy it's no good coming after me. Anyhow, I shall change my hotel, so she wouldn't be able to find me.' My own impression is that she's well rid of you,' I said. My dear fellow, I only hope you'll be able to make her see it. But women are very unintelligent.

It is unfair to expect a politician to live in private up to the statements he makes in public.

Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.

The prestige you acquire by being able to tell your friends that you know famous men proves only that you are yourself of small account.

The great trues are too important to be new.

An art is only great and significant if it is one that all may enjoy. The art of a clique is but a plaything.