793 Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

Evil is a necessary part of the order of the universe.

The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes.

I wonder how anyone can have the face to condemn others when he reflects upon his own thoughts.

No author can create a character out of nothing. He must have a model to give him a starting point; but then his imagination goes to work, he builds him up, adding a trait here, a trait there, which his model did not possess.

No married man's ever made up his mind until he's heard what his wife has got to say about it.

Marriage is a very good thing, but I think it's a mistake to make a habit out of it.

If nobody spoke unless he had something to say, the human race would very soon lose the use of speech.

The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefore.

Dullness is the first requisite of a good husband.