793 Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham

I do not confer praise or blame: I accept. I am the measure of all things. I am the center of the world.

I knew that suffering did not enoble; it degraded. It made men selfish, petty and suspicious. It absorbed them in small things...it made them less than men; and I wrote ferociously that we learn resignation not by our own suffering, but by the suffering of others.

There is no more merit in being able to attach a correct description to a picture than in being able to find out what is wrong with a stalled motorcar. In each case it is special knowledge.

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

Culture is not just an ornament; it is the expression of a nation’s character, and at the same time it is a powerful instrument to mould character. The end of culture is right living.

If only the good were a little less heavy-footed.

I could have forgiven it if he’d fallen desperately in love with someone and gone off with her. I should have thought that natural. I shouldn’t really have blamed him. I should have thought he was led away. Men are so weak, and women are so unscrupulous.

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.

It’s always difficult to make conversation with a drunk, and there’s no denying it, the sober are at a disadvantage with him.