W. Somerset Maugham Inspirational Quotes

Quotes about: Inspirational

• It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Funny, Life

  The Mixture as Before "The Treasure" (1940)

• The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Secret, Life Is

• Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Funny, Death

  "What Happens When the Average Lifespan Hits 100?" by Megan Erickson, bigthink.com.

• The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous; on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Success, Congratulations

  Summing Up (1938) p. 187

• You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Positive Thinking, World

  "The Circle: A Comedy in Three Acts". Play by W. Somerset Maugham, 1921.

• Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Failure

• The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Funny, Science

• Impropriety is the soul of wit.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Advice

  Moon and Sixpence (1919) ch. 4

• Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Happiness

  Of Human Bondage (1915) ch. 51

• When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Friendship, Children

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Character

  Moon and Sixpence (1919) ch. 17

• We know our friends by their defects rather than by their merits.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Friendship

  W. Somerset Maugham (1954). “Mr. Maugham Himself”

• Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Excess

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.47, Random House

• At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Clever, Happy New Year

  Writer's Notebook (1949) p. 17 (written in 1896)

• We do not write as we want, but as we can.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Beautiful

  W. Somerset Maugham (1941). “the Gentleman in the Parlour”

• The trouble is that thinking looks like loafing. Who wants to pay people for daydreaming?

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Teaching, Learning

• Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Stress, Men

  Of Human Bondage ch. 39 (1915)

• Death doesn't affect the living because it has not happened yet. Death doesn't concern the dead because they have ceased to exist.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Death

• 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.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Education, Teacher

  W. Somerset Maugham (2008). “The Razor's Edge”, p.34, Random House

• I do not believe they are right who say that the defects of famous men should be ignored. I think it is better that we should know them. Then, though we are conscious of having faults as glaring as theirs, we can believe that that is no hindrance to our achieving also something of their virtues.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Life, Believe

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.70, Random House

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