W. Somerset Maugham Quotes - Page 4

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• The tragedy of love is not death or separation. How long do you think it would have been before one or other of them ceased to care? Oh, it is dreadfully bitter to look at a woman whom you have loved with all your heart and soul, so that you felt you could not bear to let her out of your sight, and realize that you would not mind if you never saw her again. The tragedy of love is indifference.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Heart, Thinking, Love Is

  W. Somerset Maugham (2015). “The Trembling of a Leaf: Stories of the South Sea Islands”, p.85, Xist Publishing

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• To bear failure with courage is the best proof of character that anyone can give.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Courage, Failure, Inspiration

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• A mother only does her children harm if she makes them the only concern of her life.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Mother, Children, Doe

  W. Somerset Maugham (2008). “The Razor's Edge”, p.175, Random House

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• Life isn't long enough for love and art.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Life, Famous Love, Art

  W. Somerset Maugham (2011). “The Moon and Sixpence (月亮與六便士)”, p.336, Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.

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• You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action. In France you get freedom of action: you can do what you like and nobody bothers, but you must think like everybody else. In Germany you must do what everybody else does, but you may think as you choose. They're both very good things. I personally prefer freedom of thought. But in England you get neither: you're ground down by convention. You can't think as you like and you can't act as you like. That's because it's a democratic nation. I expect America's worse.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Thinking, Things In Life, Two

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• Unfortunately sometimes one can't do what one thinks is right without making someone else unhappy.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Thinking, Unhappy, Sometimes

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Inspirational, Friendship, Children

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• The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Running, Art, Water

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

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• It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched for they are full of the truthless ideals which have been instilled in them, and each time they come into contact with the real, they are bruised and wounded.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Truth, Real, Youth

  W. Somerset Maugham (2013). “The Essential W. Somerset Maugham Collection”, p.1614, eBookIt.com

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• There's always one who loves and one who lets himself be loved.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Life, Human Bondage

  Of Human Bondage ch. 71 (1915)

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• I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Beautiful, Art, Book

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• When you are young you take the kindness people show you as your right.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Kindness, People, Young

  W. Somerset Maugham (1930). “Cakes and Ale”

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• As lovers, the difference between men and women is that women can love all day long, but men only at times.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Love, Relationship, Women

  W. Somerset Maugham (2006). “The Moon and Sixpence”, p.117, Courier Corporation

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• I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Funny, Life, Happiness

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• Often the best way to overcome desire is to satisfy it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Temptation, Desire, Way

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• The future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  One Day, Doe, Seems

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.50, Random House

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• Any society that values wealth above freedom will lose its freedom, and will ultimately lose its wealth as well

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Politics, Wealth, Wells

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• There is a sort of man who pays no attention to his good actions, but is tormented by his bad ones. This is the type that most often writes about himself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Writing, Men, Guilt

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

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• My own belief is that there is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large with surprise and horror.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Life, Sex, Gay

  "Somerset Maugham". Book by Ted Morgan, 1980.

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• I daresay one profits more by the mistakes one makes off one's own bat than by doing the right thing on somebody's else advice.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Mistake, Advice, Bats

  W. Somerset Maugham (2016). “Of Human Bondage (Diversion Classics)”, p.352, Diversion Books

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• The passing moment is all we can be sure of; it is only common sense to extract its utmost value from it.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Life, Passing Moments, Common Sense

  W. Somerset Maugham (2010). “The Summing Up”, p.50, Random House

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• If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Lying, Sometimes, Self Deception

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

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Laughter, Humor, People

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• It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and then they are angry with you, for it was the illusion they loved.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Behind The Scenes, Illusion, Fame

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

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• if you'd ever had a grown-up daughter you'd know that by comparison a bucking steer is easy to manage. And as to knowing what goes on inside her - well, it's much better to pretend you're the simple, innocent old fool she almost certainly takes you for.

  W. Somerset Maugham

  Daughter, Mother, Simple

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