Tag: William Somerset Maugham

Impropriety is the soul of wit.

William Somerset Maugham

He had heard people speak contemptuously of money: he wondered if they had ever tried to do without it.

William Somerset Maugham

I have been forced to conclude from this that we know our friends by their defects rather than by their merits.

William Somerset Maugham

Men seek but one thing in life — their pleasure.

William Somerset Maugham

Now it is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it…

William Somerset Maugham

Almost all the people who have had most effect on me I seem to have met by chance.

William Somerset Maugham

People ask you for criticism, but they only want praise.

William Somerset Maugham

I did not then know the besetting sin of woman, the passion to discuss her private affairs with anyone who is willing to listen.

William Somerset Maugham

There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the universe. To ignore it is childish, to bewail it senseless.

William Somerset Maugham

I don’t think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.

William Somerset Maugham