W. Somerset Maugham

A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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

Peace with all nations, and the right which that gives us with respect to all nations, are our object.

—W. Somerset Maugham

The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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

—W. Somerset Maugham

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

—W. Somerset Maugham

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

—W. Somerset Maugham

Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.

—W. Somerset Maugham

Sometimes people carry to such perfection the mask they have assumed that in due course they actually become the person they seem.

—W. Somerset Maugham

We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.

—W. Somerset Maugham

She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit.

—W. Somerset Maugham

It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it.

—W. Somerset Maugham in Cakes and Ale or the Skeleton in the Cupboard

Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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

—W. Somerset Maugham