We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to.

I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don't.

—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

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

—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

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

—W. Somerset Maugham

Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.

—Leonardo da Vinci

When you really want something, you will find a way. When you don't really want something, you'll find an excuse.

—Rachel Hollis in Wash Your Face

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.

—G. K. Chesterton

The heart does not always make sense. It wants what it wants, even if what it desires does not want it back.

—Amber Lynn Natusch in Fractured

The happier you are, the less you need.

—Francesca Lia Block in Ecstasia