The most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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About W. Somerset Maugham

Portrait of W. Somerset Maugham

William Somerset Maugham ( MAWM; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German university. He became a medical student...

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When you have loved as she has loved, you grow old beautifully.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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All important persons have about them someone in a subordinate position who has their ear. These dependents are very susceptible to slights, and, when they are not treated as they think they should be, will by well-directed shafts, constantly repeated, poison the minds of their patrons against those who have provoked their animosity. It is well to keep in with them.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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A man ought to work. That's what he's here for. That's how he contributes to the welfare of the community.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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It's a toss-up when you decide to leave the beaten track. Many are called, but few are chosen.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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We didn't think much in the air corps of a fellow who wangled a cushy job out of his C.O. by buttering him up. It was hard for me to believe that God thought much of a man who tried to wangle salvation by fulsome flattery. I should have thought the worship most pleasing to him was to do your best according to your lights.

—W. Somerset Maugham

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More quotations tagged with “speed”

It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off.

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Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.

—Soren Kierkegaard

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If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run - and often in the short one - the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.

—Arthur C. Clarke

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When there is no desire to satisfy yourself, there is no aggression or speed . . . Because there is no rush to achieve, you can afford to relax. Because you can afford to relax, you can afford to keep company with yourself, you can afford to make love with yourself, to be friends with yourself.

—Carlos Castaneda in The Teachings of Don Juan

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Time passes too quickly when you're getting ready to do something you don't want to do.

—Courtney Summers in Some Girls Are

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