187 quotes
Now it is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it...
The Mixture As Before (1940)
In point of fact, however, they were much more anxious to tell him about their doings than to listen to his.
Christmas Holiday (1939)
At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely.
A Writer's Notebook (1946)
Money is the string with which a sardonic destiny directs the motions of its puppets.
Somerset Maugham (1980)
Mandalay has its name; the falling cadence of the lovely word has gathered about itself the chiaroscuro of romance.
The Gentleman in the Parlour (1930)
Marriage is a very good thing, but I think it's a mistake to make a habit out of it.
It is salutary to train oneself to be no more affected by censure than by praise...
The Summing Up (1938)
You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.
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.
The Moon and Sixpence (1919)
The trouble with our younger authors is that they are all in the sixties.
To eat well in England, you should have a breakfast three times a day.
Somerset Maugham (1980)
The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes...
Cakes and Ale: Or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930)
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.
The Summing Up (1938)
The tragedy of love is indifference.
He made one laugh sometimes by speaking the truth, but this is a form of humour which gains its force only by its unusualness; it would cease to amuse if it were commonly practised.
The Moon and Sixpence (1919)
In art honesty is not only the best but the only policy.
The Razor's Edge (1943)
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.
The Summing Up (1938)
He loved her so passionately he wanted her to be one soul and one body with him; and he was conscious that here, with those deep roots attaching her to the native life, she would always keep something from him.
We have long passed the Victorian Era when asterisks were followed after a certain interval by a baby.
The Constant Wife (1927)
It was a night so beautiful that your soul seemed hardly able to bear the prison of the body.
The Moon and Sixpence (1919)