As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only excuse that offers for the middle-aged or elderly writer whose thoughts should more properly be turned to graver matters, occupying himself with the trivial concerns of imaginary people.

W. Somerset Maugham

Categorized in : Men Real Occupy Yourself

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

change love life

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.

W. Somerset Maugham

delight enjoy-it-while-it-lasts change

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.

W. Somerset Maugham

reading life book

The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.

W. Somerset Maugham

secret life-is inspirational

It's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.

W. Somerset Maugham

inspirational life funny

If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.

W. Somerset Maugham

libertarian-party patriotic freedom

The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth.

W. Somerset Maugham

guarantees believe people

An unfortunate thing about this world is that the good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.

W. Somerset Maugham

unfortunate-things giving-up world

The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.

W. Somerset Maugham

change love life

Throw yourself into the hurly-burly of life. It doesn't matter how many mistakes you make, what unhappiness you have to undergo. It is all your material ... Don't wait for experience to come to you; go out after experience. Experience is your material.

W. Somerset Maugham

matter waiting mistake

Only a mediocre person is always at his best.

W. Somerset Maugham

failure inspirational life

The essential element of love is a belief in its own eternity.

W. Somerset Maugham

elements essentials love-is

The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.

W. Somerset Maugham

reading education book

The world is hard and cruel. We are here none knows why, and we go none knows whither. We must be very humble. We must see the beauty of quietness. We must go through life so inconspicuously that Fate does not notice us. And let us seek the love of simple, ignorant people. Their ignorance is better than all our knowledge. Let us be silent, content in our little corner, meek and gentle like them. That is the wisdom of life.

W. Somerset Maugham

fate ignorance humble

The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity. The beauty of the morning and the radiance of noon are good, but it would be a very silly person who drew the curtains and turned on the light in order to shut out the tranquillity of the evening. Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.

W. Somerset Maugham

silly morning beauty

The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned.

W. Somerset Maugham

heartbreak love life

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

W. Somerset Maugham

real-talk story-writers writing

She loved three things — a joke, a glass of wine, and a handsome man.

W. Somerset Maugham

glasses wine men

It wasn't until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, 'I don't know.'

W. Somerset Maugham

humility humble children

One cannot find peace in work or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one's soul.

W. Somerset Maugham

finding-peace soul world