People are always a little disconcerted when you don't recognize them, they are so important to themselves, it is a shock to discover of what small importance they are to others. [The human element] W. Somerset Maugham More Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham More Quotes From 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 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
