When I was young I was amazed at Plutarch's statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty to learn Greek. I am amazed no longer. Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long. W. Somerset Maugham More Quotes by W. Somerset Maugham More Quotes From W. Somerset Maugham The first duty of a woman is to be pretty, the second is to be well-groomed, and the third is never to contradict. W. Somerset Maugham women duty firsts A woman may be as wicked as she likes, but if she isn't pretty it won't do her much good. W. Somerset Maugham good-woman wicked women Truth is not only stranger than fiction, it is more telling. To know that a thing actually happened gives it a poignancy, touches a chord, which a piece of acknowledged fiction misses. It is to touch this chord that some authors have done everything they could to give you the impression that they are telling the plain truth. W. Somerset Maugham missing giving fiction It has been said that good prose should resemble the conversation of a well-bred man. W. Somerset Maugham should writing men The inclination to digress is human. But the dramatist must avoid it even more strenuously than the saint must avoid sin, for while sin may be venial, digression is mortal. W. Somerset Maugham saint sin may The drama is make-believe. It does not deal with truth but with effect. W. Somerset Maugham doe drama believe There's nothing the world loves more than a ready-made description which they can hang on to a man, and so save themselves all trouble in future. W. Somerset Maugham world-love trouble men Freedom! That was the thought that sung in her heart so that even though the future was so dim, it was iridescent like the mist over the river where the morning sun fell upon it. Freedom! Not only freedom from a bond that irked, and a companionship which depressed her; freedom, not only from the death which had threatened, but freedom from the love that had degraded her; freedom from all spiritual ties, the freedom of a disembodied spirit, and with freedom, courage , and a valiant unconcern for whatever was to come. W. Somerset Maugham spiritual heart morning I know that you're selfish, selfish beyond words, and I know that you haven't the nerve of a rabbit, I know you're a liar and a humbug, I know that you're utterly contemptible. And the tragic part is'--her face was on a sudden distraught with pain--'the tragic part is that notwithstanding I love you with all my heart. W. Somerset Maugham women selfish pain One can be very much in love with a woman without wishing to spend the rest of one's life with her. W. Somerset Maugham human-bondage women wish I now, weak, old, diseased, poor, dying, hold still my soul in my hands, and I regret nothing. W. Somerset Maugham regret soul hands But Philip was impatient with himself; he called to mind his idea of the pattern of life: the unhappiness he had suffered was no more than part of a decoration which was elaborate and beautiful; he told himself strenuously that he must accept with gaiety everything, dreariness and excitement, pleasure and pain, because it added to the richness of the design. W. Somerset Maugham pain beautiful ideas I happen to think we’ve set our ideal on the wrong objects; I happen to think that the greatest ideal man can set before himself is self-perfection. W. Somerset Maugham self men thinking Why did you look at the sunset?' Philip answered with his mouth full: Because I was happy. W. Somerset Maugham sunset mouths looks Almost all the people who’ve had the most effect on me I seem to have met by chance, yet looking back it seems as though I couldn’t but have met them. W. Somerset Maugham mets chance people You know, the Philistines have long since discarded the rack and stake as a means of suppressing the opinions they feared: they've discovered a much more deadly weapon of destruction -- the wisecrack. W. Somerset Maugham razors long mean The officers saluted as she passed and gravely bowed. They walked back across the courtyard and got into their chairs. She saw Waddington light a cigarette. A little smoke lost in the air, that was the life of a man. W. Somerset Maugham light air men There are many foolish people in the world and when a man in a rather high position puts on no frills, slaps them on the back, and tells them he'll do anything in the world for them, they are very likely to think him clever. W. Somerset Maugham clever men thinking Never pause unless you have a reason for it, but when you pause, pause as long as you can. W. Somerset Maugham pauses reason long It must be a fault in me that I am not gravely shocked at the sins of others unless they personally affect me. W. Somerset Maugham shocked faults sin
