William Somerset Maugham Quotes

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]

I wish I could make you see how much fuller the life I offer you is than anything you have a conception of. I wish I could make you see how exciting the life of the spirit is and how rich in experience. It's illimitable. It's such a happy life. There's only one thing like it, when you're up in a plane by yourself, high, high, and only infinity surrounds you. You're intoxicated by the boundless space.

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

To my mind the most interesting thing in art is the
personality of the artist; and if that is singular, I am
willing to excuse a thousand faults.

It was not till quite late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say: "I don't know."

The great critic ... must be a philosopher, for from philosophy he will learn serenity, impartiality, and the transitoriness of human things.

I do not believe that I am a vindictive man, but when the immortal gods take a hand in the matter it is pardonable to observe the results with complacency.

After all, a man marries to have a home, but also because he doesn't want to be bothered with sex and all that sort of thing.

The crown of literature is poetry.

Self-doubt, which is the artist's bitterest enemy.

My own belief is that there is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large with surprise and horror.

The tragedy of love is indifference.

He knew that women appreciated neither irony nor sarcasm, but simple jokes and funny stories. He was amply provided with both.

Men are always the same. Fear makes them cruel.

Wounded vanity can make a woman more vindictive than a lioness robbed of her cubs.