William Somerset Maugham Quotes

The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.

I do not believe they are right who say that the defects of famous men should be ignored. I think it is better that we should know them. Then, though we are conscious of having faults as glaring as theirs, we can believe that that is no hindrance to our achieving also something of their virtues.

You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humour teaches tolerance, and the humorist, with a smile and perhaps a sigh, is more likely to shrug his shoulders than to condemn.

...we learn resignation not by our own suffering, but by the suffering of others.

...the future will one day be the present and will seem as unimportant as the present does now.

I have not been afraid of excess: excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit.

There is only one thing about which I am certain, and this is that there is very little about which one can be certain.

There is a sort of man who pays no attention to his good actions, but is tormented by his bad ones. This is the type that most often writes about himself.

I would sooner read a time-table or a catalogue than nothing at all. ... They are much more entertaining than half the novels that are written.

They are like a face full of character that intrigues and excites you, but that on closer acquaintance you discover is merely the mask of a vulgar soul. Such is Tourane.

The Chinese are the aristocracy of the East.

Mandalay has its name; the falling cadence of the lovely word has gathered about itself the chiaroscuro of romance.

There is no silence in the East.

The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes...

...when you are young you take the kindness people show you as your right...