W. Somerset Maugham: Trending quotes

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W. Somerset Maugham: 316 quotes19 likes

“What mean and cruel things men can do for the love of God.”

"1901", p. 67
A Writer's Notebook (1946)

“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 book The Razor's Edge

The Razor's Edge (1943)
Context: 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. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.

“Every production of an artist should be the expression of an adventure of his soul.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Summing Up

Source: The Summing Up (1938), p. 310

“Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it.”

W. Somerset Maugham

Source: Cakes and Ale: Or, The Skeleton in the Cupboard (1930), p. 140.
Context: Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose: you can smell it and that is all.

“A god that can be understood is not a god.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Razor's Edge

The Razor's Edge (1943), p. 283

“Tahiti is very far away, and I knew that I should never see it again. A chapter of my life was closed, and I felt a little nearer to inevitable death.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Moon and Sixpence

Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 58, p. 213

“Art… is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and women, to escape the tediousness of life.”

W. Somerset Maugham book Of Human Bondage

Source: Of Human Bondage (1915), Ch. 42

“The tragedy of love is indifference.”

W. Somerset Maugham

The Trembling of a Leaf, ch. 4

“A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her,” he said, “but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Moon and Sixpence

Source: The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 41, p. 142

“There is no explanation for evil. It must be looked upon as a necessary part of the order of the universe. To ignore it is childish, to bewail it senseless.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Summing Up

Source: The Summing Up (1938), p. 285

“It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank, and independent.”

W. Somerset Maugham book Of Human Bondage

Source: Of Human Bondage (1915), Ch. 51
Context: You will hear people say that poverty is the best spur to the artist. They have never felt the iron of it in their flesh. They do not know how mean it makes you. It exposes you to endless humiliation, it cuts your wings, it eats into your soul like a cancer. It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank, and independent.

“Don't you know? Because American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in their butlers.”

W. Somerset Maugham book The Razor's Edge

The Razor's Edge (1943)

“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 book The Summing Up

Source: The Summing Up (1938), p. 306

“I sometimes think,' said the Eternal, 'that the stars never shine more brightly than when reflected in the muddy waters of a wayside ditch.”

W. Somerset Maugham

"The judgement seat", p. 316
Short Stories, Collected short stories 1

“Marriage is a very good thing, but I think it's a mistake to make a habit out of it.”

W. Somerset Maugham

'"The Treasure"
Short Stories