William Somerset Maugham

Quotes

1. "Stunning, isn't it?" he said then, giving her arm an affectionate pressure.

   "Yes, it's all right. What business is it of yours?"

   Charley turned his head sharply. No one had ever asked him a question like that about a picture before.

   "What on earth d'you mean? It's one of the great portraits of the world. Titian, you know."

   "I daresay. But what's it got to do with you?"

   Charley didn't quite know what to say.

   "Well, it's a very fine picture and it's beautifully painted. Of course it doesn't tell a story if that's what you mean."

   "No, I don't," she smiled.

   "I don't suppose it's got anything to do with me really."

   "Then why should you bother about it?"

   p. 192

2. 

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

3. 

   There is no silence in the East.

4. 

   But who can fathom the subtleties of the human heart? Certainly not those who expect from it only decorous sentiments and normal emotions.

   p. 154

5. 

   It's very hard to be a gentleman and a writer.

   p. 157

6. 

   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.

   p. 11

7. 

   It's no good trying to keep up old friendships. It's painful for both sides. The fact is, one grows out of people, and the only thing is to face it.

   p. 14

8. 

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

   p. 64

9. 

   Perhaps some deep-rooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history.

   p. 1

10. 

    Men are always the same. Fear makes them cruel.

    p. 204

11. 

    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.

    p. 140

12. 

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

    p. 184