Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

W. Somerset Maugham Novelist

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: France
  • Born: Jan 25, 1874
  • Died: Dec 16, 1965

William Somerset Maugham CH was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s.

After losing both his parents by the age of 10, Maugham was raised by a paternal uncle who was emotionally cold. Not wanting to become a lawyer like other men in his family, Maugham eventually trained and qualified as a medical doctor. The first run of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth, sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine to write full-time.

During the First World War, he served with the Red Cross and in the ambulance corps, before being recruited in 1916 into the British Secret Intelligence Service, for which he worked in Switzerland and Russia before the October Revolution of 1917. During and after the war, he travelled in India and Southeast Asia; all of these experiences were reflected in later short stories and novels.

When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character. friendship

The love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned. love

It's a funny thing about life if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. best, funny & life

Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five. money

Men have an extraordinarily erroneous opinion of their position in nature and the error is ineradicable. nature

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

Money is the string with which a sardonic destiny directs the motions of its puppets. money

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. home & marriage

If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news? change

Only a mediocre person is always at his best. best

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

If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts. food

Old age has its pleasures, which, though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth. age

There are two good things in life - freedom of thought and freedom of action. freedom

Love is only a dirty trick played on us to achieve continuation of the species. love

You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humor teaches tolerance. humor

Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long. age

Anyone can tell the truth, but only very few of us can make epigrams. truth

It is well known that Beauty does not look with a good grace on the timid advances of Humour. beauty

The crown of literature is poetry. poetry

Death doesn't affect the living because it has not happened yet. Death doesn't concern the dead because they have ceased to exist. death

Death is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you is to have nothing whatsoever to do with it. death

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. nature

In Hollywood, the women are all peaches. It makes one long for an apple occasionally. women

At a dinner party one should eat wisely but not too well, and talk well but not too wisely. New Year's Day

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. anniversary & love

What makes old age hard to bear is not the failing of one's faculties, mental and physical, but the burden of one's memories. age

Imagination grows by exercise, and contrary to common belief, is more powerful in the mature than in the young. imagination

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