W. Somerset Maugham

The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.

It is unsafe to take your reader for more of a fool than he is.

Sentimentality is the only sentiment that rubs you the wrong way.

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

It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it.

Tolerance is another word for indifference.

It wasn't until late in life that I discovered how easy it is to say, 'I don't know.'

Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered.

The world is quickly bored by the recital of misfortune, and willing avoids the sight of distress.

In the country the darkness of night is friendly and familiar, but in a city, with its blaze of lights, it is unnatural, hostile and menacing. It is like a monstrous vulture that hovers, biding its time.

Have common sense and stick to the point.

Perfection has one grave defect: it is apt to be dull.

What has influenced my life more than any other single thing has been my stammer. Had I not stammered I would probably... have gone to Cambridge as my brothers did, perhaps have become a don and every now and then published a dreary book about French literature.

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.

Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life's ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved.

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

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.

Few misfortunes can befall a boy which bring worse consequence than to have a really affectionate mother.

People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.

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