W. Somerset Maugham Doe Quotations

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

You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an author no good to get a reputation for cynicism.

It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it is too late. It does not improve the temper.

They say a woman always remembers her first lover with affection; but perhaps she does not always remember him.

It does the heart good to look at you.

A state of reverie does not avoid reality, it accedes to reality.

The novel may stimulate you to think. It may satisfy your aesthetic sense. It may arouse your moral emotions. But if it does not entertain you it is a bad novel.

The drama is make-believe. It does not deal with truth but with effect.

A mother only does her children harm if she makes them the only concern of her life.

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