W. Somerset Maugham

The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.

I've discovered that the less I say, the more I hear. The less I do, the more I accomplish. And the less I want, the more I have.

The great thing is to last and get your work done and see and hear and learn and understand; and write when there is something that you know; and not before; and not too damned much after.

The soul is greater than its fate; the soul endures and makes its own way. It's the soul that counts; no matter which world the soul inhabits, the path it takes is the same.

We can't judge ourselves by what other people did or didn't do. All we can do is change ourselves and hope to hell that it was the right thing to do.

There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

You ought to be nice to people, Mrs. Bradley said. After all, you would never know who might be crazy. Or popular.

People lose their fear of governments as they lose their faith in god. They worship whatever replaces god.

I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.

I don't think that love is a trick, exactly. I do know, however, that I am a skeptic. Love is something I've thought about a great deal. I think it's brought me more confusion than any other thing in the world.

It isn't a matter of trying to develop a particular set of qualities. Rather, the aim is to make the mind empty and open so that it can learn.

I admire people who have the guts to do things they believe in, no matter what the cost.