W. Somerset Maugham

we do not write as we want but as we can

You cannot write unless you write much.

The passing moment is all we can be sure of it is only common sense to extract its utmost value from it.

The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous on the contrary it makes them for the most part humble tolerant and kind. Failure makes people cruel and bitter.

Simplicity and naturalness are the truest marks of distinction.

A Unitarian very earnestly disbelieves what everyone else believes.

We do not write as we want but as we can.

Writing is the supreme solace.

The writer is more concerned to know than to judge.

To write simply is as difficult as to be good.

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

If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn't matter a damn how you write.

Money is like a sixth sense and you can't make use of the other five without it.

Life isn't long enough for love and art.

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

It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and then they are angry with you for it was the illusion they loved.

American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in their butlers.

The greatest tragedy of life is not that men perish but that they cease to love.