W. Somerset Maugham II

The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love. Impropriety is the soul of wit.

If a man hasn't what's necessary to make a woman love him, it's his fault, not hers.

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.

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

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.

You will find as you grow older that the first thing needful to make the world a tolerable place to live in is to recognize the inevitable selfishness of humanity. You demand unselfishness from others, which is a preposterous claim that they should sacrifice their desires to yours. Why should they? When you are reconciled to the fact that each is for himself in the world you will ask less from your fellows. They will not disappoint you, and you will look upon them more charitably. Men seek but one thing in life -- their pleasure.

You can do anything in this world if you are prepared to take the consequences.

The secret to life is meaningless unless you discover it yourself.

If it is necessary sometimes to lie to others, it is always despicable to lie to oneself.