A thing that had always struck her about the child was that he seemed so collected. She had never seen him cry. And now she realized that his calmness was some instinctive shame of showing his feelings; he hid himself to weep. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
Art is merely the refuge which the ingenious have invented, when they were supplied with food and women, to escape the tediousness of life. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
But Philip was impatient with himself; he called to mind his idea of the pattern of life: the unhappiness he had suffered was no more than part of a decoration which was elaborate and beautiful; he told himself strenuously that he must accept with gaiety everything, dreariness and excitement, pleasure and pain, because it added to the richness of the design. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
He did not care if she was heartless, vicious and vulgar, stupid and grasping, he loved her. He would rather have misery with one than happiness with the other. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
He exulted in the possession of himself once more; he realized how much of the delight of the world he had lost when he was absorbed in that madness which they called love; he had had enough of it; he did not want to be in love anymore if love was that. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
He knew that all things human are transitory and therefore that it must cease one day or another. He looked forward to that day with eager longing. Love was like a parasite in his heart, nourishing a hateful existence on his life's blood; it absorbed his existence so intensely that he could take pleasure in nothing else. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
He wondered whether he had done right. He was dissatisfied with himself and with all his circumstances. He asked himself dully whether whenever you got your way you wished afterwards that you hadn't (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
His death had been as futile as his life. He died ingloriously, of a stupid disease, failing once more, even at the end, to accomplish anything. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
I don't think that women ought to sit down at table with men. It ruins conversation and I'm sure it's very bad for them. It puts ideas in their heads, and women are never at ease with themselves when they have ideas. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
It is clear that men accept an immediate pain rather than an immediate pleasure, but only because they expect a greater pleasure in the future. Often the pleasure is illusory, but their error in calculation is no refutation of the rule. You are puzzled because you cannot get over the idea that pleasures are only of the sense; but, child, a man who dies for his country dies because he likes it as surely as a man eats pickled cabbage because he likes it. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
It might be that to surrender to happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories. (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage")
More W. Somerset Maugham Quotations (Based on Topics)