Quotes from W. Somerset Maugham

Affection is created by habit, community of interests, convenience and the desire of companionship. It is a comfort rather than an exhilaration.

There are directors who desire to be artistic. It is pathetic to compare the seriousness of their aim with the absurdity of their attainment.

To bear failure with courage is the best proof of character that anyone can give.

Dinner a time when . . . one should eat wisely but not too well and talk well but not too wisely.

Any society that values wealth above freedom will lose its freedom, and will ultimately lose its wealth as well

You see, money to you means freedom; to me it means bondage.

When married people don't get on they can separate, but if they're not married it's impossible. It's a tie that only death can sever.

I've always been interested in people, but I've never liked them.

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

It is bad enough to know the past; it would be intolerable to know the future.