“It's asking a great deal that things should appeal to your reason as well as your sense of the aesthetic.”

— W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, 1915, ch. 88

About W. Somerset Maugham

1874 – 1965

English playwright and novelist, author of "Of Human Bondage".

“The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity.”

“Old age has its pleasures, which though different, are not less than the pleasures of youth.”

“You know, there are two good things in life, freedom of thought and freedom of action.”

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Attribution note: Source disputed or unverified.

“The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”