"Now it is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it..."

W. Somerset Maugham Literature See all quotes by W. Somerset Maugham →

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More by W. Somerset Maugham

“After all, a man marries to have a home, but also because he doesn't want to be bothered with sex and all that sort of thing.”

“I don't think of the past. The only thing that matters is the everlasting present.”

“He was the kind of man with whom one would have hesitated to pass a lonely evening, but with whom one might cheerfully have looked forward to spending six months.”

“Conscience is the guardian in the individual of the rules which the community has evolved for its own preservation.”

“You are not angry with people when you laugh at them. Humour teaches tolerance, and the humorist, with a smile and perhaps a sigh, is more likely to shrug his shoulders than to condemn.”

“The artist produces for the liberation of his soul. It is his nature to create as it is the nature of water to run down the hill.”

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— Karl Dönitz

Politics1891–1980

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"later Quote of Mondrian, about his 1890's; taken from 'Mondrian, Essays' by Piet Mondrian; Wittenborn-Schultz Inc., New York, 1945, p. 10; as cited in De Stijl 1917-1931 - The Dutch Contribution to Mo…"

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"The story of the labor movement needs to be taught in every school in this land... America is a living testimonial to what free men and women, organized in free democratic trade unions can do to make …"

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"I wonder sometimes when I look into the faces of some of these overworked people, if there is a sort of a sleeping potion taken just prior to going to Church, so they can rest in peace and not feel di…"

— J. Golden Kimball

Politics1853–1938

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