The Explorer

“Nature has neither love nor hate, and with indifference smiles upon the light at heart and to the heavy brings a deeper sorrow.””

— W. Somerset Maugham

“Do you know, it seems to me that a great deal of nonsense is talked about the dignity of work. Work is a drug that dull people take to avoid the pangs of unmitigated boredom. It has been adorned with fine phrases, because it is a necessity to most men, and men always gild the pill they’re obliged to swallow. Work is a sedative. It keeps people quiet and contented. It makes them good material for their leaders. I think the greatest imposture of Christian times is the sanctification of labour. You see, the early Christians were slaves, and it was necessary to show them that their obligatory toil was noble and virtuous. But when all is said and done, a man works to earn his bread and to keep his wife and children; it is a painful necessity, but there is nothing heroic in it. If people choose to put a higher value on the means than on the end, I can only pass with a shrug of the shoulders, and regret the paucity of their intelligence.””

— W. Somerset Maugham

“I adore good food as I adore all the other pleasant things of life, and because I have that gift I am able to look upon the future with equanimity.”“Why?” asked Alec.“Because a love for good food is the only thing that remains with man when he grows old. Love? What is love when you are five and fifty and can no longer hide the disgraceful baldness of your pate. Ambition? What is ambition when you have discovered that honours are to the pushing and glory to the vulgar. Finally we must all reach an age when every passion seems vain, every desire not worth the trouble of achieving it; but then there still remain to the man with a good appetite three pleasures each day, his breakfast, his luncheon, and his dinner.””

— W. Somerset Maugham

“I should have known that I wasn't meant for happiness and a life of ease. I have other work to do in the world.””

— W. Somerset Maugham

“To Lucy it was an admirable study, the contrast between the man who threw his whole soul into a certain aim, which he pursued with a savage intensity, knowing that the end was a dreadful, lonely death; and the man who was making up his mind deliberately to gather what was beautiful in life, and to cultivate its graces as though it were a flower garden.“And the worst of it is that it will all be the same in a hundred years,” said Dick. “We shall both be forgotten long before then, you with your strenuousness, and I with my folly.”“And what conclusion do you draw from that?” asked Mrs. Crowley.“Only that the psychological moment has arrived for a whisky and soda.””

— W. Somerset Maugham

“We're all so dreadfully tired of being goddesses. For centuries foolish men have set us up on a pedestal and vowed they were unworthy to touch the hem of our garments. And it is so dull.””

— W. Somerset Maugham

“He refused tea, but Mrs. Crowley poured out a cup and handed it to him. 'You need not drink it, but I insist on your hoding it in your hand. I hat people who habitually deny themselves things.””

— W. Somerset Maugham

“people choose to put a higher value on the means than on the end, I can only pass with a shrug of the shoulders, and regret the paucity of their intelligence.””

— W. Somerset Maugham

“I feel vaugely that you're paying me a compliment', returned Mrs. Crowley, 'but it's so elusive that I can't quite catch it.''The best compliments are those that flutter about your head like butterflies around a flower.''I much prefer to fix them down on a board with a pin through their insides and a narrow strip of paper to hold down each wing.””

— W. Somerset Maugham