It is good to be on your guard against an Englishman who speaks French perfectly; he is very likely to be a card-sharper or an attache in the diplomatic service.
W. Somerset MaughamDo you absolutely despise me, Walter?" "No." He hesitated and his voice was strange. "I despise myself.
W. Somerset MaughamLife is really very fantastic, and one has to have a peculiar sense of humour to see the fun of it. [Virtue]
W. Somerset MaughamPeople talk of beauty lightly, and having no feeling for words, they use that one carelessly, so that it loses its force; and the thing it stands for, sharing its name with a hundred trivial objects, is deprived of dignity. They call beautiful a dress, a dog, a sermon; and when they are face to face with Beauty cannot recognise it.
W. Somerset Maugham