“Some of us look for the Way in opium and some in God, some of us in whiskey and some in love. It is all the same Way and it leads nowhither.”

― W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil

“It’s a very funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.” ― W. Somerset Maugham

“I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The pictures they paint, the music they compose, the books they write, and the lives they lead. Of all these the richest in beauty is the beautiful life. That is the perfect work of art.”
― W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil

“The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.” ― Somerset Maugham

“We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.” ― W. Somerset Maugham

“When you choose your friends, don't be short-changed by choosing personality over character.” ― W.Somerset Maugham

“It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched for they are full of the truthless ideal which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real, they are bruised and wounded. It looks as if they were victims of a conspiracy; for the books they read, ideal by the necessity of selection, and the conversation of their elders, who look back upon the past through a rosy haze of forgetfulness, prepare them for an unreal life. They must discover for themselves that all they have read and all they have been told are lies, lies, lies; and each discovery is another nail driven into the body on the cross of life.”

― W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage

“The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love.” ― W. Somerset Maugham

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.” ― W. Somerset Maugham, Books and You

 A few minutes ago, every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. John Muir

I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in. John Muir

The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere. John Muir

The best way to learn about nature is to make yourself part of it. John Muir

The power of imagination makes us infinite. John Muir

 Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away. John Muir

Trend

There's a trend in the area of cutting down all bushes trees and shrubs. I do not understand why the landlords and home owners want to kill off the foliage. 

God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. John Muir

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world. John Muir

Most people are on the world, not in it. John Muir

 The world is big, and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark. John Muir

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend. Henry David Thoreau

Lauren Bruzzone & 80-year-old fitness icon Joan MacDonald

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