It distresses me, this failure to keep pace with the leaders of thought, as they pass into oblivion. Max Beerbohm More Quotes by Max Beerbohm More Quotes From Max Beerbohm The literary gift is a mere accident - is as often bestowed on idiots who have nothing to say worth hearing as it is denied to strenuous sages. Max Beerbohm sageidiothearing People who insist on telling their dreams are among the terrors of the breakfast table. Max Beerbohm night-terrorsdreampeople Death cancels all engagements. Max Beerbohm engagement I am a Tory anarchist. I should like everyone to go about doing just as he pleased - short of altering any of the things to which I have grown accustomed. Max Beerbohm anarchistpoliticsshould Pessimism does win us great happy moments. Max Beerbohm optimismwinningdoe Men of genius are not quick judges of character. Deep thinking and high imagining blunt that trivial instinct by which you and I size people up. Max Beerbohm stupidcharactermen Zuleika, on a desert island, would have spent most of her time in looking for a man's footprint. Max Beerbohm islandstimemen Not that I had any special reason for hating school. Strange as it may seem to my readers, I was not unpopular there. I was a modest, good-humoured boy. It is Oxford that has made me insufferable. Max Beerbohm hateboysschool What a lurid life Oscar Wilde does lead - so full of extraordinary incidents. What a chance for the memoir writers of the next century Max Beerbohm oscarsnextdoe Improvisation is the essence of good talk. Heaven defend us from the talker who doles out things prepared for us; but let heaven not less defend us from the beautiful spontaneous writer who puts his trust in the inspiration of the moment. Max Beerbohm essencebeautifulinspirational The hospitable instinct is not wholly altruistic. There is pride and egoism mixed up with it. Max Beerbohm egoisminstinctpride There is in the human race some dark spirit of recalcitrance, always pulling us in the direction contrary to that in which we are reasonably expected to go. Max Beerbohm racespiritdark It seems to be a law of nature that no man, unless he has some obvious physical deformity, ever is loth to sit for his portrait. Max Beerbohm strengthnaturemen Incongruity is the mainspring of laughter. Max Beerbohm laughterjoyhappiness Beauty and the lust for learning have yet to be allied. Max Beerbohm lust It is so much easier to covet what one hasn't than to revel in what one has. Also, it is so much easier to be enthusiastic about what exists than about what doesn't. Max Beerbohm enthusiasticeasier I need no dictionary of quotations to remind me that the eyes are the windows of the soul. Max Beerbohm window-to-the-souleyeneeds The most perfect caricature is that which, on a small surface, with the simplest means, most accurately exaggerates, to the highest point, the peculiarities of a human being, at his most characteristic moment in the most beautiful manner. Max Beerbohm perfectbeautifulmean Fate weaves the darkness, which is perhaps why she weaves so badly. Max Beerbohm fatedarkness One might well say that mankind is divisible into two great classes: hosts and guests. Max Beerbohm classmighttwo
