It is a part of English hypocrisy or English reserve, that whilst we are fluent enough in grumbling about small inconveniences, we insist on making light of any great difficulties or grief's that may beset us. Max Beerbohm More Quotes by Max Beerbohm More Quotes From Max Beerbohm Some people are born to lift heavy weights, some are born to juggle golden balls. Max Beerbohm goldenweightpeople To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving. Max Beerbohm kindnessinspirationalgiving The one real goal of education is to leave a person asking questions. Max Beerbohm realeducationthinking The past is a work of art, free of irrelevancies and loose ends. Max Beerbohm wiseworkart Heroes are very human, most of them; very easily touched by praise. Max Beerbohm humansheropraise Strange when you come to think of it, that of all countless folk who have lived on this planet, not one is known in history or in legend as having died of laughter. Max Beerbohm legendslaughterthinking Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs. Max Beerbohm triumphhumilityacceptance You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind-legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men. Max Beerbohm legssheepmen Only the insane take themselves seriously. Max Beerbohm godlyinsaneinsanity History does not repeat itself. The historians repeat one another. Max Beerbohm historiandoehistory Undergraduates owe their happiness chiefly to the consciousness that they are no longer at school. The nonsense which was knocked out of them at school is all put gently back at Oxford or Cambridge. Max Beerbohm studentsoxfordschool We must stop talking about the American dream and start listening to the dreams of Americans. Max Beerbohm listeningdreamtalking "After all," as a pretty girl once said to me, "women are a sex by themselves, so to speak." Max Beerbohm girlspeaksex There is much to be said for failure. It is more interesting than success. Max Beerbohm failurelifefall There is laughter that goes so far as to lose all touch with its motive, and to exist only, grossly, in itself. This is laughter at its best. A man to whom such laughter has often been granted may happen to die in a work-house. No matter. I will not admit that he has failed in life. Another man, who has never laughed thus, may be buried in Westminster Abbey, leaving more than a million pounds overhead. What then? I regard him as a failure. Max Beerbohm laughterhousemen Have you noticed ... there is never any third act in a nightmare? They bring you to a climax of terror and then leave you there. They are the work of poor dramatists. Max Beerbohm nightmarepoorinspirational Men prominent in life are mostly hard to converse with. They lack small-talk, and at the same time one doesn't like to confront them with their own great themes. Max Beerbohm themevanitymen Of all the objects of hatred, a woman once loved is the most hateful. Max Beerbohm hatefulobjectshatred No Roman ever was able to say, 'I dined last night with the Borgias'. Max Beerbohm ablelastsnight Good sense about trivialities is better than nonsense about things that matter. Max Beerbohm nonsenseinspirationmatter