Max Beerbohm's Quotes

I have known no man of genius who had not to pay, in some affliction or defect either physical or spiritual, for what the gods had given him.

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.

One might well say that mankind is divisible into two great classes: hosts and guests.

There is much to be said for failure. It is much more interesting than success.

To give an accurate and exhaustive account of that period would need a far less brilliant pen than mine.

Good sense about trivialities is better than nonsense about things that matter.

People are either born hosts or born guests.

The delicate balance between modesty and conceit is popularity.

As a teacher, as a propagandist, Mr. Shaw is no good at all, even in his own generation. But as a personality, he is immortal.

Anything that is worth doing has been done frequently. Things hitherto undone should be given, I suspect, a wide berth.

I was a modest, good-humoured boy. It is Oxford that has made me insufferable.

Incongruity is the mainspring of laughter.

Most women are not as young as they are painted.

No Roman ever was able to say, 'I dined last night with the Borgias'.

Nobody ever died of laughter.

The precondition to freedom is security.

Sir, I see a lot of documents in my day-to-day business, and I can't tell you every document that I've seen. It may have passed across my desk. It may not have passed across my desk. I truthfully cannot answer that question, other than to say I don't remember.

Let's be cautious about dreaming up extreme scenarios. The situation in Iraq is still salvageable.

The expansion and sophistication of transnational crime represents one of the most dangerous threats we confront in the next millennium.

You can't succeed in beating the insurgents unless you can convince the people that they can be protected.

I was deposed in association with a case involving the Golden Venture, a ship which smuggled Chinese aliens into the United States about eight or nine ago.

The purpose of Plan Columbia was to deal with the increased cultivation and illegal activity associated with that cultivation concerning narco trafficking in Columbia.

We're seeing the development of tactics in Iraq, such as suicide bombing. Insurgents have been driving cars with explosives into hotels and office buildings. The recruitment may be even more prolific outside Iraq.