Max Beerbohm

“People are either born hosts or born guests.”

“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.”

“You will find my last words in the blue folder.”

“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.”

“People who insist on telling their dreams are among the terrors of the breakfast table.”

“Nobody ever died of laughter.”

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

“Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best.”

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

“All fantasy should have a solid base in reality.”

“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.”

“When hospitality becomes an art it loses its very soul.”

“I need no dictionary of quotations to remind me that the eyes are the windows of the soul.”

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

“To give and then not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving.”

“Humility is a virtue, and it is a virtue innate in guests.”

“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.”

“To say that a man is vain means merely that he is pleased with the effect he produces on other people.”

“It is easier to confess a defect than to claim a quality.”

“I utilise all my spare moments. I've read twenty-seven of the Hundred Best Books. I collect ferns.”