Quotes by Max Beerbohm

About Max Beerbohm:

Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist best known today for his 1911 novel Zuleika Dobson.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

The Non-Conformist Conscience makes cowards of us all.

Max Beerbohm

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

Max Beerbohm

To mankind in general Macbeth and Lady Macbeth stand out as the supreme type of all that a host and hostess should not be.

Max Beerbohm

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.

Max Beerbohm

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

Max Beerbohm

Only mediocrity can be trusted to be always at its best. Genius must always have lapses proportionate to its triumphs.

Max Beerbohm

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

Max Beerbohm

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

Max Beerbohm

We must stop talking about the American dream and start listening to the dreams of Americans.

Max Beerbohm

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

Max Beerbohm

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

Max Beerbohm

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.

Max Beerbohm

To destroy is still the strongest instinct in nature.

Max Beerbohm

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

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

You will find that the woman who is really kind to dogs is always one who has failed to inspire sympathy in men.

Max Beerbohm

No fine work can be done without concentration and self-sacrifice and toil and doubt.

Max Beerbohm

Most women are not as young as they are painted.

Max Beerbohm

Author Bio

  • NameMax Beerbohm
  • DescriptionEnglish writer
  • BornAugust 24, 1872
  • DiedMay 20, 1956
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionCaricaturist; Poet; Novelist