Max Beerbohm Quotes
It is easier to confess a defect than to claim a quality.
Beerbohm, Max. And Even Now. William Heinemann, 1920, p. 105.
It is amazing that so few politicians and political appointees when asked questions by constituents, subordinates, or the press can bring themselves to say “I don’t know” when they are ignorant about the issue or have not yet made up their minds. It is as if ignorance was a weakness. When the politicians have to face so many complex issues, the reality is that they do not know about most of them, yet they are loathe to admit ignorance in particular situations.
Sir Henry Maximilian "Max" Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the Saturday Review from 1898 until 1910, when he relocated to Rapallo, Italy. In his later years he was popular for his occasional radio broadcasts. Among his best-known works is his only novel, Zuleika Dobson, published in 1911. His caricatures, drawn usually in pen or pencil with muted watercolour tinting, are in many public collections.
