Adam Maunder

“It touches me to think that in his declining years he [George IV.] actually thought that he had led one of the charges at Waterloo. He would often describe the whole scene as it appeared to him at that supreme moment, and refer to the Duke of Wellington, saying, "Was it not so, Duke ? " " I have often heard you say so, your Majesty," the old soldier would reply, grimly. I am not sure that the old soldier was at Waterloo himself. In a room full of people he once referred to the battle as having been won upon the playing-fields of Eton. This was certainly a most unfortunate slip, seeing that all historians are agreed that it was fought on a certain field situate a few miles from Brussels.”
― Max Beerbohm, The Bodley Head Max Beerbohm;

“In the hearing of the gods, who hear all, it is conversely unsafe to make a simple and direct statement.”
― Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson

“It is easier, as Michelet suggested, for a woman to change her opinion of a man than for him to change his opinion of himself.”
― Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson

“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. If man were not a gregarious animal, the world might have achieved, by this time, some real progress towards civilisation. Segregate him, and he is no fool. But let him loose among his fellows, and he is lost—he becomes just an unit in unreason.”
― Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson