Quotes from Herbert Beerbohm Tree

Every man is a potential genius until he does something.

People are too apt to treat God as if he were a minor royalty.

Cynicism is the humor of hatred.

Never say a humorous thing to a man who does not possess humor. He will always use it in evidence against you.

The national sport of England is obstacle-racing. People fill their rooms with useless and cumbersome furniture, and spend the rest of their lives in trying to dodge it.

A whipper-snapper of criticism who quoted dead languages to hide his ignorance of life.

He is an old bore; even the grave yawns for him.

The only man who wasn't spoilt by being lionized was Daniel.

Sirs, I have tested your machine. It adds a new terror to life and makes death a long-felt want.

God is a sort of burglar. As a young man you knock him down; as an old man you try to conciliate him, because he may knock you down.

A man never knows what a fool he is until he hears himself imitated by one.

Never say a humorous thing to a man who does not possess humour: he will always use it in evidence against you.

A committee should consist of three men, two of whom are absent.

Never neglect an opportunity to play leap-frog; it is the best of all games, and, unlike the terribly serious and conscientious pastimes of modern youth, will never become professionalized.

Never say a humorous thing to a man who does not possess humor. He will always use it in evidence against you.

The English public doesn't really like Shakespeare; it prefers football.

Do you believe in God? Perhaps you aren't old enough. The reason old people believe in God is because they've given up believing in anything else, and one can't exist without faith in something.... God is a sort of burglar. As a young man you knock him down; as an old man, you try to conciliate him because he may knock you down. Moral: don't grow old.

[D]on't grow old. With age comes caution, which is another name for cowardice.... Whatever else you do in life, don't cultivate a conscience. Without a conscience a man may never be said to grow old. This is an age of very old young men.

I was born old and get younger every day. At present I am sixty years young.

Ladies, just a little more virginity, if you don't mind.