“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, "Mother Night" (1961)
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Replying to @elanmastai
The Somerset Maugham short story THE LION'S SKIN touches on this very point -- and notes that sometimes pretending is ennobling.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps
Of course Maugham, in his stiff upper-lipped gentility, would find nobility in our social masks. I read Cakes & Ale in March.
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Replying to @elanmastai
A wonderful book -- but not, I would say, one calculated to engender in the reader a breathless and starry-eyed idealism.
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Replying to @MathPrinceps @elanmastai
I think Maugham was fascinated by the notion that even a base man might more readily sacrifice his life than his reputation.
10:23 AM - 2 Aug 2016
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