P. G. Wodehouse Quotes About Character
-
A certain critic -- for such men, I regret to say, do exist -- made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.' He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have out-generalled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.
→ -
To find a man's true character, play golf with him.
→ -
"After all, golf is only a game", said Millicent. Women say these things without thinking. It does not mean that there is any kink in their character. They simply don't realise what they are saying.
→ -
Do you ever get moods when life seems absolutely meaningless? It's like a badly-constructed story, with all sorts of characters moving in and out who have nothing to do with the plot. And when somebody comes along that you think really has something to do with the plot, he suddenly drops out. After a while you begin to wonder what the story is about, and you feel that it's about nothing—just a jumble.
→ -
The only way of really finding out a man's true character is to play golf with him. In no other walk of life does the cloven hoof so quickly display itself.
→ -
I believe the only way a writer can keep himself up to the mark is by examining each story quite coldly before he starts writing it and asking himself if it is all right as a story. I mean, once you go saying to yourself, 'This is a pretty weak plot as it stands, but I'm such a hell of a writer that my magic touch will make it okay,' you're sunk. If they aren't in interesting situations, characters can't be major characters, not even if you have the rest of the troop talk their heads off about them.
→ -
I think the success of every novel - if it's a novel of action - depends on the high spots. The thing to do is to say to yourself, 'Which are my big scenes?' and then get every drop of juice out of them. The principle I always go on in writing a novel is to think of the characters in terms of actors in a play. I say to myself, if a big name were playing this part, and if he found that after a strong first act he had practically nothing to do in the second act, he would walk out. Now, then, can I twist the story so as to give him plenty to do all the way through?
→ -
Oh, Jeeves,' I said; 'about that check suit.' Yes, sir?' Is it really a frost?' A trifle too bizarre, sir, in my opinion.' But lots of fellows have asked me who my tailor is.' Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir.' He's supposed to be one of the best men in London.' I am saying nothing against his moral character, sir.
→ -
Sudden success in golf is like the sudden acquisition of wealth. It is apt to unsettle and deteriorate the character.
→
Related Authors
-
Stephen Fry Comedian -
Jerome Kern Composer -
Hugh Laurie Actor -
Evelyn Waugh Writer -
Arthur Conan Doyle Physician -
Charles Dickens Writer -
Ira Gershwin Lyricist -
George Gershwin Composer -
Joseph Conrad Author -
Vladimir Nabokov Novelist -
Cole Porter Composer -
Jerome K. Jerome Writer -
Dorothy Fields Librettist -
Oscar Hammerstein II Librettist -
Seymour Hicks Actor -
Johnny Mercer Lyricist -
Douglas Adams Writer -
Terry Pratchett Author -
Sebastian Faulks Novelist -
Rudyard Kipling Writer