John Galsworthy

“ No plain man wanted to inflict suffering, especially on himself. He would be the last person to inflict suffering, but the plain facts of life must be considered, and convenience and property duly safeguarded. ”

“ In regard to social reform, while recognizing of course the need for it, he felt that, in practice, one should do just as much as was absolutely necessary and no more; a plain man did not go out of his way to make quixotic efforts, nor did he sit upon a boiler till he was blown up. ”

“ And he would make a really extraordinary outcry if amongst a hundred cheerful plays and novels he inadvertently came across one that was tragic; at once he would write to the papers to complain of the gloomy tone of modern literature; and the papers, with few exceptions, would echo his cry, because he was the plain man, and took them in. "What on earth," he would remark, "is the good of showin' me a lot of sordid sufferin'? It doesn't make me any happier. Besides"—he would add—"it isn't Art. The function of Art is Beauty." ”

“ He wrote to the papers perhaps more often on this subject than any other, and was gratified to read in their heading articles continual allusion to himself. "The plain man is not prepared to run the risks which a sentimental treatment of this subject would undoubtedly involve." "After all, it is to the plain man that we must go for the sanity and common sense of this matter." For he had no dread in life like that of being called a sentimentalist. If an instance of cruelty came under his own eyes he was as much moved as any man, and took instant steps to manifest his disapproval. ”

“ For there was just that difference between him and all those of whom he strongly disapproved, that whereas they wanted to see things as they were—he wanted to keep things as they were. But he would not for a moment have admitted this little difference to be sound, since his instinct told him that he himself saw things as they were better than ever did such cranky people. If a human being had got to get into spiritual fixes, as those fellows seemed to want one to believe, then certainly the whole unpleasant matter should be put into poetry, and properly removed from comprehension. ”

“ That he was valued in precisely the same way by both sides and ultimately by the Judge filled him sometimes with a modest feeling that only a plain man was of any value whatever, certainly that he was the only kind of man who had any sort of judgment. ”

“ In this policy he felt instinctively rather than consciously that there was no risk. No one—at least, no one that mattered, no plain, solid person—would move until he did, and he would not of course move until they did ”

“ In speaking with his friends on this subject, he would express himself thus: "These fellows talk awful skittles. Any plain man knows what's too hut and what isn't. All this tosh about Art, and all that, is beside the point. ”

“ WE all know the plain man. Some of our neighbors are plain men. Some of business acquaintances are plain men. The plain man is a specialized person. He is a thing all by himself, unique in life and art. ”