Stephen Leacock,
Literary Lapses — The Life of John Smith
(1910)
“ Now the lives of great men are doubtless infinitely interesting. But at times I must confess to a sense of reaction and an idea that the ordinary common man is entitled to have his biography written too. It is to illustrate this view that I write the life of John Smith, a man neither good nor great, but just the usual, everyday homo like you and me and the rest of us. ”
Stephen Leacock,
Literary Lapses — The Life of John Smith
(1910)
“ It is impossible to get up a revolution or a new religion, or a national awakening of any sort, without his turning up, putting himself at the head of it and collaring all the gate-receipts for himself. ”
Stephen Leacock,
Literary Lapses — The Life of John Smith
(1910)
“ The lives of great men occupy a large section of our literature. The great man is certainly a wonderful thing. He walks across his century and leaves the marks of his feet all over it, ripping out the dates on his goloshes as he passes. ”
