Taken from The Bedside Book of Bigheads by William Cole (1995)
I think I ought to have the O.M….They gave Hardy the O.M. and I think I am the greatest living writer in English, and they ought to give it to me.
Somerset Maugham.
I know everything. One has to, to write decently.
Henry James
Roots is obviously great, ranking with the Bible and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
Alex Haley
I want to be remembered as the greatest writer of this century. I’ve been compared to Plato.
Colin Wilson
I‘m perhaps the most gifted actor of my generation.
David Carradine
Yes, the Jews have produced only three original geniuses: Christ, Spinoza and myself
Gertrude Stein
I’ve given up reading books. I find it takes my mind off myself.
Oscar Levant.
With the single exception of Homer, there is no eminent writer, not even Sir Walter Scott, whom I can despise so entirely as I despise Shakespeare when I measure my mind against his….
Bernard Shaw.
I have astounded the whole world…I triumph not only over the moderns, but over the old masters as well
Gustave Courbet
FRIEND: There are only two great painters; you and Velazquez.
WHISTLER: Why drag in Velazquez?
Whistler.