In our home, something like being a poet would be thought of as putting on airs

THE OLD PROVERBIAL RECOVERY

KAY RYAN

http://kellyrfineman.livejournal.com/318827.html

They are not devious, and they fear lies as they fear fire. They don’t tell lies even in the most trivial matters. To lie to someone is to insult them, and the liar is diminished in the eyes of the person he lies to. Civilized people don’t put on airs; they behave in the street as they would at home, they don’t show off to impress their juniors.

From a letter to Nikolay Chekhov, March 1886
― Anton Chekhov, A Life in Letters

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