Saki (Hector Hugh Munro), 1870 - 1916
Photo by E.O. Hopp
Born: 18 December 1870, Akyab, Burma (Myanmar)
Died: 13 November 1916, Beaumont-Hamel, France
Charles Munro was an inspector-general for the British Imperial police in Burma when Hector was born. Two years later Hector's mother, on a visit to England, was run down by a charging cow and miscarried, complications led to her death. The children were then sent to England to be raised by a grandmother and two aunts who young Hector despised. He attended Pendarwick School at Exmouth and Bedford Grammar School, and traveled with his sister and father after the latter's retirement. In 1893 he also went to Burma to join the Imperial Police, malaria forced his retirement two years later and he took up journalism, writing for several London papers. He wrote a scholarly history of the Russian Empire, from 1902 to 1908 he was a foreign correspondent for The Morning Post in Eastern Europe (the Balkans, Warsaw, Russia) and Paris but had also started writing his witty and oft macabre short stories under the name Saki, work that has been compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker, with perhaps a hint of Kipling. At 43, well over the official age for army service, he enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers as a soldier, refusing a commission. He took shelter in a shell crater, told one of his company to put out his cigarette, and was shot by a German sniper. He never married and was probably homosexual but managed to keep it private. Many of Saki's stories contrast the effete, hypocritical life of Edwardian England with the stark realities of nature; all are currently in the public domain and most are available online.
Biography from Wikipedia and Authors' Calendar
Additional quotes from Wikiquote. Wikiquote entries are often "sourced" and may include items longer than those included here, particularly for poets, lyricists, and dramatists.
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) quotes:
Quotes found : 41 — (15 per page, this is page 1 of 3) 1 2 3 Next
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- A little inaccuracy sometimes saves tons of explanation. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "The Comments of Moung Ka" The Square Egg (1924) - Addresses are given to us to conceal our whereabouts. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "Cross Currents", Reginald in Russia (1910) - All decent people live beyond their incomes nowadays, and those who aren't respectable live beyond other people's. A few gifted individuals manage to do both. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "The Match-Maker", The Chronicles of Clovis (1911) - And like every woman who has ever preached repentance to unregenerate youth, she dwelt on the sin of an empty life, which always seems so much more scandalous in the country, where people rise early to see if a new strawberry has happened during the night. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "Reginald's Choir Treat", Reginald (1904) - Children are given us to discourage our better emotions. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "Reginald on Besetting Sins", Reginald (1904) - Every reformation must have its victims. You can't expect the fatted calf to share the enthusiasm of the angels over the prodigal's return. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "Reginald on the Academy", Reginald (1904) - Hating anything in the way of ill-natured gossip ourselves, we are always grateful to those who do it for us and do it well. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - His socks compelled one's attention without losing one's respect. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "Ministers of Grace", The Chronicles of Clovis (1911) - I always say beauty is only sin deep. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - Reginald (1904) - I found everyone talking nervously and feverishly of the weather and the war in South Africa, except Reginald, who was reclining in a comfortable chair with the dreamy, far-away look that a volcano might wear just after it had desolated entire villages. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "Reginald", Reginald (1904) - I love Americans, but not when they try to talk French. What a blessing it is that they never try to talk English. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "Adrian", The Chronicles of Clovis (1911) - I think she must have been very strictly brought up, she's so desperately anxious to do the wrong thing correctly. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - Reginald (1904) - In baiting a mouse-trap with cheese, always leave room for the mouse. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - It is one of the consolations of middle-aged reformers that the good they inculcate must live after them if it is to live at all. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - It occurred to me that I would like to be a poet. The chief qualification, I understand is that you must be born. Well, I hunted up my birth certificate, and found that I was all right on that score. permalink
Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) - "Reginald's Rubaiyat", Reginald (1904)
Quotes found : 41 — (15 per page, this is page 1 of 3) 1 2 3 Next
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