Almanac: Thomas Mann on modesty

“I was at a party at William Dieterle’s house which Thomas Mann attended. Also present were a few Hollywood screenwriters–the sort who decided they were the Great American Novelist, but for the moment they were hoping for better things. One of them came up to Thomas Mann and almost bowed as he moaned, ‘How can a wonderful writer like you even talk to miserable whores like us?’ Mann looked at him for a second and said, ‘My dear sir, you are not big enough to make yourself so small.'”
Bernard Herrmann (quoted in Steven C. Smith, A Heart at Fire’s Center)