"It’s only a movie," Alfred Hitchcock was fond of saying when someone, especially himself, had something bad to say about one of his films. So if a work of art isn’t completely successful, it isn’t all that bad. What’s far worse is when you have to sneeze when you have your mouth full of food, for example during a state dinner. You hold your hand in front of your mouth but don’t manage to cover it completely, resulting in a shower of half-chewed fish with potatoes flying into the face of the Libyan ambassador sitting opposite, who already seemed irritated beforehand. And then to top it all, you can’t remember on the spur of the moment what “I’m sorry” is in Arabic.
• An artfully designed book for everyone who loves funny and outstanding literary texts.
