From Cæsar's Wife: A Comedy in Three Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham

I'm afraid you'll be very unhappy. But you see, something more than your happiness is at stake. A little while ago you said you wanted to do more for your country than you did. Does it strike you that you can do something for it now? (VIOLET: I?) We all want to do great and heroic things, but generally we can only do very modest ones. D'you think we ought to shirk them? (VIOLET: I don't understand.) Ronny can be of infinite value here. You can't help your feelings for him. I can't bring myself to blame you. But you are mistress of your words and your actions. What are we to do? You wouldn't wish me to resign when my work here is but half done. We must make the best of the position. Remember that all of us here, you more than most women, because you're my wife, work for the common cause by our lives and the example we set. At all costs we must seem honest, straightforward, and without reproach. And one finds by experience that it's much less trouble to be a thing than only to seem it. There's only one way in which we can avoid reproach and that is by being irreproachable.

Sir Arthur Little Monologue from Cæsar's Wife: A Comedy in Three Acts

Rehearse Sir Arthur Little's monologue