It should be easy to drag philosophy into almost anything under the sun. In the short story "The Portrait of a Gentleman", which has an extraordinary narrative style, W. Somerset Maugham discusses Poker as a "gentleman’s game”. Profound statements are delivered as if being quoted from a book on Poker (Complete Poker Player) the protagonist picked up from a used book store in Korea.Some "excerpts" given in the story:
“Lost money is never recovered. After losing you may win, but losing does not bring the winning.”
“..that habit of mind which continually leads us to undervalue the mental force of other men, while we continually overvalue their good luck”
“A gentleman is always willing to pay a fair price for recreation and entertainment”
This story reminded me of one my favorite songs by Sting- Shape of my heart from the album Ten Summoner's tales, which goes like this:
He deals the cards as a meditation
And those he plays never suspect
He doesn't play for the money he wins
He doesn't play for respect
He deals the cards to find the answer
The sacred geometry of chance
The hidden law of probable outcome
The numbers lead a dance
The Portrait of a Gentleman is from the short story collections of Somerset Maugham: Rain and other stories. The opening piece Rain is another terrific story about a Christian missionary, which has also been made into a movie.
