20th Century Quotations [antikvár]

Foreword We all come across bits of conversation or prose that we believe would be good material for a collection of quotations. Fortunately, most of us don't bother to keep a record of them and they are soon forgotten. But we should be pleased that Frank Pepper has bothered and made collecting quotations something of an obsession because his collection has been made by one with an excellent ear for the apposite, profound, humorous and ridiculous. The idea of arranging the quotations by subject is a good one. The juxtaposition often throws up interesting divergences of opinion: 'Poverty is the great reality. That is why the artist seeks it' (Anais Nin), 'What fun it would be to be poor, as long as one was excessively poor. Anything in excess is most exhilarating' (Jean Anouilh), 'The very poor are unthinkable and only to be approached by the statistician and the poet' (E.M. Forster), 'I have been a common man and a poor man, and it has no romance for me' (George Bernard Shaw); or try comparing 'Only good girls keep diaries. Bad girls don't have the time' (Tallulalh Bankhead) and 'Keep a diary and one day it will keep you' (Mae West). The index of names of quoter and quoted is another way into the book: Calvin Coolidge, I discover, suffered from the wit of not only Dorothy Parker; you will recall her famous remark on being told of the death of the President - 'How could they tell?'. Alice Roosevelt Longworth said 'He looks as if he had been weaned on a pickle,' and H.L. Menken in an obituary said 'He had one really notable talent. He slept more than any other president'. Some quotations, though, will only be found by serendipity, possibly in the late reaches of the night. You may even be wearing a colander on your head (45:3). Editor Sphere Quotations