1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said: Cynics, Scholars, Comedians, Candidates, Reporters, Writers, Philosophers, and Just About Everyone Else Finally Have Their Say!

by Robert Byrne

Cynics, scholars, comedians, candidates, reporters, writers, philosophers, and just about everyone else finally have their say!

Every generation has its wits, wags, pundits, punsters, and one-liner champions. And this marvelous collection of classic quotes from throughout history shows off the best of the best. For the first time, the three popular volumes of The 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said —all 1,911 of them—are collected in one impressive book of wisdom.

From Plato to Groucho, this comprehensive edition quotes some of the most quotable people who ever lived. They are the famous, the infamous, the little-known, and the unknown, inspired by life to comment on it and smart enough to be clever about it.

Praise for 1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said

“It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.” —Winston Churchill

“You'll love this book and read its lines to helpless friends.” — Dallas Morning News

“A winner!” — The New York Daily News

“A delightful assortment.” — Atlanta Journal

“Like eating peanuts—once you start it's hard to stop.” — Forbes

“[Robert] Byrne has a delicious sense of the ridiculous and a zest for fun. The humor roams the scale from the chuckle to the roar.” — San Francisco Progress

“Terrific! A real upper! An ideal gift.” —Dear Abby

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Humor, Writing

480 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 1988

About the author

Robert Byrne is the author of seven novels, five collections of humorous quotations, seven books on billiards, two anthologies, and an expose of frauds in the literary world. One of his novels, Thrill, was made into NBC’s Monday Night Movie, which aired for the first time on May 20, 1996. Four of his novels were selections of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books and published in many languages. His style is widely praised for its clarity and wit. Byrne’s Standard Book of Pool and Billiards, published in 1978 and expanded in 1998, has sold over 500,000 copies. -byrne.org

Reviews

[Amelia Halgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect amusing thing to read as a teenager in between novels.

[Raechel Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides an irreverent balance to more serious quotation books. The best part is the index and the occasional "dialogues" between quotees.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amusing and quick read of quotations, if you like that sort of thing. Which I do, but sadly not everyone around me likes being quoted at every few minutes when I find something funny. 😭

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book of quotations. My favorite....A gentleman is a man who can play the accordion but doesn't.

[Amy Wilder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in one of those mail order book clubs for a while and this was one of my $1 purchases which I came to treasure. I loved the feeling of browsing the thoughts of philosophers, politicians, writers and celebrities throughout history for something enlightening or entertaining. Many of these quotes are part of how I think about things now. For fans of books of quotations, I have another recommendation. The magazine called the Sun (essays and creative non-fiction and poetry - like an literary intellectual's Reader's Digest) has a back page they call "Sunbeams" which manages to build diverse quotes into a meditation on a theme or two every month. It's pretty cool.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Light, funny, and brief. If you're looking for pith, it is here. Because this is a bind-up of three previous titles, there's no hope of finding anything by subject. But, if you're looking for serendipity, this is the book.

[Katie Mansfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this. Some of the quotes weren't exceptional in any way (or maybe they were too above me for me to understand their earned place in this collection), but others had me literally laughing out loud, not in the "lol" sense. It's definitely worth a read, just not all in one sitting.

[WT Sharpe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five stars for the humor, three stars for the research. This is a very funny book, but Robert Byrne quotes too many secondary sources. At least here he makes an attempt to source his quotes, which is more than he did in the original 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said book.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very interesting ideas

[Rosemary]

STOKED. Scored this gem at a Thrift Store for 50¢ today!!

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some quality quotes, but a lot of ok ones. Funny that he has his own quotes in each volume.