Women Know Everything!: 3,241 Quips, Quotes, and Brilliant Remarks

by Karen Weekes

With more than 3,000 quotations on fashion, family, science, art, history, love, laughter, and more, this massive compilation proves once and for all that women know everything! It's full of wit, wisdom, and inspiration from a host of legendary women everyone from Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt to Oprah Winfrey, Donna Karan, Tina Fey, Margaret Cho, Debbie Stoller, and others. Here's what they say

"I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn t itch." Gilda Radner
Being "I've never been married, but I tell people I'm divorced so they won't think something's wrong with me." Elayne Boosler
Men and "Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backward and in high heels." Faith Whittlesey

Arriving just in time for Mother's Day and graduation ceremonies, Women Know Everything! is a superb gift for thoughtful women of all ages.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor, Reference

480 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Lenore Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dear Hubby has always said he knew he would marry Mrs. Right. He just did not know her first name would be Always. Yeah, that's me. It is so funny that I can tell him right where any thing is in the house. Missing socks to his toothbrush to that last hidden candy bar. Of course I know where the candy bar is. But it is more that I am detail minded (aka OCD) and know EVERTYTHING! Well not everything....but a heck of a lot of it.

Actually I am a very resourceful finder of things. Need help getting aid for a person, call me. I can tell you about food pantries, clothes closets, how to file for aid for homes and medical, the programs to lower your bills and the ones to give you a support group. If your looking for information. Click, click, click and I am looking it up. It was on this day in 1896 that the Tootsie Roll was introduced. It became America's first individually wrapped penny candy. And that just perfect quote.....Well of course I pick up "Women Know Everything". It is a fantastic lil PINK book that has 3,241 quips, quotes and brilliant (we are talking women here) remarks. This book first arrived in 2007 but the newest edition was released this month.

See what would be some favorites? Oh of course, my love of coffee. "Behind every successful woman . . . is a substantial amount of coffee." This was said by American cartoonist Stephanie Piro. I would have to second that one. But you know it is always to have another woman back you up when your out to win that discussion (we never argue, do we?) Don't take my word for it. Hermoine Gingold said "Fighting is essentially a masculine idea; a woman's weapon is her tongue." Oh and talking about us wonderful females...let's not forget that March is Women's History Month.

[María Eugenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es entretenido, sobre todo para leer a ratos. Tiene un montón de frases divididas por temas y de autoras muy distintas, desde Santa Teresa de Ávila a Beyoncé. Tanto escritoras como artistas, políticas, deportistas, científicas, exploradoras o activistas, entre otras (también alguna "madre de" o "mujer de" pero pocas). Los enfoques respecto a los temas también cambian y con unos estoy más de acuerdo que con otros.

Lo que no me gustó es que hay algunos detalles que podrían estar más cuidados. Por ejemplo, hay una frase de Marilyn Monroe ("Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.") que está publicada en una "autobiografía" publicada 12 años después de su muerte y que se cree que pudo haber sido escrita (o reescrita/editada) por otro autor. Ante la duda yo la hubiera dejado fuera.

También hay una frase de Mindy Kaling ("There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it.") que es graciosa pero está en la sección titulada "water" y no le veo mucha relación con el agua. Y luego hay un par de frases en francés y a continuación traducidas al inglés y no entiendo muy bien el criterio por el que algunas frases aparecen en francés y traducidas y otras solo traducidas. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Pero lo que me tiene más intrigada de todo el libro es esta frase: "Once you have heard the lark, known the swish of feet through hill- top grass and smelt the earth made ready for the seed, you are never again going to be fully happy about the cities and towns that man carries like a crippling weight upon his back." Bueno, no la frase en sí, la frase la entiendo/comparto perfectamente, lo que me intriga es que es una frase de Gwyn Thomas... que es un señor y no tengo muy claro qué hace en un libro con frases de señoras. 🤔

Y a parte de estas cosas que podían pulirse un poco más, me pone un poco nerviosa lo que hacen casi todos los recopilatorios de citas y es ponerlas sin contexto. Muchas de estas señoras vivieron más de 90 años. Me interesaría saber si es una cita de cuando tenían 20 años en los años 20 o si fue dicho en los 80 a los 80. Y otras citas de cómicas tienen toda la pinta de formar parte de monólogos o espectáculos. Son citas graciosas, pero a veces están mezcladas con citas serias sobre temas serios y parece que la del monólogo/entrevista de coña es una persona más frívola (que tampoco es que sea algo malo si esa es la idea que quieres dar al mundo) solo porque no hay contexto.

Y otra cosa que se hace mucho en las recopilaciones de citas y que me pone un poco del hígado es cuando se pone una cita sacada de un libro de ficción seguida del nombre del autor, sin citar ni libro ni personaje. Aquí hay varios ejemplos de obras de ficción que aparecen como citas de Jane Austen. Que sí, que al final lo escribió ella, pero debería marcarse que no es una cita directa. Por ejemplo, una de las citas atribuidas a Jane Austen ("Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.") está pronunciada en el libro por Mary Bennet, que es un personaje que tiene una forma de hablar un poco pedante. Aunque seguro que Austen está de acuerdo con la definición y está usando a Mary para compartirla con nosotros, está escrita para Mary. Las otras citas son del Coronel Brandon en Sentido y Sensibilidad, la narradora de Orgullo y Prejuicio refiriéndose a Mr Bingley, Emma en Emma, Frank Churchill en Emma, Catherine Morland en Northanger Abbey, Mrs Elton en Emma y Charlotte Lucas en Orgullo y Prejuicio. La única cita que es de ella misma es "I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them [a great deal].", sacada (y recortada al final, por lo que sea) de una carta a Cassandra. Podían haber usado solo citas de las cartas, que hay bastantes, y si no, citar libro y personaje. Y esto lo vi en varias autoras/libros que conozco, pero me habrá colado mil más de libros/autoras que no haya leído, con lo que me hace leer el resto de citas con un poco de escepticismo.

Así que el libro tiene sus cositas, pero son más las positivas que las negativas. Me quedo con las frases (y autoras) que no conocía para ver si investigo un poco más las que más me gustaron.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a large book with more than three thousand quotations of wisdom, wit and inspiration from legendary women who comment on everything from marriage to technology.

Those quoted include a wide range of women, everyone from Eleanor Roosevelt to Tina Fey. It is a book you can pick up and put down over a period of time, just the thing you want when you have a cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon, are sitting in a big chair by the window and want to read but are not in the mood to sink into a novel with a complicated plot and complex characters.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

There should be a little of something for everyone in this book. It seems to me that any viewpoint there can be is found within its pages. Some I agreed wholeheartedly with, others I didn’t. It’s a fun book, especially appealing to my inner feminist, since every single quote is from a woman (obviously).

I appreciated the diversity, both of the women giving the quotes, the viewpoints therein, and the time periods represented throughout.

I will say I don’t recommend sitting and reading the book cover-to-cover. I would suggest just having it available and looking up topics of interest as needed. But it’s a fun book to own and I bookmarked a lot of quotes for returning to later.

[Maggie Anton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I will never stop reading, because I'll never know when I might need a quote for a certain occasion. Some of the quotes are funny, some are serious, and some disagree with others. A true cross-section of women's opinions from different ethnicities and centuries on a myriad of subjects. I particularly appreciated that while the quotes are arranged alphabetically by subject, there is an index of women quoted in the back. Also each attribution includes the woman's birth & death dates, her occupation and country of origin.

Beware, readers - once you start perusing this book, thinking you'll only check one subject, the next thing you know it'll be a hour later and you're on to a whole new set of subjects.

[Catisha Scavairello · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so do not envy anyone that helped compile all of these quotes.

This book was ok. Some quotes made me laugh, some made great points, and some felt really stiff. There were times I felt a little bored with it. Hence, a star rating

[Mizloo · Rating 4 out of 5]

On my bedside table for a couple on weeks - interesting and widely varied quotes from all over the English-speaking world. Entertaining!

[Agnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many good quotes, so many intelligent women
here's my favorite:

"Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want."
Anna Lappe

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any quote book, some are inspirational and many are just meh. Glad to have read it.

[Flying Off The Shelves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who doesn't love a good quotation book? This is a particularly great one because it covers absolutely everything! It has quotations set up in alphabetical order based on the subject manner. From A-Z it has some of the best quotes of all time from women, history couldn't even dare to ignore! As Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is quoted as saying "Well-behaved women rarely make history" (page 48). Ms. Weekes has included some really fun and intelligent women in her book including Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Drew Barrymore, Margaret Cho, Ellen DeGeneres, Ani DiFranco, and Tina Fey, to name a few. There really are so many women included from all time periods and they aren't afraid of the hard issues. Some of the issues are Activism, Childbirth, Euthanasia, Gender Roles, Identity, Leadership, Mental Health, and really so much more.

In this day and age it's hard to believe that gender inequality still exists (for men & women). Books like this, aside from it's humorous title, I think are very important. I say this not because I am a feminist (and I am) but due to the little notice women are given in many history classes around the world. Many people can quote Einstein but few know anything about female scientists. For example, few people know Hedy Lamarr as anything but an actress but without her, Wifi wouldn't exist. To quote her "Films have a certain place in a certain time period. Technology is forever" (page 427) but sadly people remember her for her films not her contributions. To men this book is also important because it shows that history doesn't solely rest on their shoulders! It is everyone's responsibility to make change and turn this world into a better place for having us in it.

These insights and remarks aren't important just for changing the world or making history, they are for our own development too. These quotes make us examine how we really feel about certain issues. They invoke responses that may or may not surprise you. These quotes can also introduce you to women you have never heard about before, or sides of them you never knew existed. They may even inspire you to find your own voice and make a stand!

As for this month's theme of chick lit meets the paranormal, this is right on par. Our heroines are hilarious and memorable because of their witty one liners and cunning charm, just like our real life heroines. So take a moment out of today and look this book up. It's great for the night stand or coffee table, I personally recommend it as a graduation gift. As we all go through crazy transitions its important to see how others think, and learn from them as Eleanor Roosevelt said "Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself." (page 249) I give this book a glowing five star review because it covers many hard subject manners and brings us quotations from past famous women as well as women from today.

If you want to get involved with fixing gender inequality check out activist groups and watch what Congress is doing. HeforShe.org may be a good start as it recently has been on the world stage when Emma Watson made a speech about her support for equality. Characters Unite is another good way to get involved. There are many ways to get involved but nothing so important as watching how you treat others, men, women, other genders. "Be the change you want to see in the world" is a popular quotation and sounds pithy but it's true. You can't stand up for rights if you are inhibiting another's rights.

Note: I know many people who read this, may or may not recognize themselves under either male or female gender, you have not been excluded. This is for everyone's rights not just women and not just men, everyone deserves equal rights. Sometimes it's easier to boil this down to gender duality but do not think for one second I have forgotten you!

Read more reviews at http://flyingofftheshelves.blogspot.c...

[Chelsey Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of unhappy with the sexism of this one. I like the concept, but the title alone gives an idea of the potential pseudo-feminism within. There are some pretty anti-men quotes in here, as well as a few misogynist comments (some people seem to forget that just because a woman says it doesn't mean it's not anti-woman) but there are also some great equality quotes as well. Sort of have to pick and choose. Not a feminist collection by any means, but definitely includes some here and there. I was also unimpressed with the overall lack of theme here - there was nothing besides being female that linked the women or their thoughts together. I wish it had been a more focused collection, rather than just a jumbled collection of mish-mash that often contradicted itself.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a sit down and read through book. It's pick it up and read a few every now and then.

My favorite quote today:

To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.
-- Marilyn Vos Savant
American Columnist, Holder of Guinness World Record for Highest IQ (at the time of publication)

Yesterdays favorite quote:

Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard working, honest Americans. It's the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.
--Lily Tomlin
American Comedian and Actor

[Britt, Book Habitue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I read this cover to cover, the conflicting opinions were a little disorienting, lol. And naturally there were a lot of statements I didn't agree with, but it's a great collection.
My copy is very dog-eared.

[Ellie Cambron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can flip through this book on any occasion to suit my emotions. I love the vast collection of these qupis and quotes. I did not, however, like that many of the quotes contradicted each other. That was abit inconsistent. But overall, i like having it as a resource for wise quotes!

[Cyd Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a sit down and read book but it's a wonderful resource of comments, observations and sayings of different women. It's funny and full of insightful sayings. Some you will recognize and others will be new.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entertaining and enlightening collection has a bunch of quotes from women I've actually never seen before. Good stuff.

[Angela Pippinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the thousands of quotes! Everything from ability, age, religion, sex, work, ethics, and even youth. Great read!

[Stven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A browsable book of quotations.

[Subi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book to be read a little at a time.

[Jennifer]

If you are of the female sex you need this book.