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Sod Calm and Get Angry
During the current recession it seems our traditional stiff upper lip can only last so long before those other world-beating British skills come to the fore - quiet grumbling and resigned cynicism. "Sod Calm and Get Angry" is for anyone who has finally had enough of bankers and politicians and bosses telling them to keep sodding calm and to carry bloody on. "Sod Calm and Get Angry" is both a rallying call and essential tome of comforting wisdom for the depressed, enraged, disgruntled, disenfranchised and those of a naturally curmudgeonly disposition. On Politics: 'The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites" - Larry Hardiman. On Work: 'One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important' - Bertrand Russell. On Money: 'The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any' - Katherine Whitehorn. On Hypocrisy: 'Hypocrite: the man who murdered both his parents...pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan' - Abraham Lincoln. On War: 'You can't say civilisation don't advance...for in every war they kill you a new way' - Will Rogers. On Life: 'That's the secret to life...replace one worry with another' - Charles M Schulz.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published June 3, 2010
1 person is currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Robert Lowell
182 books269 followersRobert Lowell, born Robert Traill Spence Lowell, IV, was an American poet whose works, confessional in nature, engaged with the questions of history and probed the dark recesses of the self. He is generally considered to be among the greatest American poets of the twentieth century.
His first and second books, Land of Unlikeness (1944) and Lord Weary's Castle (for which he received a Pulitzer Prize in 1947, at the age of thirty), were influenced by his conversion from Episcopalianism to Catholicism and explored the dark side of America's Puritan legacy.
Under the influence of Allen Tate and the New Critics, he wrote rigorously formal poetry that drew praise for its exceptionally powerful handling of meter and rhyme. Lowell was politically involved—he became a conscientious objector during the Second World War and was imprisoned as a result, and actively protested against the war in Vietnam—and his personal life was full of marital and psychological turmoil. He suffered from severe episodes of manic depression, for which he was repeatedly hospitalized.
Partly in response to his frequent breakdowns, and partly due to the influence of such younger poets as W. D. Snodgrass and Allen Ginsberg, Lowell in the mid-fifties began to write more directly from personal experience, and loosened his adherence to traditional meter and form. The result was a watershed collection, Life Studies (1959), which forever changed the landscape of modern poetry, much as Eliot's The Waste Land had three decades before.
Considered by many to be the most important poet in English of the second half of the twentieth century, Lowell continued to develop his work with sometimes uneven results, all along defining the restless center of American poetry, until his sudden death from a heart attack at age 60. Robert Lowell served as a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets from 1962 until his death in 1977.
His first and second books, Land of Unlikeness (1944) and Lord Weary's Castle (for which he received a Pulitzer Prize in 1947, at the age of thirty), were influenced by his conversion from Episcopalianism to Catholicism and explored the dark side of America's Puritan legacy.
Under the influence of Allen Tate and the New Critics, he wrote rigorously formal poetry that drew praise for its exceptionally powerful handling of meter and rhyme. Lowell was politically involved—he became a conscientious objector during the Second World War and was imprisoned as a result, and actively protested against the war in Vietnam—and his personal life was full of marital and psychological turmoil. He suffered from severe episodes of manic depression, for which he was repeatedly hospitalized.
Partly in response to his frequent breakdowns, and partly due to the influence of such younger poets as W. D. Snodgrass and Allen Ginsberg, Lowell in the mid-fifties began to write more directly from personal experience, and loosened his adherence to traditional meter and form. The result was a watershed collection, Life Studies (1959), which forever changed the landscape of modern poetry, much as Eliot's The Waste Land had three decades before.
Considered by many to be the most important poet in English of the second half of the twentieth century, Lowell continued to develop his work with sometimes uneven results, all along defining the restless center of American poetry, until his sudden death from a heart attack at age 60. Robert Lowell served as a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets from 1962 until his death in 1977.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 25, 2020
This is a 2010 stocking-filler satirising The Little Book of Calm (1997) and the now ubiquitous Keep Calm and Carry On poster (1939, then rediscovered 2000). One quote per page, from philosophers, serious writers, humourists, and public figures.
It “does what it says on the tin”, as the famous Ronseal advert said. The list of 21 topics suggests triggers for anger: Politics, Stupidity. Deceit, Hypocrisy, Rat Race, Protest, and… yes, Anger. But in the end, my anger, such as it was, came mainly from the fact it wasn’t especially funny or even anger-inducing, it was very easy money for the compiler and publisher, and THE QUOTES WERE ALL IN SHOUTY CAPITALS.
Image: Keep calm and read a book - but maybe not this one
Some of the quips are very well-known, and half a dozen are from Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary, a far better book than this: see my review HERE.
This book would be more amusing if you could read the quotes and guess who said/wrote them, or at least, what sort of person said/wrote them. Maybe I have the seed of a quiz round for the next pandemic lockdown Zoom quiz.
Quotes that might inspire anger
• “An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.” Simon Cameron
• “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” Harry S Truman
• “I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” Jerome K Jerome
(Presumably an inspiration for Douglas Adams’ “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”)
• “If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank’s problem.” J Paul Getty
Quotes that are actually worth pondering
• “Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practise.” EM Forster
• “We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.” François de La Rochefoucauld
• “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Elie Wiesel
• “Happiness, N. An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.” Ambrose Bierce, Anglicising “schadenfreude”.
From Calm to Books, Black ones
The best thing to come from The Little Book of Calm is not this, but the TV sitcom, Black Books, which starts with a stressed accountant accidentally swallowing a copy! There's a one-minute video of an opening scene, HERE.
"You are a loose lily floating down an amber river."
Image: The cast of Black Books: Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), Manny Bianco (Bill Bailey), and Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig) (Source.)
It “does what it says on the tin”, as the famous Ronseal advert said. The list of 21 topics suggests triggers for anger: Politics, Stupidity. Deceit, Hypocrisy, Rat Race, Protest, and… yes, Anger. But in the end, my anger, such as it was, came mainly from the fact it wasn’t especially funny or even anger-inducing, it was very easy money for the compiler and publisher, and THE QUOTES WERE ALL IN SHOUTY CAPITALS.
Image: Keep calm and read a book - but maybe not this one
Some of the quips are very well-known, and half a dozen are from Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary, a far better book than this: see my review HERE.
This book would be more amusing if you could read the quotes and guess who said/wrote them, or at least, what sort of person said/wrote them. Maybe I have the seed of a quiz round for the next pandemic lockdown Zoom quiz.
Quotes that might inspire anger
• “An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.” Simon Cameron
• “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.” Harry S Truman
• “I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” Jerome K Jerome
(Presumably an inspiration for Douglas Adams’ “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”)
• “If you owe the bank $100 that’s your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank’s problem.” J Paul Getty
Quotes that are actually worth pondering
• “Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practise.” EM Forster
• “We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.” François de La Rochefoucauld
• “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” Elie Wiesel
• “Happiness, N. An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another.” Ambrose Bierce, Anglicising “schadenfreude”.
From Calm to Books, Black ones
The best thing to come from The Little Book of Calm is not this, but the TV sitcom, Black Books, which starts with a stressed accountant accidentally swallowing a copy! There's a one-minute video of an opening scene, HERE.
"You are a loose lily floating down an amber river."
Image: The cast of Black Books: Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), Manny Bianco (Bill Bailey), and Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig) (Source.)
December 8, 2019
This is a good little book of quotes for when you're feeling angry.
As it is voting time again next week, the country is completely divided and my entire facebook feed seems to be devoted to telling me which political party is lying to me, even though we all know the answer is ALL OF THEM!
The above is why I really liked this quote "Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge, even where there is no river." - Nikita Khrushchev.
As it is voting time again next week, the country is completely divided and my entire facebook feed seems to be devoted to telling me which political party is lying to me, even though we all know the answer is ALL OF THEM!
The above is why I really liked this quote "Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge, even where there is no river." - Nikita Khrushchev.
March 30, 2019
* Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
August 12, 2011
This book is really a whole collection of witticisms and quotes which really the title sums up perfectly. This was bought for me by my family - (not sure what they are trying to say) but anyone with a dry humour and a fair streak of cynicism would enjoy it.
February 4, 2020
A fun humour title filled with many small nuggets of wit and even profundity at times.
August 2, 2012
On a trip to England in May, a friend was showing me the plethora of souvenirs based on the following theme:
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I learned (from a historical note in the shop) that "Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. It had only limited distribution, so was little known. The poster was rediscovered in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of private companies, and used as the decorative theme for a range of products." (I took this info from Wikipedia, but it's the same story.)
I knew that the theme had expanded to a diverse number of slogans, but I have not yet purchased any of the souvenirs. Just today, I saw this book on my coworker's desk and had to laugh (his callsign is 'Angry.')
The book is a collection of sarcastic and humorous quotes from many different pundits and celebrities. It's a short book and has little more than the quotes. Still, I found it to be quite funny and worth a a short work break.
interesting quotes:
"The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'. [attributed to Larry Hardiman] (p. 13)
"Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count, really count." [attributed to Albert Einstein] (p. 65)
"It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly." [attributed to Bertrand Russell] (p. 108)
[image error]
I learned (from a historical note in the shop) that "Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 during the beginning of the Second World War, intended to raise the morale of the British public in the event of invasion. It had only limited distribution, so was little known. The poster was rediscovered in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of private companies, and used as the decorative theme for a range of products." (I took this info from Wikipedia, but it's the same story.)
I knew that the theme had expanded to a diverse number of slogans, but I have not yet purchased any of the souvenirs. Just today, I saw this book on my coworker's desk and had to laugh (his callsign is 'Angry.')
The book is a collection of sarcastic and humorous quotes from many different pundits and celebrities. It's a short book and has little more than the quotes. Still, I found it to be quite funny and worth a a short work break.
interesting quotes:
"The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'. [attributed to Larry Hardiman] (p. 13)
"Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count, really count." [attributed to Albert Einstein] (p. 65)
"It is preoccupation with possession, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly." [attributed to Bertrand Russell] (p. 108)
January 23, 2012
"When we ask for advice we are usually looking for an accomplice" - Marquis de la Grange
February 18, 2013
A funny book, most of the quotes I had heard before but good none the less
February 25, 2014
Short book of quotes to get me started reading again. But nothing much to it.
Read
June 17, 2018Well, I do not know how to rate it. After all, it is not their quotes.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews