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20,000 Quips & Quotes
Creditedquotationsfromcelebritiesthroughouthistory,journalists,andnobellaureates,aswellesanonymousclips.
- GenresReferenceNonfiction
908 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1968
28 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Evan Esar
34 books10 followersEvan Esar (1899–1995) was an American humorist who wrote Esar's Comic Dictionary 1943, "Humorous English" in 1961, and 20,000 Quips and Quotes in 1968. He is known for quotes like "Statistics: The only science that enables different experts using the same figures to draw different conclusions." He also wrote The Legend of Joe Miller, which was privately printed for members of the Roxburghe Club of San Francisco by the Grabhorn Press in 1957.
His quotes are commonly found in Crossword puzzles.
His quotes are commonly found in Crossword puzzles.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 7, 2009
One of my hobbies is collecting quotes, but I don't recommend this collection. I don't have much of a tolerance for quote collectors who quote themselves more than others or who leave most of the quotes as anonymous or unknown. It is arranged by topics though with an index. That's always nice.
February 25, 2016
Very outdated and sexist but amusing at times.
September 13, 2018
Grins and Chuckles
I have a midsized collection of around 40 or so books of quotations, among my favourites being a well worn International Thesaurus of Quotations which I've had since high school and Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Times along with specialty items such as Primetime Proverbs Bk of TV Qu and As They See Us but I had never heard of Evan Esar who was a nationally syndicated columnist back in the 1960s. Further I also enjoy talks and books where the author uses introductory quotes with a touch of humour to summarize what is about to come. This copy recently showed up at a used book sale and after 15-20 minutes of flipping through the pages and grinning all the while I decided I had to have it, and that the book deserved a promotional boost in the form of a review.
All of the quotations are, as the title suggests, quip sized, that is, fairly short. About half are attributed, the rest anonymous, and of the latter many are purportedly by the author himself - ostensibly the lack of documentation was out of modestly. A fair number are sexist, which is more an indicator of how far we've come in the last few decades, though many can be adapted for either sex or none. This one can choose to overlook as one is pretty much guaranteed to find at least two or more appealing and trenchant witticisms (if not more) per page, an excellent rate of return for such a modestly priced work. The citation is also limited to the person, but not the source, which may be a drawback for academic use, unless it can be tracked down elsewhere.
A few examples from pages chosen at random...
Brevity: There's a great power in words, if you don't hitch too many of them together. - Josh Billings
If you want a real lasting finish put on your car, try beating the train to the railway crossing. -Anon
We throw flowers at the dead, and mud at the living. - Anon
Tact consists in knowing how far to go too far. - Jean Cocteau
What the American public wants in the theatre is a tragedy with a happy ending - William Dean Howells (Les Miserables would be a perfect example)
Curated collections of quotes can be found both digitally and in print - this one is far better than anything I've come across online. Keeping these caveats in mind, and assuming you enjoy laughing out loud, Recommended.
I have a midsized collection of around 40 or so books of quotations, among my favourites being a well worn International Thesaurus of Quotations which I've had since high school and Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Times along with specialty items such as Primetime Proverbs Bk of TV Qu and As They See Us but I had never heard of Evan Esar who was a nationally syndicated columnist back in the 1960s. Further I also enjoy talks and books where the author uses introductory quotes with a touch of humour to summarize what is about to come. This copy recently showed up at a used book sale and after 15-20 minutes of flipping through the pages and grinning all the while I decided I had to have it, and that the book deserved a promotional boost in the form of a review.
All of the quotations are, as the title suggests, quip sized, that is, fairly short. About half are attributed, the rest anonymous, and of the latter many are purportedly by the author himself - ostensibly the lack of documentation was out of modestly. A fair number are sexist, which is more an indicator of how far we've come in the last few decades, though many can be adapted for either sex or none. This one can choose to overlook as one is pretty much guaranteed to find at least two or more appealing and trenchant witticisms (if not more) per page, an excellent rate of return for such a modestly priced work. The citation is also limited to the person, but not the source, which may be a drawback for academic use, unless it can be tracked down elsewhere.
A few examples from pages chosen at random...
Brevity: There's a great power in words, if you don't hitch too many of them together. - Josh Billings
If you want a real lasting finish put on your car, try beating the train to the railway crossing. -Anon
We throw flowers at the dead, and mud at the living. - Anon
Tact consists in knowing how far to go too far. - Jean Cocteau
What the American public wants in the theatre is a tragedy with a happy ending - William Dean Howells (Les Miserables would be a perfect example)
Curated collections of quotes can be found both digitally and in print - this one is far better than anything I've come across online. Keeping these caveats in mind, and assuming you enjoy laughing out loud, Recommended.
May 9, 2024
For every quote by someone like Mark Twain or Proust, there are nearly eleven by the author. I find it interesting that the author thinks his collection exists in the same class as Cicero's or Shakespeare's
Please enjoy some hand selected quotes from the book:
"The most curious thing in the world is the woman who isn't. (200)"
"The job of a drummer is not so much to nake good music as to drown out the bad. (248)"
"Give, and your wife will forgive. (324)"
" A man likes to feel he is loved, a woman likes to be told (499)"
"Why is it we never hear of a self-made woman? (714)"
Please enjoy some hand selected quotes from the book:
"The most curious thing in the world is the woman who isn't. (200)"
"The job of a drummer is not so much to nake good music as to drown out the bad. (248)"
"Give, and your wife will forgive. (324)"
" A man likes to feel he is loved, a woman likes to be told (499)"
"Why is it we never hear of a self-made woman? (714)"
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews