Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists

by James Geary

Both an expert and a collector, James Geary has devoted his life to aphorisms-and the last few years to organizing, indexing, and even translating them. The result is Geary's Guide, featuring aphorists like Voltaire, Twain, Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Woody Allen, Muhammad Ali, Emily Dickinson, and Mae West, as well as international practitioners appearing in English for the first time. But it is more than just a conventional anthology. It is also an encyclopedia, containing brief biographies of each author in addition to a selection of his or her aphorisms. The book is a field guide, too, with aphorists organized into eight different "species," such as Comics, Critics & Satirists; Icons & Iconoclasts; and Painters & Poets. The book's two indexes-by author and by subject-make it easily searchable, while its unique organizational structure and Geary's lively biographical entries set it apart from all previous reference works.
A perfect follow-up to Geary's New York Times bestseller The World in a Phrase , Geary's Guide is eminently suitable for browsing or for sustained reading. A comprehensive guide to our most intimate, idiosyncratic literary form, the book is an indispensable tool for writers and public speakers as well as essential reading for all language lovers.

"...a wonderful breviary of wisdom, insight and cynicism, and one that will immediately find a place at many bedsides...there are pleasures and surprises galore."- Washington Post
"An agreeable thing to have in your lap."-Dwight Garner
" Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists is a rich, well-edited compendium, which is at once a feast, a frolic, a thought-kit and a treasure trove. A book to relish and to keep close."-John Lahr, New Yorker "A masterful compilation from a man adept at taking the pith."-Ben Schott

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Writing, Collections, Humor

448 pages, Hardcover

Published October 8, 2007

About the author

James Geary is the author of the New York Times bestseller The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism (second edition), Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It, I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way We See the World, Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists, and The Body Electric: An Anatomy of The New Bionic Senses. He is an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, the former deputy curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, where he edited Nieman Reports, and the former editor of the European edition of Time magazine.

Reviews

[Gretchen Rubin]

I love aphorisms. This giant collection took weeks to read. Even an enthusiast like me can only read so many aphorisms at a time.

[James Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have enjoyed aphoristic thinkers and writers for most of my reading life. Authors from Epictetus to Rochester and, especially the Germans: Lichtenberg, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and my favorite, Goethe ("A good man is always a beginner").
James Geary has compiled an authoritative guide that not only includes all of those and many other well known writers but those less well known with aphorisms that often surprise the reader with aptness if not always greatness. The aphorists are grouped by category such as comics, moralists, painters and poets. In addition to the aphorisms there is a brief biography for each author. One of the most fascinating aspects of the guide are aphoristic comparisons called "Parallel Lines". These are included after many of the entries and present varying interpretations of similar aphorisms by different authors.
Importantly for the reader there are two indices that provide listings by author and by theme. More importantly for those who want to explore an author in depth there is an extensive bibliography. As with most reference books of this kind I enjoy dipping into the book from time to time. It is exciting to find authors previously unknown who have pithy or poignant things to say. One of my favorite sections is titled "Strange Beasts" and include those aphorists who "resist easy categorization" according to Geary. Included in this group are aphorists as disparate as Emily Dickinson and Ludwig Wittgentstein. Also in this group is Ambrose Bierce who appropriately wrote, "Aphorism, n. Predigested wisdom."

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking." Geary's Guide to the World's Greatest Aphorists, by the aptly named James Geary, is the latest addition to my list of fun reference books. Many of the entries will be familiar, even if the original author isn't. Aphorisms are fun like that. I especially love it, though, for being the first quote book I've owned to include Steven Wright. (My favorite stand-up. "The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.") There's the usual suspects in the Witty Quote Book line-up, of course. There's the classics from Dorothy Parker, like "I am a cynical bitch.", and of course George Bernard Shaw's greatest hits, like "I am secretly, painfully in love with Oscar Wilde." But you'll also discover new artists you've possibly never heard of, and maybe put a name to that quote about fairness and the law that your mother used to use on you when you were twelve. Geary gives a brief biography of each aphorist, and the groupings make a giggling bit of sense. A fun book.

NC

[Heather Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great reference organized in an unusual way. Instead of grouping these aphorisms by topic, Geary creates general categories (artists and poets, for example) and then provides multiple aphorisms for each person listed within the category. He also note recurring themes, although sometimes these seem to be a bit of a stretch.

I found it most useful to read through the book cover to cover, marking my favorites. The biographical snippets are interesting, too.

[Chuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like it when a line from a poem, play, or novel is taken out of context and attributed to the writer as a personal utterance. You can argue that Shakespeare entered the confessional in the sonnets (though I believe that the speaker of the sonnets is a literary device), but it is misleading to take an aphoristic line from a play and attribute it to him. "This royal throne of kings...." from Richard II is one of the best examples of this. Not only do excerpts from that not represent Shakespeare's personal views, but they are nearly always misleading out of context.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not really a "read from beginning to end" book but a "dipping into" book. While he has brief introductions to each aphorist, the core of the book is the many wonderful aphorisms themselves. I stopped marking ones to save after a while because there were just too many of them.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow ! This book was entertaining, informative and provided me with a plethora of witty remarks for every occasion, well all most ! A great read, never boring and Ive taken it off the shelf so many time that I keep it handy beside my reading chair for reference and for laughs.

[Djiezes]

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[Arlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't really a book to read cover to cover, but to dip into and read the short bios and the aphorisms. Fun if you like either of those kinds of things.

[Coleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best coffee table books you could own...

[Shannon Tapia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a grt collection of quotes and it just food fo the mind, enjoying it

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good reference book!

[Lexie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brain candy for the curious and pithy-minded ~ For thinkers and writers ... explosive inspiration ~ My #1 reference for spot-on quotations :-) Thank you, James Geary!

[C.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only volume of aphorisms ever worth an aphorism itself. A good book of maxims is like a good conversation -- its silences and biographical digressions are as keen as its quips.

[Beth Summerour · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is like my Bible!