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| The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said | 
 enlarge | Author: Robert Byrne
Publisher: Fireside
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $1.08
You Save: $15.87 (94%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (7 reviews)
Sales Rank: 98023
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 672
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.4
ISBN: 0743235797
Dewey Decimal Number: 082
EAN: 9780743235792
ASIN: 0743235797
Publication Date: December 31, 2002
Release Date: December 31, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Drawing from diverse personages -- Goethe to Churchill to Woody Allen -- Robert Byrne has mined a collection of wit and wisdom that deserves a special place on every humor lover's bookshelf. These unique, witty, and outrageous quotations, previously published in four separate volumes, are now gathered together in a seemingly limitless trove of pithy and often irreverent one-liners, retorts, put-downs, jokes, and last words that cover every conceivable subject and will appeal to every taste. Highlights include:"Start every day with a smile and get it over with." -- W. C. Fields "Men read maps better than women because only men understand that an inch canequal a hundred miles." -- Roseanne Barr "Happiness is having a large loving family in another city." -- George Burns
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
Humorous, but not well documented. December 26, 2007
This book is a combination of four - 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said books. The selections have been chosen more on the basis of their humor than anything else. As such this puts it in a different category than the standard quotation books.
I generally judge quotation books on the basis of the number of Shakespeare quotations compared to those by H.L.Mencken. A preponderance of the former means that the book is primarily literary, whereas a preponderance of the latter denotes a tendency for more modern (and cynical) quotations. For the record, this book contains only three by Shakespeare and 27 by Mencken. It also contains 37 by Woody Allen, 18 by Will Rodgers, 12 by Joan Rivers, 11 by Rodney Dangerfield and 20 by Johnny Carson. Clearly, this is more of a humor book than one of literary quotations. (There are also 10 by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 7 by Samuel Johnson, 15 by Friedrich Nietzsche and 20 by George Bernard Shaw, so there is also a somewhat more serious side to some of the selections.)
Unfortunately, the quotations are not, in my opinion, sufficiently documented. There are a large number quotations just referenced as Unknown and many taken from graffiti. Where documentation is given, it is provided at the back of the book, instead being provided in the body of the book, and most of these references just point to the book of quotations from which the selection was taken. Thus, if you want to determine the exact source of the quotation you need another book. The author should have at least copied the exact source of the quotation when he took the quote itself. As it is, all you get in the text for deceased authors is a birth and death year, but not even a birth year is given for living authors. There are some previously un-referenced quotations, for which more documentation is provided, but these are in a minority.
 Byrne is a bit of a rogue July 1, 2003
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
This is as fun as any number of similar books, perhaps even more so, but there are some er... surprising features:
- a fair number of the "best things anyone's ever said" were apparently said by Robert Byrne himself. Hmm...
- Where Byrne doesn't like the quote he just changes it, Oscar Wilde in particular gets mangled
- I can't prove it, but I'm sure some of these quotes are just made up: one from Andrew Mellon in particular rings false
- Sometimes he gives the source of the quote, sometimes he can't be bothered
- Michael Douglas is "Michael Douglas, actor and producer", all the other yahoos you've never heard of remain just a bunch of namesAnyway - there are 2 types of readers out there: those that find Byrne's roguishness charming, and those that don't. I'm sort of in the former group, as is Byrne himself.
 Very entertaining. September 19, 2002
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Usually, I only review music, but I just have to put in my two cents on this book.Perhaps a better title for this extremely entertaining quote book is "The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said When They Were In A Really Cynical Mood." By limiting himself to the acerbic, Robert Byrne has created a most unusual quote book. Unlike most qoute books, this is not a reference book, but rather a book to be read for pleasure. All in all, superb bathroom reading.
Enjoyable conversation piece type book December 15, 2001
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
Maybe 2,548 quotes but not that many different quotes. The book is a combination of his previous four books. They are placed one after the other and bound together as one book. The problem is that the books have not been culled of repeats. So, many quotes show up in all four books and therefore show up four times in this book.
I will have to say that it contains lots of quotes that I have not seen anywhere else and it is an enjoyable read. Each of the four books is organized into logical sections and related quotes in each section.
When you have ten minutes of time to kill it is easy to pick up and read a few passages and then put it down. It is an interesting read and is well worth the price even with the repeats.
Unusually Quote Book, but Fun September 21, 2000
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
I thought that this book was funny. For the most part, it doesn't include quotations that you will find in other places. Instead the author quotes people from Johnny Carson to Winston Churchill. There doesn't seem to be an predictable connection, except the personal preferences of the author. As such, if you thing like the author, it makes for an interesting read. I guess it would be of the most use for people who want a good quote, that few other people would use. I haven't used the book professionally, but I enjoyed reading it from time to time. And, as a bonus, the author adds in some interesting pictures which I really enjoyed.
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