Tag Archives: humor

Karl Kraus on Our Current Political Reality

Posted on April 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so that they believe they are as clever as he.”

Karl Kraus

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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The Devil’s Dictionary: Blank-Verse

Posted on April 10, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Blank-verse, n. Unrhymed iambic pentameters—the most difficult kind of English verse to write acceptably; a kind, therefore, much affected by those who cannot acceptably write any kind.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000. 

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Nietzsche on the Motivation of a Philosopher

Posted on April 9, 2020 | Leave a comment

“If you want to understand a philosopher, do not ask what he says, but find out what he wants.”

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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The Algonquin Wits: Dorothy Parker Reviews a Book on Science

Posted on April 7, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Reviewing a book on science, Mrs. Parker wrote, ‘It was written without fear and without research.’”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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The Algonquin Wits: George S. Kaufman Addresses a Critic

Posted on April 3, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Kaufman was seldom open to outside suggestions concerning his work, especially from persons he didn’t know. One self-appointed critic, on being snubbed by G.S.K. remarked, ‘Perhaps you don’t know who I am?’

‘That’s only part of it,’ said Kaufman.’”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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Rotten Reviews: On Mark Twain

Posted on April 1, 2020 | Leave a comment

“A hundred years from now it is very likely that ‘The Jumping Frog’ alone will be remembered.”

Harry Thurston Peck, The Bookman 1901 

Excerpted from: Barnard, Andre, and Bill Henderson, eds. Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections. Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1998. 

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John Kenneth Galbraith on the Greatest Pleasures of His Life

Posted on March 31, 2020 | Leave a comment

“One of my greatest pleasures in writing has come from the thought that perhaps my work might annoy someone of comfortably pretentious position. Then comes the saddening realization that such people rarely read.”

John Kenneth Galbraith

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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The Devil’s Dictionary: Evangelist

Posted on March 31, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Evangelist, n. A bearer of good tidings, particularly (in a religious sense) such as assure us of our own salvation and the damnation of our neighbors.”

Excerpted from: Bierce, Ambrose. David E. Schultz and S.J. Joshi, eds. The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2000. 

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The Algonquin Wits: Dorothy Parker, Famously, on Claire Boothe Luce

Posted on March 30, 2020 | Leave a comment

“Mrs. Parker once collided with Clare Boothe Luce in a doorway. ‘Age before beauty,’ cracked Mrs. Luce. ‘Pearls before swine,’ said Mrs. Parker, gliding through the door.”

Excerpted from: Drennan, Robert E., ed. The Algonquin Wits. New York: Kensington, 1985.

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Mark Twain on Profanity (in Our Current Circumstances)

Posted on March 29, 2020 | Leave a comment

“There ought to be a room in every house to swear in.”

Mark Twain

Excerpted from: Winokur, Jon, ed. The Big Curmudgeon. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007.

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