Jerry Curl

For more than twenty-five years, Dr. Mardy Grothe has compiled nearly 2,000 examples of cautionary advice he's termed "Neverisms." Well he's published that advice in his new book entitled Neverisms: A Quotation Lover's Guide to Things You Should Never Do, Never Say, or Never Forget . From the book description: The best term for an emphatic piece of dissuasive advice is neverism. You won't find the term in any dictionary (at least not yet) because quotation anthologist Dr. Grothe coined it himself for this collection of nearly two thousand quotable cautionary warnings. With the whimsical and witty intermixed with the serious and profound, contributors range from Aesop and Marcus Aurelius to John Wayne and Mae West. Organized by topics such as Wit & Wordplay, Politics & Government, Sports, Stage & Screen, and The Literary Life, this is a book about quotations as well as a book of them. Some great examples: Never lose sight of the fact that old age ne...

This from a new biography of E.M.Forster, An Unrecorded History : Forster, was gay and tormented in the private schools he attended, wrote... Ladies and gentlemen, boys and bies; school was the unhappiest time of my life, and the worst trick it played on me was to pretend that it was the world in miniature. For it hindered me from discovering how lovely and delightful the world can be, and how much of it is intelligible. From this platform of middle age, this throne of experience, this alter of wisdom, this scaffold of character, this beacon of hope, this threshold of decay, my last words to you are: "there's a better time coming." (Via Dan Savage )

"For long you live and high you fly For smiles you give and tears you cry For all you touch and all you see Is all your life will ever be." -Pink Floyd

"Quotation is a serviceable substitute for wit.” - Oscar Wilde

"Talent does what it can; genius does what it must." -Robert Bulwer-Lytton

"I believe that writing is derivative. I think good writing comes from good reading." - Charles Kuralt

"There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.” -Woodrow Wilson

“We do not come to you pleading your understanding or begging your tolerance, we come to you affirming our pride in our life-style, affirming the validity to seek and maintain meaningful emotional relationships and affirming our right to participate in the life of this country on an equal basis with every citizen.” - Jim Foster, 1972

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter." - John Keats

"A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice." - Bill Cosby

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." - T.S. Eliot

"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." - Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

"The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven." - John Milton

"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color." -Maya Angelou

"In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer

"There are certain romances that belong in certain cities, in a certain atmosphere, in a certain time." - Sammy Davis, Jr.

"We think too much and feel too little. More than machinary, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life would be violent and all will be lost." - Charlie Chaplin

"Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?" - Rene Descartes