"The only difference between a Rut and a Grave are their dimensions." Ellen Glasgow
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A little less worthy than the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, this 550 page directory is listed alphabetically, by category: ability, death, fate, youth, Zen, etc. It achieves a good balance of humo(u)r from both sides of the Atlantic, as befits an author who splits her time between the UK and the US. The most prolific contributors are Woody Allen, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Stanislaw J. Lec, H. L. Mencken, George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and, of course, The Simpsons. Shakespeare and the Bible hardly got a look in!
Ellen Glasgow was an American novelist; Wikipedia is a very useful accompaniment to this book, as it provides no clues as to who the people quoted are. Her contribution is a thought provoking one for the turn of the year, I thought. Or perhaps I prefer Spike Milligan: "There is a time to live, a time to die, a time to laugh, and at no time are the three of them very far apart."
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