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I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like: A Comprehensive Compilation of History's Greatest Analogies, Metaphors, and Similes
The murals in restaurants are on a par with the food in museums.Describing something by relating it to another thing is the essence of metaphorical thought. It is one of the oldest activities of humankind—and one of the most impressive when done skillfully. Throughout history, many masters of metaphor have crafted observations that are so spectacular they have taken up a permanent residence in our minds.
America is an enormous frosted cupcake in the middle of millions of starving people.
Critics are like pigs at the pastry cart.
In I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like, quotation maven Dr. Mardy Grothe fixes his attention on the three superstars of figurative language—analogies, metaphors, and similes. The result is an extraordinary compilation of nearly 2,000 feats of association that will entertain, educate, and occasionally inspire quotation lovers everywhere.
In this intellectual smorgasbord, the author of Oxymoronica and Viva la Repartee explains figurative language in a refreshingly down-to-earth way before taking readers on a tour of history's greatest word pictures. In chapters on wit, love, sex, stage and screen, insults, politics, sports, and more, you will find quotations from Aristotle and Maya Angelou to George Washington and Oprah Winfrey.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2008
208 people are currently reading
1,016 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
October 3, 2016
My fav quotes (not a review):
Page 89 |
"The lights are on, but there’s nobody home."
Page 91 |
"She is a phenomenon of nature, like Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon. You can’t talk to it. It can’t talk to you. All you can do is stand back and be awed by it."
Page 92 |
"beautiful palace without central heating."
Page 94 |
"He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened."
Page 95 |
"He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow."
Page 96 |
"He talks so fast that listening to him is like trying to read Playboy magazine with your wife turning the pages."
Page 97 |
"Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It had no mother."
Page 97 |
"If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want drilling rights on George Bush’s head."
Page 98 |
"He was to ordinary male chauvinist pigs what Moby Dick was to whales."
Page 98 |
"A grenade with the pin pulled."
Page 98 |
"As a work of art, it has the same status as a long conversation between two not very bright drunks."
Page 100
"He looks just like the little man on the wedding cake."
Page 100
"His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar."
Page 104
"Poor George, he can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."
Page 113
"Unsolicited advice is the junk mail of life."
Page 113
"Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind."
Page 113
"personal observation inflated into a universal truth, a private posing as a general."
Page 114
"Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof."
Page 115
"A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind."
Page 116
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity."
Page 117
"Global warming might be a fever the earth is running in an attempt to ward off a deadly infection known as homo sapiens."
Page 121
"Scientists are peeping toms at the keyhole of eternity."
Page 122
"Toleration is the best religion."
Page 122
"“Truth is a fruit which should not be plucked until it is ripe.�"
Page 122
"Wine is bottled poetry."
Page 130
"The implication is clear—drink enough of life so that, at the end, you won’t be thirsting for more; but not so much that you will stagger in a stupor into your grave."
Page 132
"“Life is a sexually transmitted disease and there is a one-hundred percent mortality rate.�"
Page 146
"A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."
Page 149
"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit."
Page 149
"Jealousy in romance is like salt in food. A little can enhance the savor, but too much can spoil the pleasure and, under certain circumstances, can be life-threatening."
Page 150
"It has been said that a pretty face is like a passport. But it’s not; it’s a visa, and it runs out fast."
Page 150
"A woman is like your shadow� follow her, she flies; fly from her, she follows."
Page 151
"The firmest friendships have been formed in mutual adversity, as iron is most strongly united by the fiercest flame."
Page 151
"Women are like tricks by sleight of hand, Which, to admire, we should not understand."
Page 153
"“Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.�"
Page 154
"Relationships are hard. It’s like a full-time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks� notice. There should be severance pay, and before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp."
Page 155
"A woman . . . should be like a good suspense movie. The more left to the imagination, the more excitement there is. This should be her aim—to create suspense."
Page 156
"wind douses a candle and kindles a fire."
Page 157
"The worldly relations of men and women often form an equation that cancels out without warning when some insignificant factor has been added to either side."
Page 157
"Women’s hearts are like old china, none the worse for a break or two."
Page 157
"When women kiss it always reminds one of prize-fighters shaking hands."
Page 161
"Talking with a man is like trying to saddle a cow. You work like hell, but what’s the point?"
Page 161
"The first time you buy a house you think how pretty it is and sign the check. The second time you look to see if the basement has termites."
"The Consolations of Philosophy (Alain de Botton)"
Page 46 |
"feeding without a friend is the life of a lion or a wolf."
"The Consolations of Philosophy (Alain de Botton)"
Page 47 |
"(‘We must free ourselves from the prison of everyday affairs and politics�), and began what could best have been described as a commune, accepting a simpler way of life in exchange for independence. They would have less money but would never again have to follow the commands of odious superiors."
Page 174
"I have met on the street a very poor man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat was out at the elbows, the water passed through his shoes, and the stars through his soul."
Page 179
"Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties."
Page 181
"To say that you can love one person all your life is like saying that one candle will continue to burn as long as you live. L E O TO L S TOY"
Page 183
"“When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.�"
Page 187
"Marriage is the only war where one sleeps with the enemy."
Page 190
"Conjugality made me think of a three-legged race, where two people cannot go fast and keep tripping each other because their two legs are tied together."
Page 197
"Marriage is like a five-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, all sky."
Page 197
"A man’s home may seem to be his castle on the outside; inside it is more often his nursery."
Page 197
"After the chills and fever of love, how nice is the 98.6º of marriage!"
Page 201
"Men are April when they woo, December when they wed: m a r r i a g e , h o m e & f a m i l y l i f e / 197 maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives."
Page 201
"just as a sailor becomes dependent on the sea."
Page 202
"Take it from me, marriage is not a word . . . it’s a sentence!"
Page 208
"Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex; you thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did."
Page 219
"Most men approach sex a lot like shooting a game of pinball. We don’t have any idea about the internal workings or what we should do to win, we’re just gonna try to keep the ball in play as long as possible."
Page 228
"the stages of a woman’s life in a spectacular geo- graphical metaphor: From 16 to 22, like Africa—part virgin, part explored; 23 to 35, like Asia—hot and mysterious; 35 to 45, like the USA—high-toned and technical; 46 to 55, like Europe—quite devastated, but interesting in places."
Page 229
"Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get, the more tired and breathless you become� but your views become more extensive."
Page 230
"The dead might as well try to speak to the living as the old to the young."
Page 232
"At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide."
Page 232
"If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart."
Page 233
"“When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults.�"
Page 237
"The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped."
Page 241
"I make all my decisions on intuition. I throw a spear into the darkness. That is intuition. Then I must send an army into the darkness to find the spear. That is intellect."
Page 243
"Television is chewing gum for the eyes."
Page 246
"A play is like a cigar. If it is a failure no amount of puffing will make it draw. If it is a success everyone wants a box."
Page 246
"Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath."
Page 246
"“If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and . . . if they had been any better, I should not have come.�"
Page 248
"When I talk to him, I feel like a plant that’s been watered."
Page 249
"I felt like a raisin in a gigantic fruit salad."
Page 250
"“Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you’ve got a pretty neck.� Tyne"
Page 252
"“Working for Warner Brothers is like fucking a porcupine; it’s a hundred pricks against one.�"
Page 259
"A monarchy is a merchantman, which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; whilst a republic is a raft which would never sink, but then your feet are always in the water."
Page 262
"Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through."
Page 268
"Treaties are like roses and young girls—they last while they last. C H A R L E S D E G AU L L E"
Page 268
"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field."
Page 270
"if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows."
Page 273
"Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it’s important."
Page 273
"Political image is like mixing cement. When it’s wet, you can move it around and shape it, but at some point it hardens and there’s almost nothing you can do to reshape"
Page 277
"“Whoever mounts a tiger can never again dismount.�"
"Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (Deepak Chopra, M.D.)"
Page 90 |
"However, emotional factors have been strongly linked to another major type of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis. This disorder seems to favor women who have a marked tendency to repress emotion, who adopt passivity and depression as a mode of coping with stress rather than getting angry or confronting serious emotional issues. The disease can get worse under stress, and, for inexplicable reasons, it can also disappear, perhaps in obedience to a deeper current of change."
Page 277
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed frequently, and for the same reason."
Page 284
"There are no winners, only survivors."
Page 285
"Playing polo is like trying to play golf during an earthquake."
Page 286
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hand can’t hit what the eye can’t see."
Page 290
"Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course: the space between your ears."
Page 291
"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile."
Page 294
"Statistics are used by baseball fans in much the same way that a drunk leans against a street lamp; it’s there more for support than enlightenment."
Page 305
"With a novelist, like a surgeon, you have to get a feeling that you’ve fallen into good hands� someone from whom you can accept the anesthetic with confidence."
Page 306
"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting."
Page 317
"A good writer is not, per se, a good book critic. No more than a good drunk is automatically a good bartender."
Page 89 |
"The lights are on, but there’s nobody home."
Page 91 |
"She is a phenomenon of nature, like Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon. You can’t talk to it. It can’t talk to you. All you can do is stand back and be awed by it."
Page 92 |
"beautiful palace without central heating."
Page 94 |
"He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened."
Page 95 |
"He was like a cock who thought the sun had risen to hear him crow."
Page 96 |
"He talks so fast that listening to him is like trying to read Playboy magazine with your wife turning the pages."
Page 97 |
"Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. It had no mother."
Page 97 |
"If ignorance ever goes to $40 a barrel, I want drilling rights on George Bush’s head."
Page 98 |
"He was to ordinary male chauvinist pigs what Moby Dick was to whales."
Page 98 |
"A grenade with the pin pulled."
Page 98 |
"As a work of art, it has the same status as a long conversation between two not very bright drunks."
Page 100
"He looks just like the little man on the wedding cake."
Page 100
"His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. It enabled him to run, though not to soar."
Page 104
"Poor George, he can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth."
Page 113
"Unsolicited advice is the junk mail of life."
Page 113
"Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind."
Page 113
"personal observation inflated into a universal truth, a private posing as a general."
Page 114
"Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof."
Page 115
"A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind."
Page 116
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity."
Page 117
"Global warming might be a fever the earth is running in an attempt to ward off a deadly infection known as homo sapiens."
Page 121
"Scientists are peeping toms at the keyhole of eternity."
Page 122
"Toleration is the best religion."
Page 122
"“Truth is a fruit which should not be plucked until it is ripe.�"
Page 122
"Wine is bottled poetry."
Page 130
"The implication is clear—drink enough of life so that, at the end, you won’t be thirsting for more; but not so much that you will stagger in a stupor into your grave."
Page 132
"“Life is a sexually transmitted disease and there is a one-hundred percent mortality rate.�"
Page 146
"A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle."
Page 149
"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit."
Page 149
"Jealousy in romance is like salt in food. A little can enhance the savor, but too much can spoil the pleasure and, under certain circumstances, can be life-threatening."
Page 150
"It has been said that a pretty face is like a passport. But it’s not; it’s a visa, and it runs out fast."
Page 150
"A woman is like your shadow� follow her, she flies; fly from her, she follows."
Page 151
"The firmest friendships have been formed in mutual adversity, as iron is most strongly united by the fiercest flame."
Page 151
"Women are like tricks by sleight of hand, Which, to admire, we should not understand."
Page 153
"“Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.�"
Page 154
"Relationships are hard. It’s like a full-time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks� notice. There should be severance pay, and before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp."
Page 155
"A woman . . . should be like a good suspense movie. The more left to the imagination, the more excitement there is. This should be her aim—to create suspense."
Page 156
"wind douses a candle and kindles a fire."
Page 157
"The worldly relations of men and women often form an equation that cancels out without warning when some insignificant factor has been added to either side."
Page 157
"Women’s hearts are like old china, none the worse for a break or two."
Page 157
"When women kiss it always reminds one of prize-fighters shaking hands."
Page 161
"Talking with a man is like trying to saddle a cow. You work like hell, but what’s the point?"
Page 161
"The first time you buy a house you think how pretty it is and sign the check. The second time you look to see if the basement has termites."
"The Consolations of Philosophy (Alain de Botton)"
Page 46 |
"feeding without a friend is the life of a lion or a wolf."
"The Consolations of Philosophy (Alain de Botton)"
Page 47 |
"(‘We must free ourselves from the prison of everyday affairs and politics�), and began what could best have been described as a commune, accepting a simpler way of life in exchange for independence. They would have less money but would never again have to follow the commands of odious superiors."
Page 174
"I have met on the street a very poor man who was in love. His hat was old, his coat was out at the elbows, the water passed through his shoes, and the stars through his soul."
Page 179
"Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties."
Page 181
"To say that you can love one person all your life is like saying that one candle will continue to burn as long as you live. L E O TO L S TOY"
Page 183
"“When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind.�"
Page 187
"Marriage is the only war where one sleeps with the enemy."
Page 190
"Conjugality made me think of a three-legged race, where two people cannot go fast and keep tripping each other because their two legs are tied together."
Page 197
"Marriage is like a five-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, all sky."
Page 197
"A man’s home may seem to be his castle on the outside; inside it is more often his nursery."
Page 197
"After the chills and fever of love, how nice is the 98.6º of marriage!"
Page 201
"Men are April when they woo, December when they wed: m a r r i a g e , h o m e & f a m i l y l i f e / 197 maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives."
Page 201
"just as a sailor becomes dependent on the sea."
Page 202
"Take it from me, marriage is not a word . . . it’s a sentence!"
Page 208
"Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex; you thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did."
Page 219
"Most men approach sex a lot like shooting a game of pinball. We don’t have any idea about the internal workings or what we should do to win, we’re just gonna try to keep the ball in play as long as possible."
Page 228
"the stages of a woman’s life in a spectacular geo- graphical metaphor: From 16 to 22, like Africa—part virgin, part explored; 23 to 35, like Asia—hot and mysterious; 35 to 45, like the USA—high-toned and technical; 46 to 55, like Europe—quite devastated, but interesting in places."
Page 229
"Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get, the more tired and breathless you become� but your views become more extensive."
Page 230
"The dead might as well try to speak to the living as the old to the young."
Page 232
"At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide."
Page 232
"If wrinkles must be written on our brows, let them not be written upon the heart."
Page 233
"“When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults.�"
Page 237
"The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped."
Page 241
"I make all my decisions on intuition. I throw a spear into the darkness. That is intuition. Then I must send an army into the darkness to find the spear. That is intellect."
Page 243
"Television is chewing gum for the eyes."
Page 246
"A play is like a cigar. If it is a failure no amount of puffing will make it draw. If it is a success everyone wants a box."
Page 246
"Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath."
Page 246
"“If my books had been any worse, I should not have been invited to Hollywood, and . . . if they had been any better, I should not have come.�"
Page 248
"When I talk to him, I feel like a plant that’s been watered."
Page 249
"I felt like a raisin in a gigantic fruit salad."
Page 250
"“Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you’ve got a pretty neck.� Tyne"
Page 252
"“Working for Warner Brothers is like fucking a porcupine; it’s a hundred pricks against one.�"
Page 259
"A monarchy is a merchantman, which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; whilst a republic is a raft which would never sink, but then your feet are always in the water."
Page 262
"Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through."
Page 268
"Treaties are like roses and young girls—they last while they last. C H A R L E S D E G AU L L E"
Page 268
"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field."
Page 270
"if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows."
Page 273
"Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the game and dumb enough to think it’s important."
Page 273
"Political image is like mixing cement. When it’s wet, you can move it around and shape it, but at some point it hardens and there’s almost nothing you can do to reshape"
Page 277
"“Whoever mounts a tiger can never again dismount.�"
"Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (Deepak Chopra, M.D.)"
Page 90 |
"However, emotional factors have been strongly linked to another major type of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis. This disorder seems to favor women who have a marked tendency to repress emotion, who adopt passivity and depression as a mode of coping with stress rather than getting angry or confronting serious emotional issues. The disease can get worse under stress, and, for inexplicable reasons, it can also disappear, perhaps in obedience to a deeper current of change."
Page 277
"Politicians are like diapers. They should be changed frequently, and for the same reason."
Page 284
"There are no winners, only survivors."
Page 285
"Playing polo is like trying to play golf during an earthquake."
Page 286
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hand can’t hit what the eye can’t see."
Page 290
"Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course: the space between your ears."
Page 291
"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile."
Page 294
"Statistics are used by baseball fans in much the same way that a drunk leans against a street lamp; it’s there more for support than enlightenment."
Page 305
"With a novelist, like a surgeon, you have to get a feeling that you’ve fallen into good hands� someone from whom you can accept the anesthetic with confidence."
Page 306
"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting."
Page 317
"A good writer is not, per se, a good book critic. No more than a good drunk is automatically a good bartender."
July 17, 2009
I love the title. A wonderful collection of analogies, metaphors, and similes. A collection of quotes through history up to current day. Great gift book. My favorites include:
* "Turn your mind upside-down now and then, like an hour-glass, let the particles run the other way."
* "A lighthouse in a sea of absurdity."
* "Books, the instant vacation for your tired mind."
* "Turn your mind upside-down now and then, like an hour-glass, let the particles run the other way."
* "A lighthouse in a sea of absurdity."
* "Books, the instant vacation for your tired mind."
February 3, 2017
I love quotes! I've been collecting them since I was 15...but clearly Grothe is a much better collector and organizer.
August 7, 2019
_________________________________
A Review Written Mainly in Metaphors (and other figurative
language and things you would be better off not knowing about).
_________________________________
This book of metaphors is an ocean of great depths and of shallows that smell sort of like fish. It is not a bad book, and the title is certainly descriptive. Dr. Grothe collects metaphors, similes, and other figurative language in the same way a supermarket acquires potato chips--wholesale. Some of the observations in this collection are as wise as the proverbial ass. Some are somber and straight-faced Puritans. Some, so sappy and wooden that the Puritans could have built the Mayflower from them.
Here a few of my personal favorites.
� A critic is a man who knows the way, but cannot drive the car. --Tynan
� Life is a curable disease.
� Calling George Bush shallow is like calling a dwarf short. --Molly Irvin
� I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. --Doug Adams
And here's one that came from the shallow end of the talent pool.
� Life is like a marathon. If you can finish a marathon, you can do anything you like --Oprah Winfrey.
Unfortunately, Grothe doesn't explain Oprah's simile in the book, so I will attempt to do it for you. Oprah seems to be saying, "Finishing all 26 miles of the Marathon is a great accomplishment; thus, since Life is like a Marathon, if you can finish your life, you will be able to accomplish anything you like, as long as it is something you can do . . . you know. . . when you're dead."
As I said, this is not a bad book, but if you hunger for such things, do not attempt to devour it on one sitting. Rather, lock it away in the icebox, taking it out only to snack on late at night when you can't sleep.
A Review Written Mainly in Metaphors (and other figurative
language and things you would be better off not knowing about).
_________________________________
This book of metaphors is an ocean of great depths and of shallows that smell sort of like fish. It is not a bad book, and the title is certainly descriptive. Dr. Grothe collects metaphors, similes, and other figurative language in the same way a supermarket acquires potato chips--wholesale. Some of the observations in this collection are as wise as the proverbial ass. Some are somber and straight-faced Puritans. Some, so sappy and wooden that the Puritans could have built the Mayflower from them.
Here a few of my personal favorites.
� A critic is a man who knows the way, but cannot drive the car. --Tynan
� Life is a curable disease.
� Calling George Bush shallow is like calling a dwarf short. --Molly Irvin
� I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. --Doug Adams
And here's one that came from the shallow end of the talent pool.
� Life is like a marathon. If you can finish a marathon, you can do anything you like --Oprah Winfrey.
Unfortunately, Grothe doesn't explain Oprah's simile in the book, so I will attempt to do it for you. Oprah seems to be saying, "Finishing all 26 miles of the Marathon is a great accomplishment; thus, since Life is like a Marathon, if you can finish your life, you will be able to accomplish anything you like, as long as it is something you can do . . . you know. . . when you're dead."
As I said, this is not a bad book, but if you hunger for such things, do not attempt to devour it on one sitting. Rather, lock it away in the icebox, taking it out only to snack on late at night when you can't sleep.
January 19, 2009
Open it up, you're going to find some good ones: "A two-year-old is like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it." (Jerry Seinfeld)
And: "If you're black, you got to look at America a little bit different. You got to look at America like the uncle who paid for you to go to college, but who molested you." (Chris Rock)
And one I like because I don't really get it:"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom." (Soren Kierkegaard)
Beef #1: too many metaphors about celebrities. Beef #2: What's with centering all the metaphors??!!
Beef #3: Inexcusably dorky comments. We get P.J. O'Rourke's quote:
"Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high-powered rifle and scope." And then we get Mardy Grothe's explanation: "O'Rourke's point is that born-again Christians are such an easy target that it's not particularly impressive to make wisecracks about them."
Okay maybe I need to just compile my own list of metaphors I love and let everybody else have their fun.
And: "If you're black, you got to look at America a little bit different. You got to look at America like the uncle who paid for you to go to college, but who molested you." (Chris Rock)
And one I like because I don't really get it:"Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom." (Soren Kierkegaard)
Beef #1: too many metaphors about celebrities. Beef #2: What's with centering all the metaphors??!!
It is
distractingly
dumb
!
Beef #3: Inexcusably dorky comments. We get P.J. O'Rourke's quote:
"Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high-powered rifle and scope." And then we get Mardy Grothe's explanation: "O'Rourke's point is that born-again Christians are such an easy target that it's not particularly impressive to make wisecracks about them."
Okay maybe I need to just compile my own list of metaphors I love and let everybody else have their fun.
March 14, 2020
This is for fans of writing. Some of my favorites include:
- Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due.
- One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.
- Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
- No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
- Laughter is internal jogging.
- A bagel is a doughnut with the sin removed.
- Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken are apt to think themselves sober enough.
- Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due.
- One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.
- Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
- No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.
- Laughter is internal jogging.
- A bagel is a doughnut with the sin removed.
- Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken are apt to think themselves sober enough.
June 18, 2019
A great little book full of memorable quotes.
It was a pleasure reading this and I saved many passages. Some will have you pause and wade in reflection. Others will have you laughing out loud. Yet others may make you cry.
Dr. Mardy Grothe separates the chapters by topic: Insults, Relationships, Life and Love are some of the themes touched upon. There is a passage for every situation.
A cool book to have as a companion whenever you feel like your brain needs a metaphorical massage.
It was a pleasure reading this and I saved many passages. Some will have you pause and wade in reflection. Others will have you laughing out loud. Yet others may make you cry.
Dr. Mardy Grothe separates the chapters by topic: Insults, Relationships, Life and Love are some of the themes touched upon. There is a passage for every situation.
A cool book to have as a companion whenever you feel like your brain needs a metaphorical massage.
April 23, 2017
What a fun read! Perfect for anyone interested in words and metaphors.
October 4, 2016
Quite enjoyable read. I love metaphors and this book did not disappoint.
November 9, 2020
This book reads like a desk calendar, with page after page of celebrity quotes. That said, it never claims to be anything other than an assemblage, what we might call linguistic bricolage; a Wunderkammer of odds and ends collected by Grothe throughout his lifetime, with some occasional insights in between.
I was fascinated for example, by the reference to the 'solitarium' in Montaigne's Tower. It is the reading-writing room of French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who invented the ‘essay� genre. Upon the roof beams of his turret he inscribed fifty favourite quotes in black block letters. A quick search online suggests that the order of the quotes would have acted like idea-signposts as he walked into and around the room, and that they were potentially the underlying order of his famous compilation of essays. How wonderful to think that the affirmational post-it-notes we surround ourselves with, might one day actually order our thoughts rather than merely clog our vacuum cleaner.
Similarly, I love Peter Carey’s quote from his 1989 novel Oscar and Lucinda: “She understood, as women often do more easily than men, that the declared meaning of a spoken sentence is only its overcoat, and the real meaning lies underneath its scarves and buttons.�
There were lots and lots of quotes that I enjoyed, but a small amount of sideways research made me realise that, taken out of context, the quotes, though still metaphorical and inspirational, can quickly lose their luminance or depth. For example; “Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.� � Charles Scribner, Jr. I’ve never heard of this man so I googled him. He’s a publisher. Now, I’m not saying that should diminish the cleverness of his quote, however, if you’re feeling a tad cynical�
Here’s another, more troubling example. “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction� - Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I loved this quote as it speaks to my insecurity about framing a thesis on the wrong premise � at some point I’m going to just have to commit and go along for the ride, come what may. As I did not recognise the author’s name, I looked him up too. As soon as I did, the quote instantly altered; not the words, or even their meaning, but their underlying expressiveness slipped immediately into a depressing abyss. Mr Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor in the early-mid 1900s, who also happened to be anti-Nazi and often wrote in vehement opposition to Hitler’s “cult� and his concentration camps. Sadly, it was in one of these camps that he would ultimately die, making the calm and contemplative resignation of his quote about boarding the wrong train all the more poignant.
I understand that there is not enough room to place every quote in its context, no stated goal to reveal whether it was intended as inspiration, irony or despair, no way of knowing whether it was spoken at a lectern, written in a love letter or muttered as a curse. Until I read about Bonhoeffer I didn’t think that it mattered � a good quote is a good quote � I can take from it what I will, collecting my own little list of words that resonate within me, here and now. When I think of wrong trains however, I wonder if I haven’t been too hasty to collate my ensemble without asking, why, when, and for whom. When the tuning fork resonates at a frequency I can admire, what am I truly hearing?
This book therefore, is a collation of shouts into the void. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I realise now, it is an incomplete outcome. The quotes are probably best read as starting points rather than final words; triggers rather than case-closed. And so with that final word� Click-clack� review finished and case closed.
I was fascinated for example, by the reference to the 'solitarium' in Montaigne's Tower. It is the reading-writing room of French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who invented the ‘essay� genre. Upon the roof beams of his turret he inscribed fifty favourite quotes in black block letters. A quick search online suggests that the order of the quotes would have acted like idea-signposts as he walked into and around the room, and that they were potentially the underlying order of his famous compilation of essays. How wonderful to think that the affirmational post-it-notes we surround ourselves with, might one day actually order our thoughts rather than merely clog our vacuum cleaner.
Similarly, I love Peter Carey’s quote from his 1989 novel Oscar and Lucinda: “She understood, as women often do more easily than men, that the declared meaning of a spoken sentence is only its overcoat, and the real meaning lies underneath its scarves and buttons.�
There were lots and lots of quotes that I enjoyed, but a small amount of sideways research made me realise that, taken out of context, the quotes, though still metaphorical and inspirational, can quickly lose their luminance or depth. For example; “Reading is a means of thinking with another person’s mind; it forces you to stretch your own.� � Charles Scribner, Jr. I’ve never heard of this man so I googled him. He’s a publisher. Now, I’m not saying that should diminish the cleverness of his quote, however, if you’re feeling a tad cynical�
Here’s another, more troubling example. “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction� - Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I loved this quote as it speaks to my insecurity about framing a thesis on the wrong premise � at some point I’m going to just have to commit and go along for the ride, come what may. As I did not recognise the author’s name, I looked him up too. As soon as I did, the quote instantly altered; not the words, or even their meaning, but their underlying expressiveness slipped immediately into a depressing abyss. Mr Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor in the early-mid 1900s, who also happened to be anti-Nazi and often wrote in vehement opposition to Hitler’s “cult� and his concentration camps. Sadly, it was in one of these camps that he would ultimately die, making the calm and contemplative resignation of his quote about boarding the wrong train all the more poignant.
I understand that there is not enough room to place every quote in its context, no stated goal to reveal whether it was intended as inspiration, irony or despair, no way of knowing whether it was spoken at a lectern, written in a love letter or muttered as a curse. Until I read about Bonhoeffer I didn’t think that it mattered � a good quote is a good quote � I can take from it what I will, collecting my own little list of words that resonate within me, here and now. When I think of wrong trains however, I wonder if I haven’t been too hasty to collate my ensemble without asking, why, when, and for whom. When the tuning fork resonates at a frequency I can admire, what am I truly hearing?
This book therefore, is a collation of shouts into the void. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I realise now, it is an incomplete outcome. The quotes are probably best read as starting points rather than final words; triggers rather than case-closed. And so with that final word� Click-clack� review finished and case closed.
January 7, 2018
For the past 8 years, I have been collecting all the phrases that speak to me at the time of reading them. I write them down and reference them, the old fashioned way; in a hard cover notebook, which is always sitting on my desk.
Over time I've amassed quite a nice collection and this notebook has become a fountain of wisdom, thoughts, humor, wit and a sort of a companion. Sometimes I like to flip through the pages, rereading the passages and reliving the thoughts they elicit. Sometimes I get 'what on earth was I thinking writing this down' moments too.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. An abundance of humor, food for thought and clever use of language.
Over time I've amassed quite a nice collection and this notebook has become a fountain of wisdom, thoughts, humor, wit and a sort of a companion. Sometimes I like to flip through the pages, rereading the passages and reliving the thoughts they elicit. Sometimes I get 'what on earth was I thinking writing this down' moments too.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. An abundance of humor, food for thought and clever use of language.
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November 1, 2022I read this book in hopes of learning how to create my own metaphors, analogies, and similes which I quickly learned was not the purpose of this book. Therefore, this book wasn’t helpful for me, but if you are looking to gain a better understanding of what the differences between the three are and want to read hundreds of already constructed analogies, metaphors, and similes, this book is for you.
March 31, 2024
Collections of quotations all suffer from the same malady--fluff. Authors (or publishers) would rather have a book of 500 quotations in which only 50 are high quality, rather than a book of 50 quotations in which all are high quality. This one had a better-than-average ratio of gems to fluff, but it still required some sifting. Grothe also provided unnecessary commentary on many of them.
February 3, 2020
Metaphors are important. Learn how to 'plant a seed' in your reader's mind and get your message across.
See what I did there? ;-p
This book is chalked full of great examples and a nice resource to have on your bookshelf. Highly recommend!
See what I did there? ;-p
This book is chalked full of great examples and a nice resource to have on your bookshelf. Highly recommend!
May 5, 2023
"The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor; it is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in the dissimilar." - Aristotle
August 24, 2017
This book indeed has history's greatest analogies, metaphors and similes. I enjoyed reading them.
November 19, 2017
A pleasant diversion
Enough variety to appeal to different interests, enough humor to keep one going, and enough historical connections to allow a feeling of learning.
Enough variety to appeal to different interests, enough humor to keep one going, and enough historical connections to allow a feeling of learning.
February 13, 2019
Quirky, interesting, funny compacted little book.
March 22, 2020
It’s a collection of clever ideas that are organized thoughtfully, but I wouldn’t say that reading it changed my love of the craft in any meaningful way.
August 23, 2022
What a wonderful lifetime collection of metaphors, similes, and analogies. Every one a short story, a gem, a life lesson.
Belongs in every kid’s library to keep coming back to for a lifetime.
Belongs in every kid’s library to keep coming back to for a lifetime.
December 15, 2022
Fun quotations and their background that people who love words will love
October 8, 2024
Its a massive collection of metaphors. Does its job well. Though i liked not more than 40% of everything in it.
April 3, 2025
An easy light and fun read
May 11, 2020
Great fun for the language liver.
February 20, 2024
A good refresher on how to the make the distinction between analogies, similes and metaphors.
August 25, 2010
This book had many cool thoughts and quotes, no question. However, I found the presentation a bit lumpy. Instead of a nice, thematic selection of good quotes, this book was limited a bit by only selecting the ones that include metaphors (and I felt several so-so quotes were included simply because they filled the role of metaphor or of explaining metaphors). Worse, the author feels it necessary to EXPLAIN many of the best quotes and word plays. It's like telling a really masterful joke, and then explaining it line by line. WE GET IT, ALREADY. This was so annoying that I started skipping over all the non-quote sections which had been written by the author. I was glad I got it from the library and copied down the best quotes, but I wouldn't buy it.
April 24, 2011
I sort of read it. This book is put together in such a way that it is hard to read all the way through as a book. It has fun and smart quotes/metaphors. I can definetly relate to the author as he collects quotes as I do and that was fun. The reason I only gave it 3*'s was there was a whole section that had metaphors revolving around sex. This was unneeded to make this book complete and this is the only real big fault I found with this book. Otherwise it was a fun read that I will be going back to. I found myself deep in thought with some and laughing hesterically with some. It is definetly a keeper. I reccomend to anyone who likes deep thought and deeper thinkers alike. :)
February 8, 2017
This book is itself a good metaphor: reveals more than what is expressed in its words.
Recommended reading for every reader, required reading for every writer and essential reading for every poet!
Recommended reading for every reader, required reading for every writer and essential reading for every poet!
February 4, 2009
I really enjoyed this one...Grothe literally spent years of his life collecting metaphors, analogies, and similes, and he knows how to use them. He has arranged them according to themes: sports, politics, love, family...Many are by well-known authors and celebrities, but many are my people I've never heard of. I highlighted a bunch, sticky-note tagged others, and copied my very favorites.
What fun this one was!
What fun this one was!
November 10, 2009
"The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast."
"He shows all the backbone of a chocolate eclair."
"Ignorance is the night of the mind."
"Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act."
"The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own."
"Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull."
"He shows all the backbone of a chocolate eclair."
"Ignorance is the night of the mind."
"Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act."
"The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one's own."
"Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull."
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