Doug, great post yesterday about the Algonquin Round Table.
I started trolling around the web to find out which of the original Algonquin participants said what. I capped Dorothy Parker at two quotes, though her wit was prolific!
10. Edna Ferber: “A closed mind is a dying mind.”
9. Harold Ross: “I asked Ring Lardner the other day how he writes his short stories, and he said he wrote a few widely separated words or phrases on a piece of paper and then went back and filled in the spaces.”
8. Alexander Woollcott: “All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal or fattening.”
7. Heywood Broun: “Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”
6. Dorothy Parker: “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”
5. Franklin Pierce Adams: “Middle age occurs when you are too young to take up golf and too old to rush up to the net.”
4.Robert E. Sherwood: “Nobody expects him to be normal—he’s a bishop.”
3. Robert Benchley: “Behind every argument is someone’s ignorance.”
2. George S. Kaufman: “Epitaph for a dead waiter – God finally caught his eye.”
1. Dorothy Parker: “That woman speaks eighteen languages, and she can’t say “No” in any of them.”
Did I miss one of your favorites?
The New York Times describes my novels as “money porn,” “a red-hot franchise,” and “glittery thrillers about fiscal malfeasance.” Through fiction I explore the dark side of money and the motivations of those who have it, want more, and will steamroll anybody who gets in their way.
My favorite is Alexander Woollcott’s: “All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal or fattening.”
“If you wear a short enough skirt the party will come to you.” – Dorothy Parker
That’s a beautiful thing.
Hi. The quotes got me interested in finding out more about Heywood Broun, and I learned that the above quote is credited to Heywood Sr’s. son, Heywood “Woodie” Hale Broun, who was a sports commentator, who died in 2001. See, http://slick.org/deathwatch/mailarchive/msg00358.html — But I suppose it could be wrong.
MARIALANDOLFO2011, Thanks for the catch. Okay, I was trolling around the web for quotes from members of the Algonquin Round Table, and now I’m really confused.
Here’s one source that attributes the quote to Heywood Broun, Sr: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/39129.html.
Here’s another source that attributes the quote to John Wooden: http://thinkexist.com/quotation/sports_do_not_build_character-they_reveal_it/208017.html.
On the one hand, Woodie (the son) appears to be a quote machine. On the other hand, the quote sounds like something that a great coach–John Wooden–would say.
Does anyone know the real answer?