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Robert Byrne (1) (1930–)

Author of The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said

For other authors named Robert Byrne, see the disambiguation page.

29+ Works 1,913 Members 22 Reviews

About the Author

Robert Byrne is the author of seven novels, five collections of witty quotations, seven books on billiards, and an expose of frauds in the literary world. Byrne was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa, where he has a regular humor column in the Telegraph Herald. Visit his website at www.byrne.org.

Series

Works by Robert Byrne

Skyscraper (1984) 25 copies
The Dam (1981) 21 copies

Associated Works

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Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

With quotes like:
"Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting."
and
"I think, therefore I'm single" -Liz Winston
this was a fun read.
However, it was definitely more adult than I would like and it was so cleverly full of itself that I was almost fed up with it at the end. Also, it didn't have page numbers which, oddly, bugged me.
 
Flagged
OutOfTheBestBooks | 11 other reviews | Sep 24, 2021 |
 
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ClearShax | 11 other reviews | Jul 28, 2021 |
I enjoyed the companion piece by the author, The 2548 Best Things Anyone Ever Said a bit more. I like to collect aphorisms and was hoping to collect a few hundred or more. Listed below are some aphorisms that caught my eye and tickled my brain:

A man on a date wonders if he’ll get lucky. The woman already knows. —Monica Piper

In America, sex is an obsession—elsewhere it’s a fact. —Marlene Dietrich (1901–1992)

Never trust a husband too far or a bachelor too near. —Helen Rowland (1875–1950)

The idea of using Viagra at my age is like erecting a new flagpole in front of a condemned building. —Harvey Korman (1927–2008) at age seventy

My troubles don’t come from chasing women. They begin when I catch them. —John Barrymore

A man is as faithful as his options. —Bill Maher

I won’t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said. William F. Buckley
… (more)
 
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writemoves | 11 other reviews | Jun 17, 2019 |
As with most books of quotations, this one is not quite as wonderful as it believes. Some of these quotations honestly belong among the best things anyone ever said ("Shut up, he explained" or “Nebraska is proof that Hell is full, and the dead walk the Earth.” for examples). Most of them, however, are banal and not that great. Overall, a fun, quick read, but not even close to sublime. And the author should really have thought twice before he included his own quotes; that's the surest way to brand yourself much less of a wit than you imagine yourself to be, and a bit full of yourself, too, including yourself in a book of quotes containing H. L. Mencken, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and Yogi Berra, among others.… (more)
½
 
Flagged
Devil_llama | 11 other reviews | May 27, 2017 |

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Statistics

Works
29
Also by
12
Members
1,913
Popularity
#13,452
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
22
ISBNs
95
Languages
7

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