Penguin-isms

On Friday evening I happened to wander into the J. Rože bookshop on Krišjāņa Barona Street. My gaze stopped at a small black book whose cover character would not let me pass by indifferently. As it turns out, books can collect not only aphorisms but also witty penguin-isms.

As you can imagine, the book instantly claimed one of the places of honour in our home library. Here are just a few quotes from the book "Penguin-isms", published some time ago by Zvaigzne ABC:

• What an orator loses in depth, he regains in length.

• Knowledge of a few principles easily compensates for ignorance of a few facts. /Helvétius/

• Once you had to be famous to afford scandals; now you need a scandal to become famous. /Maurice Chevalier/

• It is not important that people mistake you for someone else - what matters is whom they mistake you for. /Vladislav Katarzyński/

• The law protects everyone who can afford to hire a good lawyer.

• Don't fall asleep at the wheel - the state needs every taxpayer.

• For a person who has nothing to do themselves, everything is possible. /Murphy's Law/

• There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. /Mark Twain/

• An ulcer doesn't come from what you eat, but from what eats you. /Vicki Baum/

• The best remedy for anger is to postpone it. /Seneca/

• Don't be superstitious - it brings bad luck. /Tristan Bernard/

• A pessimist thinks things cannot get any worse; an optimist thinks they can.

• I give you my definitive "maybe". /Samuel Goldwyn/

• It is not enough to know your own worth - you also need to know how to sell yourself. /Yevgeny Sagalovsky/

• The more expensive life becomes, the cheaper a person becomes. /Duane Petrovic/

• We each boil at different temperatures. /Ralph Emerson/

• Man is the only bird that can be plucked more than once. /Jimmy Durante/

• Those are my principles, and if you don't like them, I have others.

• Thrift is for the poor; the wealthy have tax relief. /Christian Bovée/

• It is easier to find a man when you already have one; it is easier to find a job when you already have one. /Paige Mitchell/

• Don't be irreplaceable. If you are, you will never be promoted. /Murphy's Law/

• It doesn't matter who is right, only who is left. /Murphy's Law/