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Summary: I doubt whether there can be a better concise collection of HQ oxymorons
Comment: I didnt expect that this handy little green book could contain so many oxymorons in 14 chapters (13
categories). Definitely a very useful and affordable tool in anyone's bookshelf for reference
whenever necessary. Highly recommended!

Below please find some of my favorites for your
consideration.

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness. - Chuang Tzu pg
8
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's own ignorance. - Confucius pg 8
You cant
say civilization isnt advancing, in every war they kill you in a new way. - Will Rogers pg 9 />I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. -
Everett Dirksen pg 27
We learn from history that we do not learn from history. - Georg Hegel
pg 34
In the act of loving, you arm another person against you. - anonymous pg 53
Women
are never stronger than when they arm themselves with their weaknesses. - Marie Du Deffand pg 62 />Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they do not like him. -
Marlene Dietrich pg 62
Deep down, he's shallow. - anonymous pg 147
Common sense is not
so common. - Voltaire pg 181
I dont think I am any good. If I thought I was any good, I
wouldnt be. - John Betjeman pg 184
I must be cruel only to be kind. - Hamlet pg 198
I
can give you a definite perhaps. - Samuel Goldwyn pg 214

Customer Rating:

Summary: A Tool For Wordsmiths: Mini-Review of "Oxymoronica" by Dr. Mardy Grothe
Comment: I have always found words to be marvelous tools, weapons or playthings - depending on who is
wielding them and in what tone of voice. I marvelous at those who have the talent to express
time-tested ideas in new and entertaining ways. So, I was delighted to find this little gem,
written by Dr. Mardy Grothe: Oxymoronica - Paradoxical Wit and Wisdom from History's Greatest
Wordsmiths." This HarperCollins book will be added to my bookshelf of hand reference works. />
According to Dr. Grothe's own definition, "oxymoronica" are: "Any variety of tantalizing,
self-contradictory statements or observations that on the surface appear false or illogical, but at
a deeper level are true, often profoundly true."

The author has been collecting
memorable quotations for many years, and out of the tens of thousands in his collection, he chose
two hundred pages worth that best represent the art of verbal paradox.

I could share
quotations from every page that are worth passing on, but to keep this mini-review from become too
"maxi," I will share only a few quotations culled from my favorite authors.

From
Dickens - the immortal opening passage to A Tale of Two Cities:

"It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times,
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,

It was the epoch of believe, it was the epoch of incredulity,
It was the season of
Light, it was the season of Darkness,
It was the spring of hope, it was the spring of
despair,
We had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
We were all going direct
to Heaven,
We were all going direct the other way."
(Page 197)

From Dickens
Bleak House:

"He is an honorable, obstinate, truthful, high-spirited, intensely
prejudiced, perfectly reasonable man."
(Page 205)

From Dostoyevsky's Notes from
the Underground:

"In despair there are the most intense enjoyments, especially when one
is very acutely conscious of the hopelessness of one's position."

"Man is sometimes
extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering."
(Page 200)

From Toni
Morrison's The Bluest Eye:

"As in the case of many misanthropes, his disdain for people
led him into a profession designed to serve them."
(Page 201)

From Anton
Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard:

"When a lot of remedies are suggested for a disease, that
means it can't be cured."
(Page 204)

Joseph Heller, in Catch-22, is a veritable
fount of oxymoronic wit and wisdom:

"Even amongst men lacking all distinction he
inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him
where always impressed by how unimpressive he was."

"The Texan turned out to be
good-natured, generous and likeable. In three days, no one could stand him."

Heller -
in Something Happened:

"When I grow up I want to be a little boy."
(Page 207) />
From Aldous Huxley in Point Counter Point:

"Several excuses are always less
convincing than one."
(Page 208)

Washington Irving in Bracebridge Hall: />
"Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that
they think he is growing old."
(Page 208)

Edgar Allan Poe in The Purloined
Letter:

"The best place to hide anything is in plain view."
(Page 211)
/>George Bernard Shaw in Man and Superman:

"The most unbearable pain is produced by
prolonging the keenest pleasure."

Another Shavian gem, from Heartbreak House: />
"The surest way to ruin a man who doesn't know how to handle money is to give him
some."
(Page 212)

Finally, Alexander Solzhenitsyn in The First Circle:
/>"You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away form them. But when
you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power - he's free again."
(Page
212)

This is a book you can read in one sitting, and then will return to again and
again for inspiration and delight.

In keeping with the spirit of the book, let me
conclude: "This little volume is a quick snack that will feed you for a lifetime!"
/>Enjoy!

Al

Customer Rating:

Summary: A little more literature
Comment: This book has a more unique viewpoint than most others of its type, which makes it a bit more
interesting. It takes more thought to analyze the entries, so that it serves as a "wake up" medium
for emphasis when it accompanies other thoughts that one wants to express.

Customer Rating:

Summary: A wonderfully original collection of secondhand material!
Comment: Dr. Mardy Grothe has identified -- and expertly catalogued -- the oxymoronic element which is at the
heart of so much of what we recognize as wit. Here one finds literary, comical, and philosophical
one-liners both familiar and obscure, neatly grouped not only by general theme but also, where
applicable, by specific conceits that have been replicated by wit after wit. To see near variations
of the same oxymoronic witticism, side by side, as written or spoken by various literary notables,
is perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the book. Great minds think alike, one reflects . . . and
yet one can't help wondering how near his writing-table GBS kept his collected Wilde!

Customer Rating:

Summary: Sophomoric essay gone awry
Comment: The author has used an inherently intriguing aspect of the field of linguistics -- the oxymoron --
and has written an awful book about it. While the examples are all fine (though some do not
technically belong), it it the author's own writing in betwixt the quotes that is unbearable. I
expect better prose from my 5th grader. Not worth the time.

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