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Description and Opinions
Product Description:
The murals in restaurants are on a par with the food in museums. America is an enormous frosted cupcake in the middle of millions of starving people. Critics are like pigs at the pastry cart. 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. 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.
Quotations Worth Keeping 
I thought I already had most of the great quotations in my personal collection. After reading Dr. Grothe's "I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like", I found that not to be true. I was amazed at how many great quotations there were in the book that I had not seen before. Other thicker, more expensive quotation books merely offer a list of quotations. It is then up to the reader to wade through the book to find those quotations worth keeping. Dr. Grothe's book is more like a conversation, as he explains the story behind many of the quotations. I consider "I Never Met a Metaphor I Didin't Like" to be the best quotation book that I own.
Strong in quantitiy, category and elaboration of origin, but not in quality 
I wrote a review here on Amazon for the author's "Oxymoronica" with the following praise: "I doubt whether there can be a better concise collection of HQ oxymorons". Sorry that I am a little bit disappointed with this. Of course, my comment is subjective indeed (I despise people who openly regard themselves as objective) but I feel obliged to warn potential buyers who had read his previous great work. As a reference book of metaphors, it's good in quantity, category and elaboration of origin, but not so in quality. Dont expect too much, especially after you read the other five star reviews of it like I did!
p.s. Below please find some of my favorites for your reference.
Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does. - Stuart H. Britt pg5
Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. - Rudyard Kipling pg25
Light tomorrow with today. - Elizabeth B Browning pg28
A man should live with his superiors as he does with his fire; not too near, lest he burn; not too far off, lest he freeze. - Diogenes pg30
One does not discover new continents without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. - Andre Gide pg31
Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. - Nathaniel Hawthorne pg32
Do you think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational as knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago. - Horace Mann pg34
The art of living is more like that of wrestling than of dancing; the main thing is to stand firm and be ready for an unforseen attack. - Marcus Aurelius pg41
I never metaphor I didn't like, (that is, until, this book) 
As a collector of metaphors, similes, analogies -- as well as other clever adages and sayings, I was disappointed in this collection.
While admittedly there is some historical value in knowing where many of our common metaphorical clichés have come from, one hardly thinks that history alone should be the final arbiter or criterion for inclusion - even if they have been penned by some of our most famous authors. And even though the author took the pain to carefully explain the difference between these and clichés. Yet, how could he fail to filter the latter from this collection?
Plus, times and the rules of cleverness do change. They are both contextual as well as evolutionary. This book is a lot like watching an old movie before acting moved into the modern era. The old movies still may have great nostalgic value, but the art and craft of acting has long since moved on ...
The same goes for metaphors, similes and analogies: Arguably the final criterion for inclusion should be creativity and cleverness, not history or nostalgia. And in the view of this reader, the items in this collection, rather surprisingly, too often fall short of that test.
Also, is it not a bit counterintuitive (not to mention disconcerting) to spend pages discussing a single pithy sentence, when both its beauty and meaning lies in the subtlety of the surprise of the discovery itself?
Most of this book is inelegant in the same way that explaining the historical importance and cleverness of the punch line of a joke might be? Two stars
a treasure trove of wit and wisdom for the open-minded and open-hearted
Random House Webster's Quotationary
A good book is either enjoyable or instructive; a wonderful book is both enjoyable and instructive. I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like falls into the latter category. It's a glorious mix of familiar and unfamiliar aphorisms, witticisms and observations, many of which you will want to store in your memory for reflection, guidance or maybe just to bring a smile to your face. Were I to list all my favorite entries, I'd probably soon run out of your patience. Here instead are some of them:
Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Freedom of the press is to the machinery of the state what the safety valve is to the steam engine.
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
The best mind-altering drug is truth.
JANE WAGNER (delivered by LILY TOMLIN)
It's hard to fight and enemy who has outposts in your head.
SALLY KEMPTON
Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, "I am with you kid, Let's go!"
MAYA ANGELOU
The difference between being a director and being an actor is the difference between being a carpenter banging the nails into the wood and being the piece of wood the nails are being banged into.
SEAN PENN
Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!"
ROBIN WILLIAMS
This world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.
C. S. LEWIS
Love is the wild card of existence.
RITA MAE BROWN
Love is, above all, the gift of oneself.
JEAN ANOUILH
Love is the bridge between two hearts.
AMERICAN SAYING
no regrets!!
What a refreshing book! This has got to be one of the best coffee table books I have gotten. I just left it out and each member of the family picks it up through the week and says, "Listen to this one!" and we all laugh or muse about it. Good stuff.
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