UKC

I challenge anyone to find a more quotable book than A Confederacy Of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole.

"I suspect that I am the result of particularly weak conception on the part of my father. His sperm was probably emitted in a rather offhand manner."

"This liberal doxy must be impaled on the member of a particularly large stallion!"

"Perhaps I should have been a Negro. I suspect I would have been a rather large and terrifying one, continually pressing my ample thigh against the withered thighs of old white ladies in public conveyances a great deal and eliciting more than one shriek of panic. Then, too, if I were a Negro, I would not be pressured by my mother to find a good job, for no good jobs would be available. My mother herself, a worn old Negress, would be too broken by years of underpaid labor as a domestic to go out bowling at night. She and I could live most pleasantly in some moldy shack in the slums in a state of ambitionless peace, realizing contentedly that we were unwanted, that striving was meaningless."

Incidentally, if you haven't read it, make it the next book you read.

In reply to as646:

It's probably my favorite book. Sad story behind the book as i think he died before publication.

In reply to as646: Have to confess I haven't read it, though it appears to be limited in its scope - no criticism intended. I think it's generally acknowledged that the Bible is the most frequently quoted book, closely followed by the Shakespeare cannon (okay more than one 'book')and then Oscar Wilde.

In reply to Sebastian Fontleroy:

Committed suicide; supposedly after his death his mother found a smudged manuscript and got it published largely due to her persistent harassment of publishers and scholars.

For some reason I never much got on with it, but I passed it on to a friend with (usually) similar tastes and he loves it.

In reply to incog:

i heard somewhere it was Alice in Wonderland. but dont quote me on that...

In reply to as646: The Bible, you halfwit.

In reply to as646:
I really liked A Confederacy Of Dunces, nicely different.

Most quoted? Dictionary!
Ought to be the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy sexto-trilology

In reply to ice.solo:

I'm sure you must be right re. Alice in Wonderland. Of course the bible (although it's called the 'good book' etc) is really a compendium of dozens of books by multiple authors.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: I don't imagine most people are always correct, but I'll wager most people consider the bible to be a book, albeit containing smaller works, it being a collection of pages bound in a cover like what books often are.

In reply to as646:

but it probably should be catch - 22

The OP says "most quotable", not "most quoted"

In reply to Blue Straggler: If a book is the most quoted does that not also make it the most quotable? If it was most quotable but wasn't quoted the most then surely it wouldn't be the most quotable. Or did he mean which book should be quoted from the most? Which on ukc would apparently be the highway code.

In reply to Sir Chasm:

"Most quotable" and "most quoted" are different things.
Your Highway Code example illustrates this nicely

In reply to Blue Straggler:

If something is most quoted is it not also most quotable?

In reply to Sir Chasm:

Think about ales. The most quaffable might not be the most quaffed.

As for my mithering, I am taking "quotable" in the spirit of the OP. I think you know that

In reply to Blue Straggler: Hmmm, lots of people might claim carling is the most quaffable (possibly not using that word), I may disagree but I can't claim they're wrong. Perhaps all the op meant was give me some quotes you like.

In reply to Sir Chasm:

The most driven car isn't the most drivable.

In reply to estivoautumnal: You could judge cars objectively against a set of standards (you might have to exclude colour choice), how are you planning on doing that with books?

In reply to Sir Chasm:

I would have thought so.

In reply to as646: a dictionary

In reply to Sir Chasm:

Nah, the OP meant "I've read this book which is more heavyweight fare than what I am used to and I'm so proud that I've read it. I will tell UKC"

In reply to Sir Chasm:

The car that is best for transporting a family of five and two big dogs, is not usually the car that is best for track days at Donington Park

In reply to Blue Straggler:

NB this is not directed specifically at the OP, it's more a general thing I've observed on forums

In reply to as646:

The correct answer is:
any collection of Colemanballs

"She's not Ben Johnson, but then again, who IS?"

In reply to Sir Chasm:

Even if it's called a book, that's not an interesting question. Surely the interesting question (and what the OP meant) was which single book by a single author is the most quoted? Just as most quoted play is almost certainly Hamlet.

In reply to Blue Straggler: I wouldn't exactly call it "heavyweight", it's quite easy reading actually. I can give you a list of books I've read recently that fall into this category, if you'd really like though No books that I've read have been such a joy to read however. As people previously mentioned, it is indeed a tragedy that Toole never got to see anyone appreciate his legacy.

To everyone who so insightfully posted such gems as "the Bible" or "the dictionary", you have my apologies if I've struck a nerve. Your contributions are welcome, however pedantic and dull they may be.

Perhaps a better way to word my original post would be: what books contain such wonderful prose or witty dialogue that you feel have they have an inherent "quotability" to them? Superlatives are welcome.

In reply to as646:
Kurt Vonnegut has some lovely phrases, outlooks and twists of simple logic. Most of them need to be in the context of the story..i'd have to go & read some to get a quote!

In reply to as646:
I can't read it again - I may bloat.

In reply to thin bob:

“He had a tremendous wang, incidentally. You never know who'll get one"

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

It's called a book because it's a book, silly man. And if the op meant that I'm sure he can clarify.

In reply to Sir Chasm:

For a long time 'The New English Bible' was just the New Testament (the Old Testament followed about a decade later) - so was that 'half a book'. And is a three-volume book like Lord of the Rings one book or three? Or the twelve-volume A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell one book or twelve?

In reply to Sir Chasm:


Any need?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: Have it your own way, the Bible isn't a book. Hard Rock, isn't a book. The Owl and the Cragrat, isn't a book. The Oxford Book of English Verse, contrary to its title, isn't a book.

In reply to thin bob:

totally. and like you say, id also have to dig thru his books. which i would most look forward to doing. god i miss him.

In reply to Sir Chasm:

I'm not 'having it my way' - I was just pointing out that to ask which is the most quoted omnibus/compendium/anthology is a relatively uninteresting question compared with which is the most quoted book by a single author. Do have it your way if you wish.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: You appear to have either not read or misunderstood the original question (nevermind your bizarre lack of understanding of what a book is). However, do feel free to pose your interesting question.

In reply to Sir Chasm:

Well, I just posed it above: 'Which is the most quoted book by a single author?' which is surely what the OP meant by his 'challenge', which quoted a single book by a single author. If he didn't mean that, of course it would have been a daft question, because as you have pointed out the Bible would beat it many times times over, and he surely knows that. As most people do.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Of course it isn't what he meant.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth: He's clarified what he meant. Really! I despair at people leaping in to threads without reading them, I would have expected better from someone of your years.

In reply to Sir Chasm:

My years do not prevent me from working quite hard, and I admit I only skim-read the OP's second post. Well, I'm 'leaping' back to work now, rather than getting bogged down with the 'pedantic and dull', to quote the OP.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

To be pedantic, you misread it, it's perfectly possible to skim-read with understanding.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

But The Bible isn't a single book, it's an anthology of books by many different authors.

In reply to thin bob:

Here's a few to be going on with...

“I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”

“The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest.”

“Science is magic that works.”

“Do you realize that all great literature is all about what a bummer it is to be a human being? Isn't it such a relief to have somebody say that?”

“Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.”

“The Population Reference Bureau predicts that the world's total population will double to 7,000,000,000 before the year 2000.

I suppose they will all want dignity, I said.”