Dorothy Parker possessed what was unquestionably one of the quickest minds of any human on the planet. She was a writer and critic for Vogue, Vanity Fair, and the New Yorker, among others. She also wrote a number of screenplays, poetry, and short fiction. Her hilarious reviews, quips, and comebacks are well known. Remy’s post reminded me of Dorothy and that got me to searching for some of her quotes. They’re too good not to share.
“His ignorance was an Empire State Building of ignorance. You had to admire it for its size.”
“Look at him, a rhinestone in the rough!”
On the most beautiful words in the English language: “The ones I like. . . are ‘cheque’ and ‘enclosed.’”
Someone told Dorothy that Clair Boothe Luce was even kind to her inferiors; Parker replied, “Where does she find them?”
Parker’s answer when asked to use the word “horticulture” during a game of Can-You-Give-Me-A-Sentence?: “You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”
In her review of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged: “This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.”
On another book: “This must be a gift book. That is to say a book, which you wouldn’t take on any other terms.”
On Katharine Hepburn’s performance in the Broadway play “The Lake”: “She delivered a striking performance that ran the gamut of emotions, from A to B.”
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit by me. . .”
But do we really want ladies to be that insultingly quick-witted? I’m not asking because I’m prudish, but because I’m envious. I can’t imagine where in the world I could let loose with barbs like that (not that I’m claiming to have quite such a degree of mental agility) without getting into heaps of trouble.
oh no, Valerie, I’m not suggesting that DP was a role model! I’m simply amazed over how quick she was on her feet. Her position allowed her to maintain a level of acidity and sharpness of tongue that would get the rest of us fired every day (even if we could match it).
It’s just such a nuisance that she’s so danged admirable, on the one hand, yet so completely not on the other. I guess I’ll just have to file her under “guilty pleasures.”