Metaphors for all occasions

Dr. Mardy Grothe’s Metaphors Be With You is more than just a sequel to I Never Metaphor I Didn’t Like. The earlier book is a collection of metaphors organized by topic. Metaphors Be With You purports to collect the ten best comments, most of them in the form of metaphors, ever said about 250 topics from Ability to Zeal. There is some repetition from the previous book, but less than you might expect.

If none of the quotations Grothe selects as the very best suit you, you can jump to his website (www.drmardy.com/dmdmq) for many more. Also there are references to similar topics covered in the book where the quote you are looking for may be found. So this is a handy book, as well as an entertaining one.

Certain writers (and most of the sources are writers) pop up frequently. Among those quoted most frequently include the likes of Emerson, Twain, Shakespeare and Thoreau. Other people are cited only once, and then somewhat unexpectedly: Julie Andrews, Rick Warren, Julia Roberts, John Lennon and Penn Jillett among them. Many of those quoted are people you have never heard of, which seems encouraging. One need not be famous to say something famous. Although it certainly helps.

One of the best things about the book is that Grothe tries to verify sources of his quotations. Often he notes that a quote commonly attributed to a famous person cannot be found in that person’s work or was found to have been actually said, or said first, by somebody else. As an example, the line, “And the day came when the risk to remain closed in a bud became more painful than the risk it took to blossom” is attributed on most Internet sites to Anais Nin. Grothe says it was the lesser known Elizabeth Appell who said it.

In one case, a quotation he himself attributed to Andy Rooney in I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like is listed as Author Unknown in the newer book.

So give Mardy Grothe a lot of credit for his scholarship. As well as for his clever titles.