Presenting someone with a whole new life

“Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.” –  Christopher Morley 

 

Morley, a gregarious and well-known journalist, novelist, essayist and poet, also once noted that “No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as much as your dog does.” 

Born on this date in 1890, he had a distinguished career, writing more than 100 novels, books of essays and volumes of poetry right up until his death in 1957.  He is probably best known for his 1939 novel Kitty Foyle, also made into an Academy Award-winning movie.

  

Born in Bryn Mawr, PA, he studied at nearby Haverford and then Oxford University, where he began his writing.  After graduating, he started his literary career at Doubleday, working first as a publisher’s reader.  Then in 1917 he got his start as an editor at Ladies' Home Journal before becoming a newspaper reporter and columnist for the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger.

Out of enthusiasm for the Sherlock Holmes stories,             

he helped found the Baker Street Irregulars and wrote the introduction to the standard omnibus edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes. 

And, of course, he exuded a love of reading, noting, “When you sell a man a book, you don't sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life.” 

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