'A well-cleaned piece of glass'

 

One more post about Ralph Keyes, born in 1945 and often cited as THE key resource person by writers trying to build up their courage or stamina to write.  If you ever find yourself struggling to put words on paper, his book The Courage To Write might be the guidebook to turn to.

 

And if you’re looking for information about the hows, whys and wheres of famous quotes, his book on the topic – Nice Guys Finish Seventh – has often been called “the best book on the origin of quotations ever researched and compiled.”  As the title implies, the old saying “Nice Guys Finish Last” never started out that way at all.  And a couple other examples from its pages:

 

      “Any man who hates dogs and children can’t be all bad,” was said about W.C. Fields, not by him.

“Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing,” was actually a slogan of UCLA coach Red Sanders, not the Green Bay Packers’ Coach Vince Lombardi, who simply adapted it for himself.

  

As Keyes immutable "Law of the Misquotation" implies, the original quote often is quite a bit off our common usage. 

 

"The longer I write," Keyes said, “the simpler I'd like my writing to be: a well cleaned piece of glass through which the reader can see clearly to the content inside."