The Compleat Angler is acknowledged to be one of the world's books. Only the trouble is that the world doesn't read its books, it borrows a detective story instead.

Quote by Stephen Leacock

Topics: Books Quotes

The classics are only primitive literature. They belong to the same class as primitive machinery...

The classics are only primitive literature. They belong to the same class as primitive machinery...

Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The...

Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The...

It's called political economy because it is has nothing to do with either politics or...

It's called political economy because it is has nothing to do with either politics or...

The attempt to make the consumption of beer criminal is as silly and as futile...

The attempt to make the consumption of beer criminal is as silly and as futile...

Advertising: the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.

Advertising: the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it.

Astronomy teaches the correct use of the sun and the planets.

Astronomy teaches the correct use of the sun and the planets.

It is to be observed that 'angling' is the name given to fishing by people...

It is to be observed that 'angling' is the name given to fishing by people...

A sportsman is a man who every now and then, simply has to get out...

A sportsman is a man who every now and then, simply has to get out...

There are two things in ordinary conversation which ordinary people dislike - information and wit.

There are two things in ordinary conversation which ordinary people dislike - information and wit.

What we call creative work, ought not to be called work at all, because it...

What we call creative work, ought not to be called work at all, because it...

Golf may be played on Sunday, not being a game within the view of the...

Golf may be played on Sunday, not being a game within the view of the...

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the...

I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the...

The Lord said 'let there be wheat' and Saskatchewan was born.

The Lord said 'let there be wheat' and Saskatchewan was born.

If every day in the life of a school could be the last day but...

If every day in the life of a school could be the last day but...

A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than...

A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than...

The landlady of a boarding-house is a parallelogram - that is, an oblong angular figure,...

The landlady of a boarding-house is a parallelogram - that is, an oblong angular figure,...

I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some day die, which is...

I detest life-insurance agents: they always argue that I shall some day die, which is...

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading...

How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading...

Unless their use by readers bring them to life, books are indeed dead things.

Unless their use by readers bring them to life, books are indeed dead things.

Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a...

Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a...