G. K. Chesterton? Charles Poore? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: Even the best writers occasionally pen passages of execrable prose. Apparently, a prominent author once made the following observation:
You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world.
Would you please help me to determine the creator of this insightful remark?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1907 English writer and critic Gilbert K. Chesterton published a column discussing French adventure novelist Alexandre Dumas père in “The Daily News” of London. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
Shakespeare and Dickens resemble Dumas, not only in the fact that their bad parts are very bad, but in the fact that their bad parts are very long. When they began talking nonsense they went at it steadily, and there was no doubt about it. You could compile, I should think, the worst book in the world entirely out of selecting passages from the best writers in the world.
Thus, Chesterton’s original statement included the verbose phrase “I should think”.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1936 G. K. Chesterton died. A collection of his writings was published under the title “A Handful of Authors: Essays On Books & Writers” in 1953. Chesterton’s 1907 essay was included; hence, the quotation achieved further distribution.2
In 1954 columnist Charles Poore of “The New York Times” noticed the collection, and he reprinted an excerpt from Chesterton’s 1907 essay. The word “selecting” was changed to “selected”:3
From a collection of G. K. Chesterton’s sound and sparkling squibs and set-pieces, “A Handful of Authors”§ …
On Writing Badly: “Shakespeare and Dickens resemble Dumas, not only in the fact that their bad parts are very bad, but in the fact that their bad parts are very long. When they began talking nonsense they went at it steadily, and there was no doubt about it. You could compile, I should think, the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world.”
In 1968 Evan Esar published “20,000 Quips and Quotes”. Esar included a slightly altered version of the quotation which omitted the phrase “I should think”, and used the word “selected” instead of the original “selecting”:4
You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world. — Chesterton
In 1974 “Instant Quotation Dictionary” compiled by Donald O. Bolander et al contained an entry which matched the version in Esar’s compilation.5
In 1990 “Writers on Writing” compiled by Jon Winokur contained an entry which also matched the version in Esar’s compilation:6
You could compile the worst book in the world entirely out of selected passages from the best writers in the world. G. K. Chesterton
In conclusion, critic Gilbert K. Chesterton deserves credit for this quotation based on the 1907 citation. During subsequent decades the quotation has been streamlined. The phrase “I should think” has often been omitted. Also, the word “selecting” has often been replaced by “selected”.
Image Notes: A stack of books from Kimberly Farmer at Unsplash. The image has been cropped.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to the anonymous person whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
Update History: On May 10, 2024 the format of the bibliographical notes was updated. Also, the full article was placed on this website.
- 1907 January 2, The Daily News, Books of the Day: An Edition of Dumas by G. K. Chesterton, Subsection: Dumas, Dickens, and Shakespeare, Quote Page 4, Column 3, London, England. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
- 1953, A Handful of Authors: Essays On Books & Writers by G. K. Chesterton (Gilbert Keith Chesterton), Essay: On Writing Badly (Daily News 1907), Start Page 201, Quote Page 203, Sheed and Ward, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1954 February 27, The New York Times, Books of The Times by Charles Poore, Quote Page 11, Column 7, New York, New York. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1968, 20,000 Quips and Quotes by Evan Esar, Subject: Quotation, Quote Page 656, Doubleday, Garden City, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩︎
- 1974, Instant Quotation Dictionary, Compiled by Donald O. Bolander, Dolores D. Varner, Gary B. Wright, and Stephanie H. Greene, Topic: Quotation, Quote Page 219, Career Institute, Mundelein, Illinois. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1990, Writers on Writing, Compiled by Jon Winokur, Topic: Quotation, Quote Page 271, Running Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Verified with scans) ↩︎