“Oxygen was called flammable air for a while, but it didn't catch on.” — Mark Forsyth Copy Share Image
“Every dictionary contains a world. I open a book of thieves’ slang from Queen Anne’s reign and they have a hundred words for swords,… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
“Pot itself has nothing to do with pots and pans, but comes from the Mexican-Spanish word potiguaya, which means marijuana leaves. And marijuana is… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it was the sausage-maker who disposed of the body. — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
Poetry is much more important than the truth, and, if you don't believe that, try using the two methods to get laid. — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
“Wouldst like to con a glimmer with me this early black?’, which he [Cab Calloway] helpfully explains as ‘the proper way to ask a… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
“Love is nothing because those who do something for the love of it do it for nothing.” — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
“Wamblecropt is the most exquisite word in the English language. Say it. Each syllable is intolerably beautiful.” — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
“Shakespeare was not a genius. He was, without the distant shadow of a doubt, the most wonderful writer who ever breathed. But not a… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
“The glamour's off. Almost any question you ask can be answered. It's only the questions that you didn't know to ask that remain, dancing… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
“There's always a strange feeling you get when you come across one particular line by chance. It feels somehow significant. That's irrational of course,… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
But Shakespeare never drank coffee. Nor did Julius Caesar, or Socrates. Alexander the Great conquered half the world without even a café latte to… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
If you are to use Alexander Graham Bell’s product, which is to say the blower, you should, in all courtesy, use it as he… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
“It is, incidentally, a favour that e-books have done for the Good Bookshop: they have made books beautiful again. A few years ago, book… — Mark Forsyth Copy Share
