Gelett Burgess
artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist
Frank Gelett Burgess (January 30, 1866 – September 18, 1951) was an American artist, art critic, poet, author and humourist. He is credited with coining the word blurb, a short promotional statement about a piece of creative work, and bromide, a trite or unoriginal phrase intended to soothe or placate, or the boring person who utters those phrases.
Quotes edit
- To appreciate nonsense requires a serious interest in life.
- From the essay The Sense of Humor first published in The Romance of the Commonplace (1902).
- there are no roads in all Bohemia !
- From the essay Where is Bohemia? in The Romance of the Commonplace (1902).
- A woman and a mouse, they carry a tale wherever they go.
- Gelett Burgess, The Maxims of Methuselah (1907).
The Purple Cow (1895) edit
- I never saw a purple cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one!
Confession (1897) edit
- Ah, yes, I wrote the "Purple Cow"—
I'm Sorry, now, I wrote it;
But I can tell you Anyhow
I'll Kill you if you Quote it!- Poem Confession: and a Portrait Too, Upon a Background that I Rue (1897)
- Reacting to the many parodies of his poem.
Are You A Bromide? (1906) edit
- I don't know much about Art, but I know what I like. (p. 24)
- She doesn't look a day over fifty. (p. 24)
- You'll feel differently about these things when you're married. (p. 25)
- It isn't so much the heat... as the humidity. (p. 28)
- You're a sight for sore eyes. (p. 29)
External links edit
- Open source e-book: "Are You a Bromide?, or, The sulphitic theory expounded and exemplified according to the most recent researches into the psychology of boredom: including many well-known bromidioms now in use" (1909), California Digital Library