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Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow

by Jerome Jerome Klapka

Literature & Fiction » Classics » General

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Description:

A book by famous English writer and humorist, Jerome K. Jerome is a collection of essay, published in 1886. There’s hardly anyone who was left indifferent by reading his humorous stories. They return over and over again to some of Jerome’s books, as to an old good friend, who managed to keep the youth and cheerfulness in spite of the years. “The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow” are written in the same style as his famous “Three Men in a Boat”. At the heart of these sketches lies the anecdote genre, though the author skillfully generalizes particular situations to a typical picture of morals and manners.

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...while others will swallow itonly when administered through the medium of a third person, so that ifC wishes to get at an A of this sort, he must confide to A's particularfriend B that he thinks A a splendid fellow, and beg him, B, not tomention it, especially to A. Be careful that B is a reliable man, though, otherwise he won't. Those fine, sturdy John Bulls who "hate flattery, sir, " "Never letanybody get over me by flattery, " etc. , etc. , are very simply managed. Flatter them enough upon their absence of vanity, and you can do whatyou like with them. After all, vanity is as much a virtue as a vice. It is easy to recitecopy-book maxims against its sinfulness, but it is a passion that canmove us to good as well as to evil. Ambition is only vanity ennobled. Wewant to win praise and admiration--or fame as we prefer to name it--andso we write great books, and paint grand pictures, and sing sweet songs;and toil with willing hands in study, loom, and laboratory. We wish to become rich...