| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 62140 |
| QUOTATION: | A big leather-bound volume makes an ideal razorstrap. A thin book is useful to stick under a table with a broken caster to steady it. A large, flat atlas can be used to cover a window with a broken pane. And a thick, old-fashioned heavy book with a clasp is the finest thing in the world to throw at a noisy cat. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910), U.S. author. Quoted in Greatly Exaggerated, “Gifts,” ed. Alex Ayres (1988).
This was Twain’s reply to a lady who asked Twain if he thought a book was the most useful gift one could give. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
| WORKS: | Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] Collection. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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