May 1, 2025

The plain-text/HTML and PDF versions of this book are in open access at
https://kklikharev.weebly.com/

Its Kindle ebook, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover versions are available from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F1KGQLJ4
ISBN-13: 979-8317193195
Cover photo by masintos/Pixabay

Description:

This is a carefully curated collection of over 3,500 quotations by nearly 1,500 authors on a broad spectrum of topics, from science and technology, wisdom and folly, society and government, war and peace, to life and death – grouped in 23 chapters.

Three main features distinguish this publication from numerous quote collections available in print and online:

(i) Selection: By screening out “inspirational” platitudes, mediocre jokes, and discernible nonsense that dominate so many quote publications, this collection includes only the entries that are real pearls of human thought, standing apart by either their wisdom, or their wit, or both.

(ii) Verification: The text and authorship of each quote have been verified much more thoroughly than in most collections. With a few exceptions, an entry was included only if it had been found in either the original publication, or a publication by a reputable reviewer/biographer, or at least two trustworthy quote collections.

(iii) Threading: To make reading more engaging, the entries are not only grouped into topical sections but also logically ordered inside each of them, forming quasi-continuous narrative “threads” – hence the collection’s title. Since it includes different views on most debatable issues, each of these 262 threads reads as a virtual discussion of the wise and the witty.