First there was “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.” Now there’s “Around the Block’s Unfamiliar Quotations.”

Commentary

Quotation reporting for the modern media age.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the book, “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.” Written by James Bartlett, “Bartlett’s” was first published in 1855 and currently is in its nineteenth edition.*

*(Note for Florida readers – I’m not sure if “Bartlett’s” has been subjected to the DeSantis “woke” test but I’m willing to guess that there might be a few “familiar quotations” that disturb enough Floridians (one Floridian?) to initiate the book’s banning from schools, libraries and bookshelves near you. I suggest if you do procure a copy and it is subsequently banned, get one of those brown paper covers we used in school in order to camouflage your illicit volume.)

The latest “Bartlett’s” includes quotations from contemporaries like Donald Trump, Barack and Michelle Obama as well as traditional quotes from the Bible and William Shakespeare and others.*

*(The Obama’s and Shakespeare…and it hasn’t been banned in Florida yet??? C’mon Ron stop campaigning, get back to Florida and do your job. How can you allow Floridians to be exposed to quotes from the evil Obama’s and the lewd Shakespeare? You’re not getting the nomination anyway.)

Because new editions of Bartlett’s are released only every few years or so, it occurred to me, particularly in a world of 24-hour news cycles and social media, there needs to be a more timely source of quotations.

With that in mind, into the fray and to the rescue, “Around the Block’s Unfamiliar Quotations.”

Of course since Bartlett’s has a 168 year head-start, “Around the Block’s Unfamiliar Quotations” will be a slow build. But in an exclusive to Around the Block’s dedicated readers, I thought I’d give you a preview.

• Samuel Alito, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, during oral arguments in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen regarding the right to carry concealed weapons in New York…in what “Around the Block’s Unfamiliar Quotations” will categorize as the “OK Corral” quotation:
  • “So I want you to think about people like this, people who work late at night in Manhattan, it might be somebody who cleans offices, it might be a doorman at an apartment, it might be a nurse or an orderly, it might be somebody who washes dishes. None of these people has a criminal record. They’re all law-abiding citizens. They get off work around midnight, maybe even after midnight. They have to commute home by subway, maybe by bus. When they arrive at the subway station or the bus stop, they have to walk some distance through a high-crime area. And they apply for a license, and they say: “Look, nobody has said I’m going to mug you next Thursday. However, there have been a lot of muggings in this area, and I am scared to death. They do not get licenses, is that right?”
  • Further, in response to the comment by New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood, “…it might be unwise to allow a lot of armed people in a closed space like a subway…,” Alito argued back, “There are a lot of armed people on the streets of New York and the subway now, aren’t there?”
• Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), in his defense of holding up the promotions of over 300 senior military officers including the commandant of the Marine Corps and generals and admirals focused on China policy, arming Ukraine, and modernizing U.S. combat forces after 20 years of war:
  • “People up here in the Pentagon. I don’t know what they do every day, but they’re more of giving advice. And, you know, it’s just a surprise to me that, you know, these are all number one, they’re Joe Biden civilian appointees, these secretaries of Air Force, the Navy, the Army.”
  • “I don’t care if we promote anybody to be honest. We got 44 four-star generals right now. We only had seven during WWII, so I think we’re a little overloaded to begin with.”
• Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, in his other job – running (poorly) for the GOP presidential nomination:
  • In response to a direct question regarding whether he would pardon or grant clemency to Donald Trump and/or to the convicted January 6 insurrectionists, DeSantis, typically, did not directly answer the question but did say:
    • “We will use the pardon power — and I will do that at the front end. The Justice Department and the FBI have been weaponized’ to unevenly punish people from ‘disfavored groups.'”
  • And regarding “draining the swamp” as president:
    • “On bureaucracy, you know, we’re going to have all these deep state people, you know, we’re going to start slitting throats on day one and be ready to go.
• Vivek Ramaswamy, GOP presidential hopeful, on climate change:
  • “I’m the only candidate on stage who isn’t bought and paid for, so I can say this — the climate change agenda is a hoax. And so the reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change”

Reviewing these quotations brings up the obvious – given the egregious nature of each of them, perhaps they should remain unfamiliar.

Thoughts?