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Unwritten Laws is a wonderfully entertaining treasury of more than 500 rules, axioms and insights, each associated with a particular individual. None of the laws appears on the Statute Book, yet they shape human affairs more profoundly than any Act of Parliament or by-law. As Catt's Law states: No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion. To compile this collection, Hugh Rawson has drawn on biographies, novels, plays, interviews, TV, film, and popular folklore. Many of his lawmakers were and are figures of historical importance in the arts, sciences, and professions. Others are ordinary individuals who made a chance remark about some aspect of life, only to find it celebrated as an immutable truth. Rawson's skill has been to knit together these diverse elements and place them in context. Thus, for each law, he cites subsidiary laws, corollaries and inversions which add subtlety, wit and depth to the original. The result is an immensely enjoyable book which informs and amuses in equal measure. It is a particularly valuable reference for speechmakers, teachers, and business leaders, but also provides excellent guidance for ordinary people who have an interest in words, history, and the slings and arrows of life! A handful of the 500 Laws in this collection are shown below. In the book itself, each law is amplified by a commentary on the person who devised it, the context in which it was created, comments (often droll) on it by other people, and ways in which the law can be seen at work in real life. This additional text makes the law much more rounded and satisfying. Astor's Axiom: 'All women marry beneath them.' Capone's Law: 'You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.' Goldsmith's Law: 'Silence gives consent.' Hensley's Law 'The less teeth the women have, the better the bar.' Lance's Law: 'If it ain't broke, don t fix it.' Miller's Law: 'The quality of food in restaurants is in inverse proportion to the number of signed celebrity photographs on the wall.' Osler's Law: 'The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism.' Paley's Law: 'White lies always introduce others of a darker complexion.' Roosevelt's Law: 'Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.' Swanson's Law: 'When the water reaches the upper deck, follow the rats.' Vidal's Law: 'It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.' Walpole's Law: 'Every man has his price.'
About the Author
Hugh Rawson is a former director of Penguin Reference Books in the U.S. as well as editor of the Bulletin of The Authors Guild. He lives in Roxbury, Connecticut.
Unwritten Laws is a wonderfully entertaining treasury of more than 500 rules, axioms and insights, each associated with a particular individual. None of the laws appears on the Statute Book, yet they shape human affairs more profoundly than any Act of Parliament or by-law. As Catt's Law states: No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion. To compile this collection, Hugh Rawson has drawn on biographies, novels, plays, interviews, TV, film, and popular folklore. Many of his lawmakers were and are figures of historical importance in the arts, sciences, and professions. Others are ordinary individuals who made a chance remark about some aspect of life, only to find it celebrated as an immutable truth. Rawson's skill has been to knit together these diverse elements and place them in context. Thus, for each law, he cites subsidiary laws, corollaries and inversions which add subtlety, wit and depth to the original. The result is an immensely enjoyable book which informs and amuses in equal measure. It is a particularly valuable reference for speechmakers, teachers, and business leaders, but also provides excellent guidance for ordinary people who have an interest in words, history, and the slings and arrows of life! A handful of the 500 Laws in this collection are shown below. In the book itself, each law is amplified by a commentary on the person who devised it, the context in which it was created, comments (often droll) on it by other people, and ways in which the law can be seen at work in real life. This additional text makes the law much more rounded and satisfying. Astor's Axiom: 'All women marry beneath them.' Capone's Law: 'You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word alone.' Goldsmith's Law: 'Silence gives consent.' Hensley's Law 'The less teeth the women have, the better the bar.' Lance's Law: 'If it ain't broke, don t fix it.' Miller's Law: 'The quality of food in restaurants is in inverse proportion to the number of signed celebrity photographs on the wall.' Osler's Law: 'The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism.' Paley's Law: 'White lies always introduce others of a darker complexion.' Roosevelt's Law: 'Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.' Swanson's Law: 'When the water reaches the upper deck, follow the rats.' Vidal's Law: 'It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.' Walpole's Law: 'Every man has his price.'
About the Author
Hugh Rawson is a former director of Penguin Reference Books in the U.S. as well as editor of the Bulletin of The Authors Guild. He lives in Roxbury, Connecticut.
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