Robert Charles Benchley, Robert C. Benchley, Robert Benchley; also used pseudonym Guy Fawkes
15 September 1889 – 21 November 1945
Birthplace: Worcester, Massachusetts
American columnist, critic, actor, author & humorist
“Any one can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.”
~Robert Benchley, American author, actor & humorist
“How to Get Things Done: One Week in the Life of a Writing Man” (2 February 1930) Chicago Sunday Tribune, Part 7, Page 6, column 2; online via The Chicago Tribune Archives & Newspapers.com [subscription service] chicagotribune.newspapers.com
Re-quote note: Many contemporary sources cite Benchley’s original “Any one” as a single word:
“Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.”
Extended excerpt: [Humorous Essay, Benchley is describing the ‘secret’ of his “incredible energy and efficiency]
“The psychological principle is this: Any one can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.” (p. 6, column 2)
Source link: Chicago Sunday Tribune (2 February 1930) online via Chicago Tribune Archives & Newspapers.com: http://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/image/355247578/
“I am more the inspirational type of speller. I work on hunches rather than mere facts, and the result is sometimes open to criticism by purists.”
~Robert Benchley, American author, actor & humorist
“Rule of Thumb” (1936) My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew, March 2007 eBook edition, 0700431h, Andrew Templeton: Project Gutenberg Australia; online via Project Gutenberg Australia, gutenberg.net.au
Extended excerpt: [Humor – short essay]
“In spelling, I need every aid to memory that man can devise and even then I can whip up a few novelties by myself. I am more the inspirational type of speller. I work on hunches rather than mere facts, and the result is sometimes open to criticism by purists.” (no page number)
Source link: My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew (1936) online via Project Gutenberg Australia: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700431h.html
“In America there are two classes of travel – first class, and with children.”
~Robert Benchley, American author, actor & humorist
“Kiddie-Kar Travel” (September 1923) The Detroit Athletic Club News; reprint in Pluck and Luck, 1925, Garden City, NY: Blue Ribbon Books, 1947 reprint ed., p. 6; online via Open Library [free subscription service] openlibrary.org
Extended excerpt: [Humor – Essay]
“In America there are two classes of travel – first class, and with children. Traveling with children corresponds roughly to traveling third-class in Bulgaria. They tell me there is nothing lower in the world than third-class Bulgarian travel.” (p. 6)
Source link: Library – Pluck and Luck (1925|1947 Blue Ribbon Books) online via Open Library [free subscription service]: https://archive.org/stream/pluckluck00benc#page/6/mode/2up/search/two+classes+of+travel
“The work can wait,” I said, quoting our business motto.”
~Robert Benchley, American author, actor & humorist
“MacGregor for Ataman!” (1936) My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew, March 2007 eBook edition, 0700431h, Andrew Templeton: Project Gutenberg Australia; online via Project Gutenberg Australia, gutenberg.net.au
Extended excerpt: [Humor – fictional dialogue]
“And now I have a surprise for you!” I said, getting up off the floor. “You are going to be a candidate for the office of Cossack Ataman!”
“But I am not a Cossack,” protested MacGregor, weakening.
“You have the spirit of a Cossack,” I replied. “With boots and a sabre and a Persian lamb hat you could ride down peasants in the grand manner.”
“I don’t think so,” he said, ruminatively. “And besides, I couldn’t run for Ataman right now. We have too much work piled up here in the planetarium.”
“‘The work can wait,'” I said, quoting our business motto. “I am backing you for Cossack Ataman, and you would do well not to look a gift horse in the mouth.” (no page number)
Source link: My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew (1936) online via Project Gutenberg Australia: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/0700431h.html
“There are no lengths to which humorless people will not go to analyze Humor.”
~Robert Benchley, American author, actor & humorist
“What Does It Mean?” (1938) After 1903 – What? , New York, NY: Harper & Bros., p. 211
Extended excerpt: [Humor – Essay]
“There seems to be no lengths to which humorless people will not go to analyze Humor. It seems to worry them. They can’t believe that anything could be funny just on its own hook.” (p. 211)
Source: Editor’s Copy – After 1903 – What? (1938) Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) No. 279763
“There may be said to be two classes of people in the world: those who constantly divide the people of the world into two classes, and those who do not.”
~Robert Benchley, American author, actor & humorist
“The Most Popular Book of the Month: An Extremely Literary Review of the Latest Edition of the New York City Telephone Directory” (February 1920) Vanity Fair magazine,[byline ‘By Vanity Fair’s Book Reviewer’], Vol. 13, No. 5, New York, NY: Conde Nast, p. 69, column 1; in Vanity Fair [January-June 1920] Vol. 13, No. 5 – Vol. 14, Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, Inc., 1996 – online via HathiTrust Digital Library, babel.hathitrust.org
Extended excerpt: [Satirical ‘book review’ of the New York City Telephone Directory]
“There may be said to be two classes of people in the world: those who constantly divide the people of the world into two classes, and those who do not. Both classes are extremely unpleasant to meet socially, leaving practically no one in the world whom one cares very much to know.” (p. 69)
Source link: “The Most Popular Book of the Month” (February 1920) Vanity Fair; online via HathiTrust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015032024203;view=1up;seq=203
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