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Dave Barry Quotes

David McAlister Barry is an American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comic novels.

✵ 3. July 1947
Dave Barry photo

Works

Peter and the Starcatchers
Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs
Dave Barry: 121 quotes6 likes

Famous Dave Barry Quotes

“Reading… a vacation for the mind….”

Dave Barry

“A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person.”

Dave Barry

Nonfiction, Dave Barry Turns 50 (1998)

“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers.”

Dave Barry

Source: Dave Barry Turns Fifty

“Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.”

Dave Barry

“You can say any fool thing to a dog and the dog will just give you this look that says, 'My GOSH, you're RIGHT! I NEVER would've thought of that!”

Dave Barry

“I love the Olympics, because they enable people from all over the world to come together and--regardless of their political or cultural differences--accuse each other of cheating.”

Dave Barry

Source: Boogers Are My Beat: More Lies, But Some Actual Journalism!

Dave Barry Quotes about people

“I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me.”

Dave Barry

“Karate is a form of martial arts in which people who have had years and years of training can using only their hands and feet make some of the worst movies in the history of the world.”

Dave Barry

“If, when you talk to people, they keep backing away from you, it's because you're TOO CLOSE, alright? SO DON'T KEEP ADVANCING ON THEM LIKE A HUMAN GLACIER.”

Dave Barry

“It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.”

Dave Barry

“Hobbies of any kind are boring except to people who have the same hobby. This is also true of religion, although you will not find me saying so in print.”

Dave Barry

Dave Barry Quotes about personality

“Have you noticed that whatever sport you're trying to learn, some earnest person is always telling you to keep your knees bent?”

Dave Barry

“normal person's weekly chore list:
1. clean kitchen.
2. clean bathroom.
3. clean entire rest of domicile.
cleaning impaired person's weekly chore list:
1. don't get peanut butter on sheets.”

Dave Barry

“It is a scientific fact that your body will not absorb cholesterol if you take it from another person's plate.”

Dave Barry

"The Funny Side of 'Beowulf'", The Miami Herald, November 2, 1997.
Columns and articles

“I would not know how I am supposed to feel about many stories if not for the fact that the TV news personalities make sad faces for sad stories and happy faces for happy stories.”

Dave Barry

“In the words of a very famous dead person, 'A nation that does not know its history is doomed to do poorly on the Scholastic Aptitude Test.”

Dave Barry

Source: Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States

Dave Barry: Trending quotes

“Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking.”

Dave Barry

The Taming of the Screw (1983)

“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be 'meetings.”

Dave Barry

“It is a well-documented fact that guys will not ask for directions. This is a biological thing. This is why it takes several million sperm cells… to locate a female egg, despite the fact that the egg is, relative to them, the size of Wisconsin.”

Dave Barry

Dave Barry Quotes

“Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.”

Dave Barry

“When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.”

Dave Barry

Source: Dave Barry Turns Fifty

“Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear.”

Dave Barry

“Aside from velcro, time is the most mysterious substance in the universe. You can't see it or touch it, yet a plumber can charge you upwards of seventy-five dollars per hour for it, without necessarily fixing anything.”

Dave Barry

“You should not confuse your career with your life.”

Dave Barry

“Camping is nature's way of promoting the motel business.”

Dave Barry

“Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.”

Dave Barry

Stay Fit and Healthy Until You're Dead (1985)

“If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.”

Dave Barry

Source: Kabir, Hajara Muhammad (2010). Northern women development. [Nigeria]. ISBN 978-978-906-469-4. OCLC 890820657

“It always rains on tents. Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.”

Dave Barry

“If you were to open up a baby's head - and I am not for a moment suggesting that you should - you would find nothing but an enormous drool gland.”

Dave Barry

“Don't you wish you had a job like mine? All you have to do is think up a certain number of words! Plus, you can repeat words! And they don't even have to be true!”

Dave Barry

“There comes a time in a man's life when he hears the call of the sea. If the man has a brain in his head, he will hang up the phone immediately.”

Dave Barry

“The metric system did not really catch on in the States, unless you count the increasing popularity of the nine-millimeter bullet.”

Dave Barry

“Sharks are as tough as those football fans who take their shirts off during games in Chicago in January, only more intelligent.”

Dave Barry

“Violence and smut are of course everywhere on the airwaves. You cannot turn on your television without seeing them, although sometimes you have to hunt around.”

Dave Barry

“Panicky despair is an underrated element of writing.”

Dave Barry

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.”

Dave Barry

Dave Barry Turns 40 (1990)

“The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby’s grandparents. You feel completely comfortable entrusting your baby to them for long periods, which is why most grandparents flee to Florida.”

Dave Barry

“Scientists tell us that the fastest animal in the world, with a speed of 120 mph, is a cow dropped out of a helicopter.”

Dave Barry

“Black Stache had no love for the Queen, no love for women of any sort, except for his ma. He had a real soft spot for his ma, and was truly sorry for the time he’d marooned her.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“If Peter was nine, and a new boy came to St. Norbert’s Home for Wayward Boys who said he was ten, why, then, Peter would declare himself eleven. Also, he could spit the farthest. That made him the undisputed leader.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“All of us are born with a set of instinctive fears - of falling, of the dark, of lobsters, of falling on lobsters in the dark, of speaking before a Rotary Club, and of the words "Some Assembly Required".”

Dave Barry

“The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished, and put inside boxes.”

Dave Barry

The Taming of the Screw (1983)
Source: The Taming of the Screw: How to Sidestep Several Million Homeowner's Problems

“The word aerobics comes from two Greek words: aero, meaning “ability to,” and bics, meaning “withstand tremendous boredom.”

Dave Barry

“Guys care about sports teams. I'm not talking about simply rooting; I'm talking about a relationship that guys develop, a commitment to a sport team that guys take way more seriously than, for example, wedding vows.”

Dave Barry

Source: Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys

“Meetings are an addictive, highly self-indulgent activity that corporations and other large organizations habitually engage in only because they cannot actually masturbate.”

Dave Barry

“If Black Stache laughed, you laughed. If he snarled, you snarled. If he breathed in your direction, you ran for cover.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“He felt a momentary pang of regret that he had not spent more time with his beloved wife. But it passed when he remembered that the reason he’d gone to sea in the first place was that he had never really liked his beloved wife.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“Nobody understands how hard it is, being a captain.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“… when the armed robber of unhappiness knocks over the Keebler cookie display of our complacency, and bangs the samurai sword of negativity on the checkout counter of our dreams, we must not be afraid to hurl the fruit cocktail can of hope.”

Dave Barry

“But if I hadn't shoved you off the boat back there, you'd be lost at sea now, wouldn't you? We'd all be lost! So thanks to me you're all standing on land."
(Pirates, its a good thing they're idiots)”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“Sir,” James asked, “what are we going to do?”
“We’re going to look for water,” said Alf.
“And food?” said Tubby Ted.
“Water first,” said Alf. “We can go days without food.”
“We can what?” Tubby Ted shouted.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“He was distracted by a giggle, and turned to see a rare sight: a girl.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“His body rigid with terror as he waited for the savages to something horrible to him—bash his head with clubs, or stab him with spears, or…
…or tap him on the shoulder.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“Seriously? You won’t help me?”
“Help yourself get killed? No, I won’t.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“You might have mentioned this to me Molly,” said Leonard. “The fact that there are hostile natives on the island.”
“I forgot,” said Molly.
“You forgot?” said Leonard.
“There’s been a lot happening,” said Molly.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“The Mollusks—generous hosts when they weren’t trying to kill you.”

Dave Barry book Peter and the Starcatchers

Source: Peter and the Starcatchers

“Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months, with Tools You Probably Have around the Home.”

Dave Barry

Source: Babies and Other Hazards of Sex: How to Make a Tiny Person in Only 9 Months, with Tools You Probably Have around the Home

“We journalists make it a point to know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics; this is how we stay objective.”

Dave Barry

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