Joseph Epstein: Quotes, Selected Works, and a List of Books by Author Joseph Epstein

Search - List of Books by Joseph Epstein

"I know how deeply slothful I am." -- Joseph Epstein

Joseph Epstein (born January 9, 1937 in Chicago)is an essayist, short story writer, and editor, best known as a former editor of the Phi Beta Kappa Society's The American Scholar magazine and for his recent essay collection, Snobbery: The American Version. He was also a lecturer at Northwestern University from 1974 to 2002. He is a Contributing Editor at The Weekly Standard and a long-time contributor of essays and short stories to The New Criterion and Commentary. The late William F. Buckley, Jr., in his review of Snobbery, called Epstein the wittiest writer alive.

Epstein's body of work reveals his fascination with common everyday situations, amusing trends and small pleasures that he brings to his reader's attention. He also specializes in essays that shed light on the musings and ideas of famous and forgotten authors and writes short stories that prominently feature the city of Chicago and the characters that have populated his 70 years as an observer of the city.

Quotes more » « less

"By the way, the secret of speaking French is confidence. Whether you are right or wrong, you don't hesitate.""Culture means, I think, that you have widened your experience enough through reading and through being a little bit thoughtful about these things that it has changed your outlook in some ways. And not necessarily made you a better human being but made you see things.""Envy is never general, but always very particular - at least envy of the kind one feels strongly.""I am basically a complainer and all the grounds for complaint have been swept out from under me.""I am married to someone I love.""I am the heterosexual Truman Capote.""I just know so many people who have six or seven foreign languages and have read everything and have musical training and they are still dorks.""I know from the middle distance I give off the look of being prolific, which is a funny compliment to receive.""I know how many days in which I have just answered e-mail, had three phone calls and a two hour lunch. Poof, gone. They are not infrequent.""I myself think anti-Semitism is about envy.""I should prefer to die laughing, and, on more than one occasion, thought I might.""I think the story is my form.""In recompense, envy may be the subtlest - perhaps I should say the most insidious - of the seven deadly sins.""My wife who is non-Jewish regrets it all the time that I can say these terrible things about fellow Jews and she can't.""No one has really ever defined what a friend is.""Not to like ice cream is to show oneself uninterested in food.""Of the seven deadly sins, only envy is no fun at all.""One of the pleasures of being a Jew, I don't have to tell you, it allows you anti-Semitism.""One serious drawback about letters is that, in order to get them, one must send some out. When it comes to the mail, I feel it is better to receive than to give.""The decisive moment in the defeat of upper class, capital-S, Society may have come when, in newspapers all over the nation, what used to be call the Society page was replaced by the Style section.""The pleasure of jogging and running is rather like that of wearing a fur coat in Texas in August: the true joy comes in being able to take the damn thing off.""We know the ideal isn't where the action is."

Selected Works more » « less

Total Books: 62

2011 - Gossip the Untrivial Pursuit (Audio CD) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9781452655468
ISBN-10: 1452655464
Genre: Politics & Social Sciences

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2011 - The Love Song of a Jerome Minkoff and Other Stories (Paperback) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780547520223
ISBN-10: 0547520220
Genre: Literature & Fiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2009 - Alexis De Tocqueville Democracy's Guide [Eminent Lives] (Paperback) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780061768880
ISBN-10: 006176888X
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History, Nonfiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2009 - Fred Astaire [Icons of America] (Paperback) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780300158441
ISBN-10: 0300158440
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, Humor & Entertainment

Currently 5/5 Stars.

2009 - Scalable Voip Mobility Integration and Deployment (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9781856175081
ISBN-10: 1856175081
Genre: Professional & Technical

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2008 - In a Cardboard Belt Essays Personal Literary and Savage (Paperback) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780547085746
ISBN-10: 0547085745
Genre: Literature & Fiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2007 - Friendship an Expose (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780618872152
ISBN-10: 0618872159
Genres: Health, Fitness & Dieting, Parenting & Relationships, Nonfiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2007 - Narcissus Leaves the Pool (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780618872169
ISBN-10: 0618872167
Genre: Literature & Fiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2006 - Envy the Seven Deadly Sins (Paperback) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780195312041
ISBN-10: 019531204X
Genres: Religion & Spirituality, Nonfiction, Christian Books & Bibles

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2006 - Friendship an Expos (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780618341498
ISBN-10: 0618341498
Genres: Health, Fitness & Dieting, Nonfiction

Currently 5/5 Stars.

2006 - The Seven Deadly Sins Set Consisting of Greed Gluttony Envy Lust Sloth Anger and Pride (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780195308655
ISBN-10: 0195308654
Genre: Religion & Spirituality

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2005 - Envidia / Envy [Los Siete Pecados Capitales / the Seven Deadly Sins - Spanish Edition] (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9788449317125
ISBN-10: 8449317126
Genres: Health, Fitness & Dieting, Nonfiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

2004 - Fabulous Small Jews (Paperback) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780618446582
ISBN-10: 0618446583
Genre: Literature & Fiction

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.

2003 - Snobbery the American Version (Paperback) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780618340736
ISBN-10: 0618340734
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction

Currently 3.2/5 Stars.

2002 - Snobbery the American Version (Hardcover) → Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780395944172
ISBN-10: 0395944171
Genres: History, Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction

Currently 3/5 Stars.

1999 - Narcissus Leaves the Pool Familiar Essays (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780395944035
ISBN-10: 0395944031
Genre: Literature & Fiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

1997 - Life Sentences Literary Essays (Hardcover) → Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780393045468
ISBN-10: 0393045463
Genre: Literature & Fiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

1995 - With My Trousers Rolled Familiar Essays (Hardcover)
ISBN-13: 9780393037579
ISBN-10: 0393037576
Genre: Literature & Fiction

Currently 0/5 Stars.

1993 - The Best American Essays 1993 (Paperback) → Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9780395636480
ISBN-10: 0395636485
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction

Currently 4/5 Stars.

1993 - The Best American Essays 1993 [Best American Essays] (Hardcover) → Paperback
ISBN-13: 9780395636497
ISBN-10: 0395636493
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction