Franklin P. Adams photo

Franklin P. Adams

Franklin Pierce Adams (November 15, 1881, Chicago, Illinois – March 23, 1960, New York City, New York) was an American columnist (under the pen name FPA) and wit, best known for his newspaper column, "The Conning Tower," and his appearances as a regular panelist on radio's Information Please. He was a member of the Algonquin Round Table of the 1920s and 1930s.


“Health is the thing that makes you feel like that now is the best time of the year.”
Franklin P. Adams
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“There must be a day or two in a man’s life when he is the precise age for something important.”
Franklin P. Adams
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“Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.”
Franklin P. Adams
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“The best part of the fiction in many novels is the notice that the characters are imaginary.”
Franklin P. Adams
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“I find that a great part of the information I have acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way”
Franklin P. Adams
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“Having imagination, it takes you an hour to write a paragraph that, if you were unimaginative, would take you only a minute. Or you might not write the paragraph at all. ”
Franklin P. Adams
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“Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.”
Franklin P. Adams
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“You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.”
Franklin P. Adams
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“Nobody can write such ironic things unless he has a deep sense of injustice-injustice to those members of the race who are victims of the stupid, the pretentious and the hypocritical.”
Franklin P. Adams
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“Seeing ourselves as others see us would probably confirm our worst suspicions about them.”
Franklin P. Adams
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