“a noodle shop between two skyscrapers.”
The self-deprecating self-assessment of incoming Japanese Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi, quoted in Ottawa Citizen July 25, 1998 [and he duly died after less than two undistinguished years in office... but it’s not obvious that his predecessor or successor were skyscrapers either].
“With your usual rapid grasp of the inessentials, you regard the mushrooms as the most important element of Mr. Hillerman’s plan.”
A character in Jack Hitt, ed., The Perfect Murder
“As the ostrich observed, Where is everybody?”
Anthony Boucher, The Case of the Seven Sneezes (1942), quoted in “Top Ten Detective Fiction Wise Cracks” compiled by “Gramps", in Gilbert! magazine Vol. 2 #6 Issue 15 (April-May 1999)
“Most of us can keep a secret. It’s the people we tell it to who can’t.”
In The Buzzer (published by BC Transit) Jan. 14, 1994, not attributed.
“’her reception o’ me this blessed day, whilk I excuse on account of perturbation of mind, was muckle on the north side o’ friendly…’”
Baillie Nicol Jarvie in Sir Walter Scott Rob Roy
“All I can say is, the man who said, ‘Talk is cheap,’ never had to say, ‘I do.’”
Donald Trump, quoted in National Post October 8, 1999
“there is even a rather delightful publication for children called The Punctuation Repair Kit, which takes the line ‘Hey! It’s uncool to be stupid!’ – which is a lie, of course, but you have to admire them for trying.”
Lynn Truss Eats, Shoots & Leaves
“There are no stupid questions… but if there were…”
Another of mine, from Nov. 3 2014 [probably I was about to ask one that strove to qualify].