<p> "Never let 'em see you sweat."<br> "Never change diapers in mid-stream."<br> "Never let a crisis go to waste."<br> "Never ruin an apology with an excuse."<br> "Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died." </p> <p> When we strongly encourage people to do something, it's called an <i>exhortation</i>. But what is the proper term for strongly <i>discouraging</i> people? One candidate is <i>admonition</i>. Another is <i>dehortation</i>, the opposite of <i>exhortation</i>. But perhaps the best term for an emphatic piece of dissuasive advice is <i>neverism</i>. You won't find the term in any dictionary (at least not yet) because quotation anthologist Dr. Mardy Grothe coined it himself for this collection of nearly two thousand quotable cautionary warnings. With the whimsical and witty intermixed with the serious and profound, contributors range from Aesop and Marcus Aurelius to John Wayne and Mae West. Grothe also tells the fascinating "back stories" of scores of classic quotations as well as the history of hundreds more that have never before appeared in a quotation anthology. Organized by topics such as Wit & Wordplay, Politics & Government, Sports, Stage & Screen, and The Literary Life, this is a book <i>about</i> quotations as well as a book of them. <i>Neverisms</i> is sure to delight quotation lovers and language aficionados everywhere. </p>