Sayings
from Steven Wright
On the other hand, you have different fingers. --
I was sad because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no
feet. So I said, "Got any shoes you're not using?" --
My theory of evolution is that Darwin was adopted. --
Someone sent me a postcard picture of the earth. On the back it
said, "Wish you were here." --
Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country. --
I spilled spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone. --
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
--
"Did you sleep well?" "No, I made a couple of mistakes." --
My dental hygienist is cute. Every time I visit, I eat a whole
package of Oreo cookies while waiting in the lobby. Sometimes she
has to cancel the rest of the afternoon's appointments. --
My socks DO match. They're the same thickness. --
Officer, I know I was going faster than 55MPH, but I wasn't going
to be on the road an hour. --
I have two very rare photographs. One is a picture of Houdini locking
his keys in his car. The other is a rare photograph of Norman Rockwell
beating up a child. --
I stayed up all night playing poker with tarot cards. I got a full
house and four people died. --
I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere
near the place. --
I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It was
in the shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they
weren't included. --
I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from
the statues that are in all the other museums. --
It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it. --
Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time. --
What's another word for Thesaurus? --
When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great
parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me
if I'm leaving. --
When I was crossing the border into Canada, they asked if I had
any firearms with me. I said, "Well, what do you need?" --
You can't have everything. Where would you put it? --
A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of widths.
--
If you were going to shoot a mime, would you use a silencer? --
I planted some bird seed. A bird came up. Now I don't know what
to feed it. --
I made a chocolate cake with white chocolate. Then I took it to
a potluck. I stood in line for some cake. They said, "Do you want
white cake or chocolate cake?" I said, "yes". --
My aunt gave me a walkie-talkie for my birthday. She says if I'm
good, she'll give me the other one next year. --
I went to the bank and asked to borrow a cup of money. They said,
"What for?" I said, "I'm going to buy some sugar." --
I eat Swiss cheese from the inside out. --
I had amnesia once or twice. --
I bought a million lottery tickets. I won a dollar. --
I got a chain letter by fax. It's very simple. You just fax a dollar
bill to everybody on the list. --
I plugged my phone in where the blender used to be. I called someone.
They went "Aaaaahhhh..." --
My friend Sam has one leg. I went to his house. I couldn't go up
the stairs. --
The sun never sets on the British Empire. But it rises every morning.
The sky must get awfully crowded. --
I brought a mirror to Lovers' Lane. I told everybody I'm Narcissus.
--
You know how it is when you decide to lie and say the check is in
the mail, and then you remember it really is? I'm like that all
the time. --
How many people does it take to change a searchlight bulb? --
I was in the grocery store. I saw a sign that said "pet supplies".
So I did. Then I went outside and saw a sign that said "compact
cars". --
The sky already fell. Now what? --
I wear my heart on my sleeve. I wear my liver on my pant leg. --
I still have my Christmas Tree. I looked at it today. Sure enough,
I couldn't see any forests. --
If you can wave a fan, and you can wave a club, can you wave a
fan club? --
When I was in boy scouts, I slipped on the ice and hurt my ankle.
A little old lady had to help me across the street. --
If you write the word "monkey" a million times, do you start to
think you're Shakespeare? --
You know how it is when you're reading a book and falling asleep,
you're reading, reading...and all of a sudden you notice your eyes
are closed? I'm like that all the time. --
My roommate got a pet elephant. Then it got lost. It's in the apartment
somewhere. --
Smoking cures weight problems...eventually... --
I had fried octopus last night. You have to be really quiet when
you eat it. Otherwise, it emits a cloud of black smoke and falls
on the floor. --
Yesterday I told a chicken to cross the road. It said, "what for?"
--
I xeroxed my watch. Now I have time to spare. --
I took a course in speed waiting. Now I can wait an hour in only
ten minutes. --
I eat Swiss cheese. But I only nibble on it. I make the holes bigger.
--
I moved into an all-electric house. I forgot and left the porch
light on all day. When I got home the front door wouldn't open.
--
I got a garage door opener. It can't close. Just open. --
You know how it is when you go to be the subject of a psychology
experiment, and nobody else shows up, and you think maybe that's
part of the experiment? I'm like that all the time. --
I went over to the neighbor's and asked to borrow a cup of salt.
"What are you making?" "A salt lick." --
There aren't enough days in the weekend. --
My friend Sally is a nudist. I went to her house. The closets have
no doors. The walls are covered with see-through wallpaper. --
Sally plays strip poker. Whenever she loses, she has to put something
on. --
The sky is falling...no, I'm tipping over backwards. --
Droughts are because god didn't pay his water bill. --
Is "tired old cliche" one? --
If you had a million Shakespeares, could they write like a monkey?
--
If you tell a joke in the forest, but nobody laughs, was it a joke?
--
It only rains straight down. God doesn't do windows. --
When I get bored I go to a Seven-Eleven and ask for a two-by-four
and a box of three-by-fives. --
The sign said "eight items or less". So I changed my name to Les.
--
Yesterday I saw a chicken crossing the road. I asked it why. It
told me it was none of my business. --
I rented a lottery ticket. I won a million dollars. But I had to
give it back. --
In school, every period ends with a bell. Every sentence ends with
a period. Every crime ends with a sentence. --
I xeroxed my watch. Now I can give away free watches. --
I xeroxed a mirror. Now I have an extra xerox machine. --
I took a course in speed reading. Then I got Reader's Digest on
microfilm. By the time I got the machine set up, I was done. --
Yesterday I found out what doughnuts are for. You put them on doughbolts.
They hold dough airplanes together. For kids, they make erector
sets out of play-dough. --
I went to a haunted house, looked under the kitchen table, and
found spirit gum. --
I went to a garage sale. "How much for the garage?" "It's not for
sale." --
I went to San Francisco. I found someone's heart. --
I know the guy who writes all those bumper stickers. He hates New
York. --
A beautiful woman moved in next door. So I went over and returned
a cup of sugar. "You didn't borrow this." "I will." --
I had my coat hangers spayed. --
I washed a sock. Then I put it in the dryer. When I took it out,
it was gone. --
The Bermuda Triangle got tired of warm weather. It moved to Alaska.
Now Santa Claus is missing. --
I went to a fancy french restaurant called "Deja Vu." The headwaiter
said, "Don't I know you?" --
Last week I forgot how to ride a bicycle. --
I took lessons in bicycle riding. But I could only afford half
of them. Now I can ride a unicycle. --
I had some eyeglasses. I was walking down the street when suddenly
the prescription ran out. --
I got food poisoning today. I don't know when I'll use it. --
I put my air conditioner in backwards. It got cold outside. The
weatherman on TV was confused. "It was supposed to be hot today."
--
I was in a job interview and I opened a book and started reading.
Then I said to the guy, "Let me ask you a question. If you are in
a spaceship that is traveling at the speed of light, and you turn
on the headlights, does anything happen?" He said, "I don't know."
I said, "I don't want your job." --
I was in the first submarine. Instead of a periscope, they had
a kaleidoscope. "We're surrounded." --
I went camping and borrowed a circus tent by mistake. I didn't
notice until I got it set up. People complained because they couldn't
see the lake. --
When I turned two I was really anxious, because I'd doubled my
age in a year. I thought, if this keeps up, by the time I'm six
I'll be ninety. --
Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much
deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen. --
I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in
time. --
It's a fine night to have an evening. --
Even snakes are afraid of snakes. --
I can't stop thinking like this. --
This isn't all true. --
You know how it is when you're walking up the stairs, and you get
to the top, and you think there's one more step? I'm like that all
the time. --
I put hardwood floors on top of wall-to-wall carpet. --
Tinsel is really snakes' mirrors. --
Two babies were born on the same day at the same hospital. They
lay there and looked at each other. Their families came and took
them away. Eighty years later, by a bizarre coincidence, they lay
in the same hospital, on their deathbeds, next to each other. One
of them looked at the other and said, "So. What did you think?"
--
My grandfather gave me a watch. It doesn't have any hands or numbers.
He says it's very accurate. I asked him what time it was. You can
guess what he told me. --
I spent all my money on a FAX machine. Now I can only FAX collect.
--
What are imitation rhinestones? --
If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?
--
If God dropped acid, would he see people? --
In my house there's this light switch that doesn't do anything.
Every so often I would flick it on and off just to check. Yesterday,
I got a call from a woman in Madagascar. She said, "Cut it out."
--
It's a good thing we have gravity or else when birds died they'd
just stay right up there. Hunters would be all confused. --
I wrote a few children's books...not on purpose. --
I wrote a song, but I can't read music so I don't know what it is. Every once in a while I'll be listening to the radio and I say,
"I think I might have written that." --
"So, do you live around here often?" --
I got up one morning, couldn't find my socks, so I called Information.
She said, "Hello, Information." I said, "I can't find my socks."
She said, "They're behind the couch." And they were! --
When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box.
I was an only child....eventually. --
[Referring to a glass of water:] I mixed this myself. Two parts
H, one part O. I don't trust anybody! --
A friend of mine once sent me a post card with a picture of the
entire planet Earth taken from space. On the back it said, "Wish
you were here." --
I'm moving to Mars next week, so if you have any boxes... --
It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it. --
Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country. --
I went to the bank and asked to borrow a cup of money. They said,
"What for?" I said, "I'm going to buy some sugar." --
I saw a bank that said "24 Hour Banking", but I don't have that
much time. --
I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from
the statues that are in all the other museums. --
I like to go to art museums and name the untitled paintings...
Boy With Pail... Kitten On Fire. --
I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time". So
I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance. --
I went to this restaurant last night that was set up like a big
buffet in the shape of an Ouija board. You'd think about what kind
of food you want, and the table would move across the floor to it.
--
I went to a general store. They wouldn't let me buy anything specifically.
--
I worked in a health food store once. A guy came in and asked me,
"If I melt dry ice, can I take a bath without getting wet?" --
I went to a 7-11 and asked for a 2x4 and a box of 3x5's. The clerk
said, "ten-four." --
I was in the grocery store. I saw a sign that said "pet supplies".
So I did. Then I went outside and saw a sign that said "compact
cars". --
I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there,
the guy was locking the front door. I said, "Hey, the sign says
you're open 24 hours." He said, "Yes, but not in a row." --
I love to go shopping. I love to freak out salespeople. They ask
me if they can help me, and I say, "Have you got anything I'd like?"
Then they ask me what size I need, and I say, "Extra medium." --
I saw a small bottle of cologne and asked if it was for sale. She
said, "It's free with purchase." I asked her if anyone bought anything
today. --
I met this wonderful girl at Macy's. She was buying clothes and
I was putting Slinkies on the escalator. --
There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty
people were trapped on the escalators. --
I bought my brother some gift-wrap for Christmas. I took it to
the Gift Wrap department and told them to wrap it, but in a different
print so he would know when to stop unwrapping. --
For my birthday I got a humidifier and a de-humidifier...I put
them in the same room and let them fight it out. --
Ever notice how irons have a setting for *permanent* press? I don't
get it... --
I couldn't find the remote control to the remote control. --
I invented the cordless extension cord. --
I saw a close friend of mine the other day... He said, "Stephen,
why haven't you called me?" I said, "I can't call everyone I want.
My new phone has no five on it." He said, "How long have you had
it?" I said, "I don't know... my calendar has no sevens on it."
--
I plugged my phone in where the blender used to be. I called someone.
They went "Aaaaahhhh..." --
Today I dialed a wrong number... The other person said, "Hello?"
and I said, "Hello, could I speak to Joey?"... They said, "Uh...
I don't think so... he's only 2 months old." I said, "I'll wait."
--
I don't like the sound of my phone ringing so I put my phone inside
my fish tank. I can't hear it, but every time I get a call I see
the fish go like this <<<><<><<<I
go down to the pet store -- "Gimme another ten guppies, I got a
lotta calls yesterday." --
My roommate got a pet elephant. Then it got lost. It's in the apartment
somewhere. --
I installed a skylight in my apartment...The people who live above
me are furious! --
All of the people in my building are insane. The guy above me designs
synthetic hairballs for ceramic cats. The lady across the hall tried
to rob a department store...with a pricing gun. She said, "Give
me all of the money in the vault, or I'm marking down everything
in the store." --
In my house there's this light switch that doesn't do anything.
Every so often I would flick it on and off just to check. Yesterday,
I got a call from a woman in Germany. She said, "Cut it out." --
Doing a little work around the house. I put fake brick wallpaper
over a real brick wall, just so I'd be the only one who knew. People
come over and I'm gonna say, "Go ahead, touch it...it feels real."
--
In my house on the ceilings I have paintings of the rooms above...so
I never have to go upstairs. --
One time the power went out in my house and I had to use the flash
on my camera to see my way around. I made a sandwich and took fifty
pictures of my face. The neighbors thought there was lightning in
my house. --
All the plants in my house are dead---I shot them last night. I
was teasing them by watering them with ice cubes. --
I have a microwave fireplace in my house...The other night I laid
down in front of the fire for the evening in two minutes. --
Winny and I lived in a house that ran on static electricity...If
you wanted to run the blender, you had to rub balloons on your head.
If you wanted to cook, you had to pull off a sweater real quick.
--
I bought a house, on a one-way dead-end road. I don't know how
I got there. --
I went to the hardware store and bought some used paint. It was
in the shape of a house. I also bought some batteries, but they
weren't included. So I had to buy them again. --
My house is made out of balsa wood, so when I want to scare the
neighborhood kids I lift it over my head and tell them to get out
of my yard or I'll throw it at them. --
The other night I came home late, and tried to unlock my house
with my car keys. I started the house up. So, I drove it around
for a while. I was speeding, and a cop pulled me over. He asked
where I lived. I said, "right here, officer". Later, I parked it
on the freeway, got out, and yelled at all the cars, "Get out of
my driveway!" --
My house is on the median strip of a highway. You don't really
notice, except I have to leave the driveway doing 60 MPH. --
For a while I didn't have a car...I had a helicopter...no place
to park it, so I just tied it to a lamp post and left it running...[slow
glance upward] --
I hooked up my accelerator pedal in my car to my brake lights.
I hit the gas, people behind me stop, and I'm gone. --
I replaced the headlights in my car with strobe lights, so it looks
like I'm the only one moving. --
I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car
going really fast, and stick it out the window. I put a new engine
in my car, but forgot to take the old one out. Now my car goes 500
miles per hour. The harmonica sounds *amazing*. --
I watched the Indy 500, and I was thinking that if they left earlier
they wouldn't have to go so fast. --
I had to stop driving my car for a while...the tires got dizzy.
--
My neighbor has a circular driveway...he can't get out. --
I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere
near the place. --
I have an answering machine in my car. It says, "I'm home now.
But leave a message and I'll call when I'm out." --
Last year we drove across the country. We switched on the driving...every
half mile...We had one cassette tape to listen to on the entire
trip...I don't remember what it was. --
I saw a sign: "Rest Area 25 Miles". That's pretty big. Some people
must be really tired. --
A cop stopped me for speeding. He said, "Why were you going so
fast?" I said, "See this thing my foot is on? It's called an accelerator.
When you push down on it, it sends more gas to the engine. The whole
car just takes right off. And see this thing? This steers it." --
I was going 70 miles an hour and got stopped by a cop who said,
"Do you know the speed limit is 55 miles per hour?" "Yes, officer,
but I wasn't going to be out that long..." --
One time a cop pulled me over for running a stop sign. He said,
"Didn't you see the stop sign?" I said, "Yeah, but I don't believe
everything I read." --
I got my driver's license photo taken out of focus on purpose.
Now when I get pulled over the cop looks at it (moving it nearer
and farther, trying to see it clearly)...and says, "Here, you can
go." --
The judge asked, "What do you plead?" I said, "Insanity, your honor,
who in their right mind would park in the passing lane?" --
When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great
parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me
if I'm leaving. --
Yesterday I parked my car in a tow-away zone...when I came back
the entire area was missing. --
I can remember the first time I had to go to sleep. Mom said, "Steven,
time to go to sleep." I said, "But I don't know how." She said,
"It's real easy. Just go down to the end of tired and hang a left."
So I went down to the end of tired, and just out of curiosity I
hung a right. My mother was there, and she said "I thought I told
you to go to sleep." --
I hate it when my foot falls asleep during the day because that
means it's going to be up all night. --
When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, "Did you sleep
good?" I said, "No, I made a few mistakes." --
I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering. --
One night I walked home very late and fell asleep in somebody's
satellite dish. My dreams were showing up on TV's all over the world.
--
My girlfriend does her nails with white-out. When she's asleep,
I go over there and write misspelled words on them. --
I got up one morning and couldn't find my socks, so I called Information.
She said, "Hello, Information." I said, "I can't find my socks."
She said, "They're behind the couch." And they were! --
I went into this bar and sat down next to a pretty girl. She looked
at me and said, "Hey, you have two different colored socks on."
I said, "Yeah, I know, but to me they're the same because I go by
thickness." --
I bought a self learning record to learn Spanish. I turned it on
and went to sleep; the record got stuck. The next day I could only
stutter in Spanish. --
I was going to tape some records onto a cassette, but I got the
wires backwards. I erased all of the records. When I returned them
to my friend, he said, "Hey, these records are all blank." --
Last year I went fishing with Salvador Dali. He was using a dotted
line. He caught every other fish. --
There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking
like an idiot. --
I bought a dog the other day...I named him Stay. It's fun to call
him... "Come here, Stay! Come here, Stay!" He went insane. Now he
just ignores me and keeps typing. --
I put contact lenses in my dog's eyes. They had little pictures
of cats on them. Then I took one out and he ran around in circles.
--
The other day, I was walking my dog around my building...on the
ledge. Some people are afraid of heights. Not me, I'm afraid of
widths. --
I spilled spot remover on my dog. He's gone now. --
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
--
[Referring to a glass of water:] I mixed this myself. Two parts
H, one part O. I don't trust anybody! --
They say we're 98% water. We're that close to drowning...[picks
up his glass of water from the stool]...I like to live on the edge...
--
I bought some powdered water, but I don't know what to add to it.
--
I was born by Caesarian section...but not so you'd notice. It's
just that when I leave a house, I go out through the window. --
When I was little, my grandfather used to make me stand in a closet
for five minutes without moving. He said it was elevator practice.
--
I didn't get a toy train like the other kids. I got a toy subway
instead. You couldn't see anything, but every now and then you'd
hear this rumbling noise go by. --