Herbert Kaufman - His Work

His Work

Kaufman is the author of several books, including:

• The Stolen Throne (c. 1907; co-authored with May Isabel Fisk and illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy and Herman Rountree)
• The Winning Fight (c. 1910) being perhaps his most popular work
• Do Something! Be Something! (c. 1912)
• The Efficient Age (c. 1913)
• The Song of Guns (1914, reissued in 1915 as "The Hell-Gate of Soissons And Other Poems")
• The Clock that Had No Hands (c. 1912; a compilation of essays on the value of advertising)
• Neighbors (c. 1914)

Kaufman is known for his essays on success, war poetry, and "Kaufmanisms." A "Kaufmanism" is the persuasive rhetorical juxtaposition of words that reverses the subject and object of a phrase often meant to change its context and meaning, typically used to add additional emphasis to both nouns.

Select Kaufmanisms:

• A coward can't conquer anything, because he can't conquer himself.
• The man who won't go through to the finish has finished at the start.
• They who fight in the dark do not shine in the light.
• Mind your own business and in time you'll have a business of your own to mind.