See Also: ORIGINALITY

1. Exclusive as a mail box —Raymond Chandler
2. He’s unusual all right … like the last of the orange flamingos —Saul Bellow
3. A miracle as great as art —Charles Bukowski
4. (And what is so) rare as a day in June —James Russell Lowell One of Lowell’s most memorable lines!
5. (To think of nothing benign to memorize is as) rare as feeling no personal blemish —W. H. Auden
6. Rare as a man without self-pity —Stephen Vincent Benét
7. Rare and wonderful feeling, like the first moments of love —George Garrett
8. Rare as a black swan —Anon

   This probably evolved from “Rare to be found as black swans” featured in Daniel Rogers’ seventeenth century Matrimonial Honors.

9. Rare as a Cockney accent at Eton —Anon
10. Rare as a man without self-pity —Stephen Vincent Benét
11. Rare as an Emperor moth —Lawrence Durrell
12. Rare as a New York City subway train without graffiti —Elyse Sommer
13. Rare as a nine dollar bill —Anon
14. Rare as a politician on the stump who doesn’t make promises —Anon

    A partner to this one: “Rare as a politician who lives up to his campaign promises.”

15. Rare as a well-spent life -Anon
16. (A lucky man is) rare as a white crow —Juvenal
17. Rare as a winter swallow —Honoré de Balzac
18. Rare as discretion in a gossip —Anon
19. Rare as humility in a grizzly bear —Julian Ralph
20. (Movies like Paul Mayersberg’s Captive are as) rare as peacocks’ teeth —Vincent Canby, New York Times, April 3, 1987
21. Rare as rocking horse manure —Anon
22. Rare as snow in July —Anon

    Another modern simile which can be traced to an earlier form: “Like snow at Midsummer, exceeding rare.”

23. Rare in life as black lightning on a blue sky —Fitz-Greene Halleck
24. (The liberal “effete snobs” that Spiro T. Agnew railed against are as) rare today as Republicans on the welfare rolls —Barbara Ehrenreich
25. Scarce as below par golf scores —Anon
26. Scarce as fat men in a long-distance marathon —Anon
27. Scarce as a six figure advance for a first novel by an unknown author —Elyse Sommer
28. [Money … was as] scarce as frogs’ teeth, crabs’ tails or eunuchs’ whiskers —Pat Barr

    Barr’s colorful multiple simile refers to the scarcity of money in Korea during the late nineteenth century when the heroine of her book, Curious Life For a Lady, was there.

29. Scarce as ice cream vendors on a snowy day in January —Anon

    The comparative twists on this are endless, for example: “Scarce as lemonade stands in the desert,” or “Scarce as women in fur coats in ninety degree weather.”

30. Scarce as low-cost, high profit ideas for an untapped market —Anon
31. Scarce as squirrels at a busy city street crossing —Elyse Sommer
32. Scarce as the buffalo that once roamed the prairie —Enid Nemy, New York Times, July 6, 1986

    Nemy likened the buffalo scarcity to newsy letters.

33. Scarce as the cardinal virtues —Ross Macdonald
34. Scarce as two dollar gourmet lunches —Anon
35. (One of the kindest-natured persons that I ever knew on this earth, where kind people are) as rare as black eagles or red deer —Ouida