The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198601735 ISBN 13: 9780198601739

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1999

Synopsis

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations has long been hailed as the most literary quotation book available. Here readers will find in one volume the wit and wisdom of humanity--the finest lines to be found in Shakespeare, the Bible, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, and hundreds of other writers, philosophers, political figures, and entertainers.
This major new edition offers the broadest and most up-to-date coverage of quotations available today. Now with 20,000 quotations arranged by author, this is Oxford's largest quotations dictionary ever. Alongside superb coverage of quotations from traditional sources, the Dictionary now boasts improved coverage of world religions, classical Greek and Latin literature, proverbs, and nursery rhymes. In addition, for the first time there are special sections for Advertising Slogans, Epitaphs, Film Lines, and Misquotations, which bring together topical and related quotes. Moreover, the new Fifth Edition provides enhanced accessibility with a new thematic index to help you find the best quotes on a chosen subject, more in depth details of the earliest traceable source, an extensive keyword index, and biographical cross references, so you will easily be able to find quotations for all occasions, and identify who said what, where, and when.
Ranging from profound, to cogent, to witty, these quotations will add spice to your writing and conversation. An ideal reference for any home or office library, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Fifth Edition is a constant source of entertainment and inspiration for public speakers, writers, or anyone else who enjoys a sparkling line or a spirited reply.

About this title

About the Author

Elizabeth Knowles has been the Managing Editor of Oxford's Quotations Dictionaries since 1993. She lives in the United Kingdom.

Reviews

Oxford last published this work, which is the largest of its many collections of quotations, in 1996. It has added more than 2,000 new entries, bringing the total to 20,000. Approximately 2,500 authors are represented.

The book is arranged alphabetically by author. Page layout is clear, with name ranges in the header, entry names in bold type, and numbered quotations, which makes for easy lookups from the index and cross-references. Birth and death dates and a career brief (e.g., "British Whig politician") are given. Cross-references between entries, including page and quotation number, lead the reader to all related quotations. New authors in the fifth edition include Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm, Bill Clinton ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman"), Hillary Rodham Clinton, Helen Fielding ("I will not sulk about having no boyfriend," from Bridget Jones's Diary), Bill Gates, actress Helen Mirren, and Fay Weldon.

Twenty special categories, interfiled among authors and set off in boxes, group selected quotations by type. Examples are advertising slogans, misquotations, newspaper headlines and leaders ("Dewey defeats Truman"), political slogans and songs, film lines ("Here's looking at you, kid"), catchphrases, epitaphs, opening lines, and toasts. The editorial origins of the book are particularly evident here, with many ads for British products and lines from ad campaigns in England and Ireland. Quotes from sources not attributable to an author can be found under headings such as Ballads, The Book of Common Prayer, Nursery rhymes, Proverbs, and The Talmud.

Quotes in foreign languages are followed by English translations, but many from foreign-language speakers are only presented in English, with a note about the source and translator. For instance, of 14 quotes from Flaubert, only one is given first in French. Character names are included for dialogue lines from a play or opera. Information on context is provided if it is needed to appreciate the words. Following the quote from Malvina Reynolds' song "Little Boxes," for example, we learn that it described the tract houses in the hills to the south of San Francisco. Source information for each quotation includes title or type of work (e.g., letter, speech) and date. Apocryphal and attributed statements are so noted.

An eight-page thematic index aids in identifying a dozen or more sayings in each of 44 categories, such as marriage, politics, and television. This section is a nod at the many references (including several from Oxford) that arrange quotations entirely by subject or theme, rather than by author. Such a scheme is particularly useful when a quotation does not contain a keyword directly related to its meaning and thus cannot be identified by means of a keyword index. However, unless the reader is looking for something in one of the few categories on offer here, this index won't be terribly useful. For example, if one wanted to find quotations on mathematics, which is not a category in the thematic index, the only option is to use the volume's keyword index, which means that relevant quotations that do not contain the word mathematics will not be found. A voracious quotation consumer will want to have alternative titles on hand that fully utilize the topical approach.

The thorough source documentation and cross-referencing, coupled with the large number of well-chosen entries, make this a useful purchase for almost every library. It will be especially welcome for its coverage of the last decade, because the last edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Little, Brown), which is of similar breadth and depth, was published in 1992.

Knowles, whose previous works include The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying, and Quotation, has produced another stellar book. Over one tenth of the book's 20,000 quotations (from over 3000 sources) are included for the first time. Like The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations (LJ 3/15/99), one of the sources for this fifth edition, this book includes special categories of quotationsAborrowed titles, last words, film lines, misquotations, closing lines, film titles, and military sayings. After a long absence, proverbs and nursery rhymes are included, and quotes from and about the sacred texts of world religions make their first appearance here. Each quotation contains cross references to others by or about the individual and also includes his or her birth and death dates and profession. Quotations from the same individual are separated by literary form, while those in foreign languages appear in both their original language and in English. A superb thematic index and an extensive keyword index allow the reader to find the source of even partial quotations. The book does have a slight bias toward British quotations, which is logical, given its provenance. Smaller public libraries may prefer quotation dictionaries with predominantly American sources, but the superior organization, comprehensiveness, and special features here will supplement the holdings of most academic and larger public libraries nicely. An essential purchase.ALeah Sparks, Annapolis, MD
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0198601735
• ISBN 13: 9780198601739
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 1152
• Editor: Knowles Elizabeth