The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations - Hardcover

Partington, Angela, Editor

4.18 out of 5 stars

440 ratings by Goodreads

9780198662020: The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198662025 ISBN 13: 9780198662020

Publisher: Easton Press, 1993

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Now updated and expanded, and containing over 17,000 quotations from 2,500 men and women from all walks of life, this revised edition of the foremost dictionary of quotations offers the ideal bon mot for every occasion. Quotes from all eras are included, from the Bible and Shakespeare to films and song lyrics. This revised edition also contains appendices covering Sayings of the '90s, Popular Misquotations, Advertising Slogans, and Mottos. More non-English quotations are included (many in their original language and English), as well as more quotations from women authors, from the sciences, and from films, TV, journalism, and politics. Each quotation is accompanied by its earliest traceable source, and the main listing by author is complemented by a useful key word index. And the Dictionary is now especially user-friendly, with expanded information on authors and individual quotations. Long a treasured resource for anyone seeking the perfect expression, The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations in this revised fourth edition will be the definitive source to turn to for years to come.

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Review

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is as impressive, erudite, enjoyable, and educational a tome as you might expect from Oxford. It's the sort of undertaking the press does very well. The first such dictionary, as compiled by Oxford, was published in 1953, and it's been tweaking, modifying, and updating it ever since. This new edition, the fifth, offers well over 20,000 quotations from more than 3,000 authors. Responding to correspondence from their readers, Oxford has restored some material from past editions, such as the proverbs and nursery-rhymes section. There's a much more inclusive attention to sacred texts of world religions, and 2,000 quotations are brand new.

The quotations are arranged alphabetically, by author, so browsing provides insight into the authors quoted, more so than do compendiums that are organize by theme. There is also, however, a full thematic index, starting with Administration, Age, and America, and running the alphabetical gamut through to War, Weather, and Youth. And that is followed by a 283-page comprehensive keyword index. If you needed to fault Oxford with something, it might be the small print, but it certainly wouldn't be the thoroughness or cross-referenceability.

There's Kingsley Amis on hangovers ("His mouth had been used as a latrine by some small creature of the night, and then as its mausoleum") and the sexes ("Women are really much nicer than men. No wonder we like them"). There's Woody Allen on immortality ("I don't want to achieve immortality through my work--I want to achieve it through not dying") and Fred Allen on committees ("A group of men who individually can do nothing but as a group decide that nothing can be done"). Spiro T. Agnew is on record as saying, "If you've seen one city slum you've seen them all." And Konrad Adenauer weighs in with "A thick skin is a gift from God."

There are pages of special categories, such as one of advertising slogans ("Let your fingers do the walking," "It's finger-licking good," and "Beanz meanz Heinz") and three pages of last words ("God will pardon me, it is His trade," from Heinrich Heine; "If this is dying, then I don't think much of it," by Lytton Strachey; and "It's been so long since I've had champagne," by Anton Chekhov). And there are pages of film lines, misquotations, epitaphs, telegrams, and toasts, too. Oxford's Dictionary of Quotations is a wonderfully reliable and inclusive quotation reference, and it's a lot of fun, as well. --Stephanie Gold