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The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
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Authors/Performers
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Elizabeth Knowles;
Product Description
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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
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This book is very different from the other quotation books I've used. It is well organized and indexed, but a large number of quotes are very large indeed. It is perhaps dominated by the Bible, Shakespeare, and a few other well-know authors/books. If you know something is from Shakespeare and you need to know where (which play, act, etc.), this book is for you. If you just collect quotes, as I do, it isn't all that helpful--Bartlett's is better for that purpose. Also, see Lieberman's 3500 quotes book and, especially, Braude's book of speakers' stories (exceptionally good). So, the Oxford book is a 3 or a 5 depending on how you want to use it. So, I gave it a 4. What can you do? As Virgil (as quoted in the book) says: "Trust one who has gone through it." Great reference text, but not a book to read through, IMHO.;
[Rating: 4 Stars]
I have used previous editions of the Oxford book o' quotations and, until this edition, I considered this book a must-have for anyone that relies upon reference sources for quotations, as I do as a magazine editor.While probably trivial to most, the decision to place page numbers in the gutter rather than on the top-outside corners of each page, as in previous editions, is truly a pain. Think about it; most readers will search for quotes by topic, to which the excellent index will refer the reader by page. Tucking such (small) folios in the gutter is irritating when attempting to locate something quickly. Truly, this is a minor complaint, but I find myself using the previous edition and hope the next edition will rectify this flaw in the current edition's functionality...;
[Rating: 3 Stars]
The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is more than simply a collection of words people have spoken. It's a summary of the best of our spoken and written language - the Greek and Latin authors, Dante, The Bible, Shakespeare, the English Poets, Winston Churchill, and just about every other essential literary or historical work of the last two thousand years. In a sense, the ODQ is not so much a collection of famous sayings as it is a single volume summary of western literature you can use to track down a line from a poem or novel as well as a phrase from a famous speech. This is an essential reference work for anyone interested in literature or history and should be part of any home library alongside such frequently used books as a dictionary or encyclopedia.;
[Rating: 5 Stars]
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