Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

Elizabeth Knowles

OUP Oxford, Sep 10, 2009 - Reference - 1184 pages

The first edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations was published in 1941 and for 70 years this bestselling book has remained unrivalled in its coverage of quotations past and present. The seventh edition is a vast treasury of wit and wisdom spanning the centuries and providing the ultimate answer to the question, 'Who said that?' Find that half-remembered line in a browser's paradise of over 20,000 quotations, comprehensively indexed for ready reference. Whether you lean towards the words of Jane Austen: 'Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure', or the advice of Paris Hilton: 'Dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in', the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations provides a quote for every occasion. Plus to celebrate its 70th birthday the book now comes with a free booklet of misquotations and the fascinating stories behind them. Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled dictionary research programme and unique language monitoring, almost 1,000 new quotations have been added to this seventh edition from over 500 authors, from Mary Wollstonecraft and Sarah Palin to Herman Hesse and William Hazlitt. These include classic quotations from established names for which new evidence of current usage has been found, such as 'The worth of a soul cannot be told' (the African writer and former slave Olaudah Equiano) and 'Work first - love next' (American writer and feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman), as well as earlier quotations used by well-known literary authors from around the English-speaking world, e.g. the maxim of Confucius for a ruler, 'If you desire what is good, the people will be good' (quoted by Thoreau), and the view of the Phrygian Stoic philosopher Epictetus that 'Not things, but opinions about things, trouble men' (cited by Laurence Sterne ) 'When a thing has been said and well said, have no scruple: take it and copy it' - Anatole France

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - osunale - LibraryThing

One of my favorite dictionaries to browse: a quote for every occasion, a saying for every mood. There's an enormous selection here, covering everything from pop culture to religion and literature with a very useful index system.

The Oxford dictionary of quotations

User Review  - Not Available - Book Verdict

In one of his elegies, Rilke proclaimed, "Who has not sat nervously before the stage curtain of his heart." In a short story, Anton Chekhov wrote, "If a lot of cures are suggested for a disease, it ...

About the author

A historical lexicographer, having previously worked on the 4th edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Elizabeth Knowles has had a long association with Oxford Quotations Dictionaries. As well as the 5th and 6th editions of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999, 2004), her editorial credits include the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2nd edition, 2005), the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations (3rd edition, 2007), What They Didn't Say: A Book of Misquotations (2006), and the Little Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (2009).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Oxford Dictionary of Quotations; OXFORD DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS; Oxford reference online
• Editor: Elizabeth Knowles
• Edition: 7, illustrated
• Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2009
• ISBN: 0199237174, 9780199237173
• Length: 1184 pages
• Subjects: Reference / General; Reference / Quotations