Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Subject

by Susan Ratcliffe (editor)

Here are more than 7,000 quotations, ranging from the wisdom of the Bible, Shakespeare, and the great philosophers to the more modern meditations of Bono, J. K. Rowling, and George W. Bush. There is Yogi Berra's immortal "The future ain't what it used to be," Robert Louis Stevenson's "Wine is bottled poetry," and Lao Tzu's "A good traveler has no fixed plans." Arranged thematically for ease of use, the volume covers more than 600 subjects, from Beauty and Baseball to Patriotism, Power, and The Past. Themes new to this edition include Babies, Birthdays, Nine-Eleven, Retirement, and Toasts. Also new to this edition are an increased number of contemporary and motivational quotations, a full index allowing readers to search the text by author as well as theme, and an improved layout to make using this book easier than ever. From literature to the law, music to the movies, readers will find an abundance of classic quotes and little known gems to enliven their speeches, conversation, reports and correspondence.

Genres: Reference

592 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2004

Reviews

[Edlira Dibrani]

A wonderful book with an amazing collection of the most influent quotes that have ever been said by great personalities.

Here are some of my favourite ones.

"It is better to be a HAS BEEN than a NEVER WAS." Cecil Parkinson

"Never explain-your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway." Elbert Hubbard

"I suppose art is the only thing that can go on mattering once it has stopped hurting." Elizabeth Bowen

"We all know that ART is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth." Pablo Picasso

"Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies." John Donne

"Beloved, come to me often in my dreams. No, not that. Live in my dreams." Marina Tsvetaeva

"It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen." Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth." Jean-Paul Sartre

"Oh , innocent victims of Cupid,
Remember this terse little verse;
To let a fool kiss you is stupid,
To let a kiss fool you is worse." E. Y. Harburg

"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." Walter Bagehot

"Prose=words in their best order;
Poetry=the best words in the best order." Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed." Carl Gustav Jung

[Nicola]

Useful reference text.

Non fiction: reference, quotations, quotes, dictionary, English, speeches, essays, help

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations by Subject (Oxford Paperback Reference)
by Susan Ratcliffe

Oxford Quotations by Subject is a collection of over 7,000 quotations, arranged thematically for easy look-up. Covering an enormous range of nearly 600 themes, there is every subject you can think of, from the more traditional topics of Courage or Parliament, to topical themes such as The Internet or Genetic Engineering. The quotations that stand together in each particular theme range from the very old to the modern: both Horace and Maeve Binchy comment on the theme The Present, while Desmond Morris and Jeremy Bentham give their views in the category on Animal Rights. A useful author index (including descriptions and context lines) gives quick and easy access to what is in the dictionary and provides information on each author. For anyone needing to find quotable gems on a wide variety of topics, the Oxfprd Dictionary of Quotations by Subject is an impressive and highly useable source.

[Regina Hunter]

"No poet ever interpreted nature as freely as a lawyer interprets the truth."