Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations

by Elizabeth Knowles (Editor)

Overview

This new collection offers a vivid picture of the world in the 21st century, against a backdrop of the landmark events leading up to it. From Catherine Tate and the Simpsons to Mother Teresa and Winston Churchill, Modern Quotations charts the ebbs and flows of popular culture as well as marking the key voices and watersheds for our time. An authoritative look-up reference, and an enjoyable source for browsing: the perfect gift.

New quotations include:

'You tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.' [Homer Simpson] Matt Groening

'I ain't a communist necessarily, but I been in the red all my life.' Woody Guthrie

'I don't eat anything with a face.' Linda McCartney

'Never stop because you are afraid -- you are never so likely to be wrong.' Fridtjof Nansen

'I watch where the cosmetics industry is going and then walk in the opposite direction.' Anita Roddick

'I wish I had invented blue jeans.' Yves Saint Laurent

'Fame vaporizes, money goes with the wind, and all that's left is character.' O. J. Simpson

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191578670
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	08/23/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	251,803
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Elizabeth Knowles has been Managing Editor of Oxford Quotations Dictionaries since 1993 and is a historical lexicographer, having previously worked for ten years on the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Editorial Reviews

'Well stolen is half written,'' noted the composer Arnold Schoenberg. In quoting this, Daniel Boorstin, the emeritus librarian of Congress, writes: ''Most of us . . . cannot afford a spokesman. But we can all afford a quotation, which gives us many of the same advantages. Then we too can deny that we said it, or if we prefer we can claim credit for choosing so graceful a way of saying it.''

Ah, but what about famous misquotations -- sayings we all accept as part of our language but were never said by the person quoted? A nice bunch of those are collected, as a kind of oddity, in the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations, coming next month.

New York Times Sunday Magazine

These two dictionaries of quotations not only serve as excellent examples of the genre but also continue the strong tradition of Oxford dictionaries generally. Modern Quotations features more than 5000 quotations from the 20th and 21st centuries by figures from around the globe. Numerous new quotations have been added to this second edition, taken from the likes of George W. Bush, Tom Brokaw, Rudolph Giuliani, Al Gore, and many other political, cultural, and literary figures who left their mark on the past decade (the first edition was published in 1993). The main entries are arranged by the author's name, but several pages of special categories (such as "Film Lines" and "Political Sayings") are sprinkled throughout like little gems for the reader to find. Phrase, Saying, & Quotation contains over 12,000 entries, 20 percent of which are new to this second edition (the first came out in 1997). Including not only quotations but also sayings, proverbs, and phrases (e.g., "a tower of strength" and "the one that got away"), the entries are arranged by theme so that readers can easily locate phrases and sayings that apply to a particular topic, emotion, or idea. Since both of these excellent updates contain extensive key-word indexes, they are very easy to use. This is not the first Oxford work for either editor. Knowles, managing editor of Oxford Quotations Dictionaries, has edited such works as The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and coedited the first edition of Phrase, Saying, & Quotation with Ratcliffe, associate editor of Oxford Quotations Dictionaries and editor of The Oxford Dictionary of Thematic Quotations, among other quotations titles. Their experience is certainly evident here; they have both done an excellent job of sorting through what must have been mountains of phrases and sayings to bring readers the best of the best.-Manya S. Chylinski, Ernst & Young Ctr. for Business Knowledge, Boston Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Gr 8 Up-There's a useful trove of material in Modern Quotations, an alphabetically arranged volume. A thematic index expands the keyword index, and separate boxed categories highlight topics such as advertising, political slogans, last words, epitaphs, film lines, and misquotations. A telegrams category suggests that Oxford may one day enshrine memorable e-mail. "Virgin is the possibility of good times" is an ambiguous comment, if Richard Branson, "English businessman," is not known to readers as the founder of Virgin Airways. Not all unfamiliar words are found in the spotty glossary. As with most collections, individuals will find a few favorite and/or notable quotations missing but some of these ("Loose lips sink ships") pop up in Phrase. Here the arrangement is by topic, then by proverbs/sayings, phrases, and quotations. Sources come from every age (though a preponderance are modern), and a wider net seems to have caught a few more non-Western voices (the Koran, Bhagavad Gita, etc.). The glossary is more helpful, and the historical dimension invaluable. There's more here than in Modern Quotations, and more to like; the topics list alone offers almost 10 times the number of themes. For sheer inclusiveness, utility, and fascination, Phrase is the one to buy. As Dorothy L. Sayers said: "I always have a quotation for everything-it saves original thinking."-Patricia D. Lothrop, St. George's School, Newport, RI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal