Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019280071X ISBN 13: 9780192800718

Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr, 1997

Synopsis

B'funny, striking, thought-provoking and incisive ... will appeal to those browsing through it as least as much as to those who wish to use it as a work of reference'

Observer

`Completely captures the comic aspect of politics while still presenting some serious messages ... It is hard to stop browsing once you start'

Daily Mail

`This reader devoured it from cover to cover, discovering ... some excellent and unfamiliar quotations ... it fills a serious gap.'

Financial Times

`Marshalled with wit and meticulous attribution of sources'

Guardian

'full of good one-liners'

Sunday Telegraph

This lively and illuminating dictionary presents a vintage crop of over 4,000 quotations reflecting every facet of political life. Examples range from the pivotal and momentous to the rhetorical, the sincere, the bemused, the tongue-in-cheek, and the downright rude, with memorable words from the
old hands as well as from contemporary politicians.

'Politics is just like showbusiness, you have a hell of an opening, coast for a while and then have a hell of a close.'

Ronald Reagan

'A big cat detained briefly in a poodle parlour, sharpening her claws on the velvet.'

Matthew Parris of Lady Thatcher in the House of Lords

About this title

Review:

According to Dean Acheson, "The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull." But people don't always do what they're supposed to do, as illustrated by the more than 4,000 political quotations compiled by Antony Jay. Trenchant, morbid, ironic, or inane, these bon mots from prominent leaders are everything but dull. The dictionary is arranged alphabetically, running the lexical gamut from British Labour politician Diane Abbott (who opined "Being an MP is the sort of job all working-class parents want for their children--clean, indoors and no heavy lifting") to French novelist Emile Zola, who said simply, "J'accuse." But there is also a subject index that allows you to search for witticisms featuring the words "rotten," "bicker," "subversion," or "handkerchief." In political history, perspective is all. Reading the words of Prince Metternich ("Error has never approached my spirit") and H.L. Mencken ("Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy") is as instructive about the past as it is about the present. It makes for fun browsing, too. --Stephanie Gold

About the Author:

From Panorama in 1956 to Annie's Bar in 1996, Antony Jay has spent 40 years travelling in the realms of government and politics as a television writer and producer. The journey has included the editorship of Tonight, writing the two royal television documentaries Royal Family and Elizabeth R,
and many programmes with David Frost, including the twelve interviews with Harold Wilson in A Prime Minister on Prime Ministers. His insights into bureaucracy come from a year as a senior executive in BBC TV and two on a government committee, the Annan Committee on the Future of Broadcasting.
However, he is best-known as co-author of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 019280071X
• ISBN 13: 9780192800718
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 528
• Editor: Jay Antony