Chambers Dictionary of Quotations - Hardcover

9780550210197: Chambers Dictionary of Quotations

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0550210199 ISBN 13: 9780550210197

Publisher: Chambers Harrap Pub Ltd, 1997

'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.' -- Derek Bok 'I don't want to achieve immortality through my work...I want to achieve it through not dying.' -- Woody Allen 'Life loves the liver of it' -- Maya Angelou An indispensable and comprehensive reference for writers, speakers, educators, executives, and curious browsers, the Chambers Dictionary of Quotations offers more than 20,000 quotations spanning all historical periods and covering diverse aspects of human experience, from politics and feminism, literature and sex, to nature, notable persons, and more. International in scope and broad in coverage, this compendium gathers together notable quotes -- many of which have never been collected before -- from more than 4,000 sources including such contemporary quotables as Salman Rushdie, Maya Angelou, and Henry Kissinger. Each quote is fully annotated, reliably sourced, and put in context along with concise biographical information on its author. Alphabetically arranged by speaker, and extensively cross-referenced, this easy-to-use reference includes a detailed index that facilitates searches by keyword. Readers can quickly locate a quotation on a particular subject, check a half-remembered line, sample the style and philosophy of an author or simply browse through and savor the accumulated wit and wisdom of the ages. The ultimate source of who said what -- and when they said it.

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About the Author:

This internationally renowned reference publisher continues its celebrated tradition of excellence into the present day with such informative and authoritative works as the Chambers Crossword Dictionary, Chambers Encyclopedia, Chambers Biographical Dictionary and the all-new Chambers Dictionary of Quotations.

Chambers is based in Edinburgh, as it always has been, and employs editors with a wide range of skills on dictionaries and other titles for a variety of users, including students and teachers of English as a foreign or second language. As well as the core business of publishing dictionaries and thesauruses, Chambers also publishes a range of titles on grammar and usage, single-volume reference titles on science, history, biography and quotations, as well as titles for Scrabble� and crosswords.

From Booklist:

According to the introduction, this new quotations dictionary "takes a fresh look at what a quotation is, and sees it as not just a literary nugget in the traditional manner but as any recorded piece of spoken or written language that expresses an idea or thought in an interesting way." There are more than 20,000 quotations from more than 4,000 sources. Quotations are arranged alphabetically by author, from Abbott, Diane Julie, the first black woman member of Parliament; to Zwerlin, Mike, U.S. writer and jazz musician. Just these two examples are an indication of the diversity the editors have sought in the people who are represented by the quotes. Among the other sources to be found here, besides the expected Bible, Shakespeare, Greek philosophers, and British poets, are John Cleese, Newt Gingrich, Charles Revson, and Desmond Tutu.

Birth and death dates (when relevant) are supplied for each author, as well as a brief summary of biographical facts. These summaries are useful because they help put the quotations in context and because many of the authors are not exactly household names. Whenever possible, a date and source for each quotation are provided. Quotations are numbered from 1 to 99 and then begin again with 1. The keyword index refers to page number and quotation number on the page.

Any new quotation dictionary must be compared with Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, now in its sixteenth edition [RBB N 1 92]. The arrangement of Bartlett's is chronological rather than alphabetical, which gives each quotation a valuable historical context but also requires the extra step of consulting the author index in order to locate what was said or written by a particular individual. Bartlett's contains fewer quotations (22,500) from fewer sources (2,550). Although there is naturally a great deal of overlap, there are numerous sources found in only one of the two volumes. In Bartlett's are quotes from Bud Abbott, Cesar Chavez, Louise Erdrich, Elton John, Chief Joseph, and Bruce Springsteen. In Chambers are quotes from Bella Abzug, Dean Acheson, Douglas Adams, Malcolm Forbes, Lance Ito, and Robert McNamara. Bartlett's emphasis tends to be more literary, though it also has more celebrities. Chambers draws its sources from more walks of life and also has a more British slant. Chambers, being newer, has more recent quotes, such as O. J. Simpson's "Absolutely 100 percent not guilty." Chambers is also the only one to quote the American Library Association--"The computer is a fast idiot" (1964).

As the Board has often noted, most libraries need more than one book of quotations. Chambers Dictionary of Quotations is a good choice for libraries that want to broaden and update their holdings.

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