quotations

Ive used a lot of quotation books, but if i had to choose one, this would the one. Easy to use, sorted by topic and a great index (not as large as Bartlett's best still nice). Only thing thats kind of annoying is that the pages are on the upper inside corner of the page. It can be a bother when trying to flip to a page, but i got over it. All in all, i think this is the best quotation book out their, especially for the paperback price.

I have several quotation reference books, but this is the one that sits on my desk because it is by far my favorite. It contains a good mixture of recent, old, and ancient sayings, organized by themes. Many quotations are cross-referenced by theme, and others by similarity of structure ("Nothing succeeds like success," by Dumas, leads to "Nothing succeeds like excess" by Wilde.) There are over 20,000 quotes, meticulously referenced and often containing rich ancillary material. For instance, the famous "I'll have what she is having" is cited under the general theme of "Sex;" it notes that the author was Nora Ephron (1941--) in the film "When Sally Met Harry," 1989. Said by a woman diner to the waiter after observing Meg Ryan, at another table, acting out an orgasm.

While surfing the book I came across this quotation by Henry Kissinger, on the occasion of Nixon's nomination for president in 1968: "This man, of course, is a disaster. Now the Republican Party is a disaster. Fortunately, he can't be elected--or the whole country would be a disaster area." And this by Nixon, used frequently in reference to Kissinger: "My Jew boy," cited in Isaacson's "Kissinger: A Biography," 1992.

I'm sorry that not a single citation by Borges made the cut. At least his marvelous characterization of England and Argentina after the Falkland's war should have made it: "It was a fight of two bald men over a comb." The book also has its irritants: it contains no index of first words or fist lines. Thus, if one wants to know who said "Play it again, Sam," there is no easy way of finding out that NOBODY in Casablanca uttered those words. To find out, one must know that Casablance was written by Julius Epstein, look him up in the index, and there on page 530 you will see that it was Ilse (Ingrid Bergman) who said "Play it, Sam. Play "As Time Goes By." Finally, there is the irritant of the page numbers: instead of being centered (top or bottom) or on the outer margins of the pages, the numbers were placed in the inner margins, so that one cannot do a quick flicking of pages to find what we are looking for, but rather the book must be opened entirely to see then hidden page numbers near the center fold.

Still: the paperback edition of this thick volume is sturdy and will likely withstand rugged use. For under twenty bucks, it is a highly recommended bargain, and a useful reference book.

I have several dozen quote books in my personal library, including the usuals like Oxford and Bartlett's. Among big quote dictionaries, the Quotationary is the best. I wish it had a key word index, but even without one, I find this book more enjoyable and useful than the others. It truly is fun just to sit and read several pages at a time.

After reading dozens of quote books, I have seen ample proof that too many quote compilers spend more time copying each others' work than finding NEW material; this sometimes results in the same incorrect information showing up in several different books. The Quotationary is a very pleasant exception, and the source information has proven near-perfect in accuracy.

If you can only buy one major quote dictionary, this one is an outstanding choice.