The Yale Book of Quotations is a quotations A quotation is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed to its original source, and it is indicated by (punctuated with) quotation marks collection noted for its focus on modern and American quotations and for its high level of scholarship and reliability. Edited by Fred R. Shapiro Fred R. Shapiro is the editor of The Yale Book of Quotations, The Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations, and several other books. He has also published numerous articles on language, law, and information science, including "The Politically Correct United States Supreme Court and the Motherfucking Texas Court of Appeals: Using Legal, it was published by Yale University Press Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous in 2006 Out of 40 stories published in both of these two annual anthologies, stories from The New Yorker are represented eight times, Zoetrope: All-Story four times, Tin House and One Story three times each, and all of these magazines had stories in both collections with a foreword by Joseph Epstein Joseph Epstein is a Jewish essayist, short story writer, and editor, best known as a former editor of the Phi Beta Kappa Society's The American Scholar magazine and for his recent essay collection, Snobbery: The American Version. He was also a lecturer at Northwestern University from 1974 to 2002. He is a Contributing Editor at The Weekly Standard, ISBN 978-0-300-10798-2. Prior to publication it was referred to by its working title, The Yale Dictionary of Quotations. The book presents over 12,000 quotations on 1067 pages. It is arranged alphabetically by author (or, for some quotations, by quotation type), with information as to the source of each quotation and, where relevant, cross-references to other quotations. A keyword index allows the reader to find quotations by significant words in the quotations.
As described in its introduction, The Yale Book of Quotations is characterized by its greater focus, relative to its nearest competitors, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, often simply called Bartlett's, is an American reference work that is the longest-lived and most widely distributed collection of quotations. The book was first issued in 1855 and is currently in its seventeenth edition, published in 2003 and The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is an 1100-page book listing short quotations that are common in English language and culture., on modern American quotations, including those that do not have conventional literary sources. These include quotations from politicians, judges, journalists, sportscasters, athletes, screenwriters, songwriters, and anonymous sources. There are special sections for some kinds of quotations, including advertising slogans Advertising slogans are short, often memorable phrases used in advertising campaigns. They are claimed to be the most effective means of drawing attention to one or more aspects of a product. A strapline is a British term used as a secondary sentence attached to a brand name. Its purpose is to emphasize a phrase that the company wishes to be, film Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects lines, folk The term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. It has been defined in several ways; as music transmitted by word of mouth, music of the lower classes, music with no known composer. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles and anonymous songs, political slogans, proverbs A proverb , also called a byword or nayword, is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. If a proverb is distinguished by particularly, and television catchphrases A catch phrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media (such as literature and publishing, motion pictures, television and radio), as well as word of mouth. Some catch phrases become the de facto ". There is also extensive coverage of traditional literary sources. There are, for example, 400 quotations from the Bible The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity, 106 quotations from Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens FRSA (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870), pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable characters. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print. A concern with what he saw as the, 127 quotations from T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot, OM , was a poet, playwright and literary critic. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Among his most famous writings are the poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday and Four Quartets; the plays Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party; and the essay ", 153 quotations from Mark Twain Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens , an American author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He is extensively quoted. During his lifetime, Twain became a friend to presidents, artists,, and 455 quotations from William Shakespeare William Shakespeare [a] was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".[b] His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays,[c] 154 sonnets, two long narrative. This coverage is, however, less extensive than that offered by Bartlett's, which provides 1,642 quotations from the Bible and 1,906 from Shakespeare. It has more quotations by Bob Dylan Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, painter, poet and latter-day disc jockey who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was, at first, an informal chronicler and then an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of his songs, such than by Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself. His public readings, particularly in America, won him great acclaim; his sonorous voice with a subtle Welsh lilt became almost as famous as his works. His best-known.
The Yale Book of Quotations' introduction also describes its extensive research to comprehensively identify the most famous quotations, trace them to their original sources as far as possible, and record those sources precisely and accurately. In compiling the book, Shapiro made extensive use of online databases to find earlier or more precise information about famous quotations. He also used the Stumpers The Stumpers-L electronic mailing list was a resource available for librarians and others to discuss reference questions which they were unable to answer using available resources network of reference librarians and the American Dialect Society The American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society publishes the academic journal, American Speech. Since its foundation, dialectologists in English- electronic mailing list, as well as traditional library research (Shapiro is associate librarian and lecturer in legal research at the Yale Law School Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1843, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D., and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars and a number of legal research centers. The school's prestige and small size make its admissions process the most selective of any United). To ensure that famous quotations were included, Shapiro reviewed more than a thousand previous quotations collections and other types of anthologies, studied the alt.quotations newsgroup and other Internet and online resources, and consulted experts on famous authors and types of literature.
Shapiro's research resulted in many significant findings, often correcting misattributions elsewhere. The following are representative:
- It was the Earl of Sandwich Earl of Sandwich is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1660 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. He was made Baron Montagu, of St Neots in the County of Huntingdon, and Viscount Hinchingbrooke, at the same time, also in the Peerage of England. The viscountcy is used as the courtesy title by the heir and the English actor and playwright Samuel Foote Samuel Foote was a dramatist, actor and theatre manager from Cornwall who had the exchange "I think, that you must either die of the p-x, or the halter." "My lord, that will depend upon one of two contingencies;--whether I embrace your lordship's mistress, or your lordship's principles." The Yale Book of Quotations traces this to an 1809 source. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations attributed the exchange to Sandwich and John Wilkes John Wilkes was an English radical, journalist and politician, based upon a 1935 book.
- "Go West, young man" was indeed by Horace Greeley Horace Greeley was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, and a politician. His New York Tribune was America's most influential newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s and "established Greeley's reputation as the greatest editor of his day." Greeley used it to promote the Whig and. As The Yale Book of Quotations describes in a detailed note, many reference works, including Bartlett's and The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, wrongly attribute it to John Soule.
- "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" is traced to the Reno Evening Gazette The Reno Gazette-Journal is the main daily newspaper for Reno, Nevada. It came into being when the Nevada State Journal and the Reno Evening Gazette were combined in 1983. It is one of two dailies covering the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area, which is also served by the Reno News & Review, an alternative newsweekly. The Reno Gazette-Journal is on January 22, 1942, in the form "such a thing as a 'free' lunch never existed." Such a finding would have been unlikely without the use of electronic databases.
- The remark that Fred Astaire Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of seventy-six years, during which he made thirty-one musical films. He is particularly associated with Ginger Rogers, with whom he made ten films "was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers During her long career, she made a total of 73 films, and is noted for her role as Fred Astaire's romantic interest and dancing partner in a series of ten Hollywood musical films that revolutionized the genre. She also achieved success in a variety of film roles, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kitty Foyle did everything he did, . . . backwards and in high heels" has been attributed to Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Willis Richards was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the state treasurer of Texas, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995 and was defeated for re-election in 1994 by George W. Bush. Ann Richards, Linda Ellerbee Linda Ellerbee is an American journalist who is most known for several jobs at NBC News, including Washington (DC) correspondent, host of the Nickelodeon network's Nick News, and reporter and co-anchor of NBC News Overnight, which was recognized by the jurors of the duPont Columbia Awards as "possibly the best written and most intelligent, or Faith Whittlesey Faith Ryan Whittlesey is a Republican politician notable for helping to intertwine Republican politics with the evangelical movement, being U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, and often being attributed, incorrectly, a famous quote about Ginger Rogers. Shapiro found that the earliest reference was in the Frank and Ernest Frank and Ernest is a comic strip created and illustrated by Bob Thaves and later Tom Thaves. It debuted on November 6, 1972, and has since been published daily in over 1,200 newspapers. The humor of the comic is based almost exclusively on wordplay and puns comic strip on May 3, 1982, and he contacted the strip's creator, Bob Thaves Robert Thaves was the creator of the comic strip Frank and Ernest, which began in 1972, to confirm that Thaves was the originator.
See also
- Bartlett's Familiar Quotations Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, often simply called Bartlett's, is an American reference work that is the longest-lived and most widely distributed collection of quotations. The book was first issued in 1855 and is currently in its seventeenth edition, published in 2003
- The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is an 1100-page book listing short quotations that are common in English language and culture.
- Wikiquote Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. Based on an idea by Daniel Alston and implemented by Brion Vibber, the goal of the project is to produce collaboratively a vast reference of quotations from prominent people, books, films and proverbs, and to give details about them
External links
- The New Yorker - book review by Louis Menand
- Yale University Press - The Yale Book of Quotations' home page, including an excerpt that provides the full text of its introduction
Categories: 2006 books Categories: 2006 works | Books by year | 2000s books | Books of quotations
By Fred Shapiro
hu, 02 Apr 2009 18:12:52 GM
Did Emerson Define Success? Why Go To Hell Via Handbasket? Eleven weeks ago, I invited readers to submit . quotations. for which they wanted me to try to trace the origins, using . The Yale Book of Quotations. and more recent research by me.
