The Yale Book of Quotations - Famous Sayings and Phrases Collection | Perfect for Writers, Students, and Public Speakers

I am not finished reading--it's hard to know what finished would be--but I am sure this work deserves the full five stars. I started reading it straight through, but kept getting delightfully sidetracked, remembering another quotation, like an old acquaintance. The editors have done a tremendous amount of research, especially in tracking down many early attestations, especially for modern American texts.This is such a solid reference book that it can't hurt to note that there is no Platonic ideal collection. Though what's included is massive and well-selected, part of the fun is to see what is absent too. Sure, I recall Jimmy Durante saying "I got a million of 'em" (included), but I found his "Everybody wants to get into the act" (not included*) at least as quotable.[*Correction: The quotation _is_ included, though not under Durante but under Radio Catchphrases; I could have found it in the keyword index--which could be improved--but assumed it would appear under Durante; and I heard it on TV; in any case, a cross-reference at Durante would have been helpful.]Though the front matter clearly delineates the format, one could question omitting known political speech writers credit in political quotations, for example, in Agnew's unhappy phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism." William Safire will be not amused. Oh well. Was the single Loyola quote representative? The evidence for attributing "damned lies, and statistics" to Disraeli, rather than Courtney or another, seems to me rather questionable. For example, YBQ cites a 1895 statement of a letter writer who thought Disraeli said it; but in a 1894 book Price Collier attributed the saying to Walter Bagehot. {Later research showed that Charles W. Dilke [1843-1911] used the saying in 1891; and it is attributed to Dilke by one who knew him.)Absent: "the whole nine yards." This appeared in Vietnam GI slang in 1966. By then "Montagnards" were slangily called "'yards." In 1966 Navy Chaplain and anthropologist R. Mole published a book on Nine Tribes of Montagnards in I Corps area (the north of South Vietnam). To get all of them as allies, perhaps, gave rise to the phrase for the full compliment, the whole nine yards. But there is admittedly no consensus on this yet. [Update July, 2007: In 1942 Admiral Land used the words "the whole nine yards" in testimony at a Senate Defense hearing on a rapid increase in shipbuilding at nine new shipyards; that may be the literal origin of the later, metaphoric phrase.][Update July 2012: "the whole nine-yards" has now been found in a 1956 publication, nearer to the WW II Liberty Ship unprecedentedly-productive nine shipyards]As Saul Lieberman reportedly said in introducing G. Scholem's lectures on Kabbalah, "Nonsense is nonsense, but the study of nonsense is scholarship." (Though other tradents report that he said "history," not "study.")In any case, this is a fine reference work. [An example of the flawed index: "Murphy's Law," "Anything that can go wrong..." (and variants, listed in "Modern Proverbs" on p. 529) is not indexed either under "Murphy" or "wrong."--something went wrong.]The book arrived lickety split, was well packaged and was in near perfect condition as advertised. Well done!I have never owned a "quotations book," and I never had the desire to own one. But, getting ready to deliver a new speech, I now have the desire to pepper it with entertaining quotations, to illustrate my points.To do so, one can go off of one's memory, but, as Joseph Epstein points out in his witty introduction, one will miss the mark: the quote and the attribution will most likely be wrong. So much for illustrating one's point!Still, what I like most about this book is the sheer entertainment value. I keep it next to me on my desk, and, in a free moment, I would rather graze through it than surf the Internet.The quotes are obviously weighted towards American authors and pop culture icons of the last 50 years. It includes famous lines in films, advertising and music culture. The chances that your quotation will hit the mark with your audience are greater with this book.One note of caution: you shouldn't read this book looking for an author's most literate quote. The purpose of the book is to provide the most famous quote and nail down the attribution. Nevertheless, that shouldn't prevent you from deriving immense pleasure from just reading the book from page 1 to 851.This was the first book that I bought on Amazon back in 2006. It's a good reference for anyone interested in quotations that include historical sources and additional explanations. It still comes in handy for preparing presentations, to improve my English language skills, or just as a before-bed reading.Neat bookPrompt shipping, VERY secure packaging, and book condition exactly as described. Thanks!This is a fantastic book of quotes as they tend to be more modern than many books have. Very well organized, and I find I use it all the time.I won't give a detailed review, plenty great ones here which I agree with! Besides more contemporary, it still has classic people and many of it. Shakespeare, the Bible, Socrates, Voltaire. But definitely more of a focus on American people.It has many many quotes from my favorite writers, speakers, thinkers, poets. Compared with that of Oxford's, (my favorites) it kills it. Twain has pages devoted to him as he rightly should here, whereas Oxford gives him a barely measly page.Besides being fun and more modern, it traces back the origin it's really cool. It's smaller than some of the other quotation books (like Oxford's) but imo has a lot more to offer certainly in terms of American writers/etc. (Yet this has more quotes from Churchill than Oxford's... so... who knows hehe =)Bought this for my hubby and he has thoroughly enjoyed reading it and sharing the quotes with me.I have many books of quotations and this one is one of my favorites英語圏で引用句辞典といえば、オックスフォード、The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations（2008年現在6版）で、押しも押されぬ存在。大西洋を挟んで、そのアメリカ版をイェール大学出版局が刊行したのが本書。ページ数ではちょっと少ないが、さほど変わりはない。本書の新しい試みは、新たに収録するための＜名文＞探索にインターネット活用したサイトを提供してることであり、そのサイトでは、引用句クイズなどのイヴェントも盛りだくさん。先輩格のオックスフォードの副編集長を務めるのがイェール大学副図書館長で本書の編集長フレッド・R・シャピリオ。配列は著者のアルファベット順で、世界的な作家を多数集める。日本からは松尾芭蕉さま、但し、配列位置が芭蕉のBであり、編集上の致命的なミス！それでも人生の、世界観を名句で飾るにはどんな句（特にエピグラフ）が相応しいか、を英語でじっくり探すには重宝な辞典。版面がオックスフォードほど美しくはないが、中身は充実の約1200ページ。お楽しみ下さい。読書の楽しみ、ここにありです。