New Dictionary of Quotations

Rating:
Summary: Rather dull
Review: I have a much better time looking through some of the quote pages on the internet than through this book. It contains some good quotes but they are buried in a mass of really commonplace utterances.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Quotation Books
Review: This is not a new book, but it is loaded with great quotations, and they are well documented. It is subject- rather than author organized, which makes it easier to browse by topic, in my mind, making it more useful for someone seeking quotations for writing or speaking.

As a quotation book collector (see my other reviews) owning over 400 quote books, I'd rate this one in the top five percent. When I discovered my 1942 copy in a used bookstore and realized what a treasure trove of new material it contains (lots!-- over 1300 pages of smaller type. I estimate it contains at least 30,000 quotations,) it really made my day. There are only so many really great books which are delicious treats. So many are re-packagings of older ones. This book contains just a super batch of idea nuggets, collected by one of the brightest journalistic minds of the time.

Mencken basically took his quote collection and made it into a book which would supplement the popular books of the time-- Bartlett's, Hoyt and Stevenson. His stated goals were to date all the quotes and proverbs, leave out the fluff (platitudes), and add a lot more topics.

He comments, " Some immemorial imbecilities have been added deliberately , on the ground that it is just as interesting to note how foolish men have been as to note how wise they have been."

Now maybe it's just my read of him, but Mencken's choices reflect his acerbic wit.

I've been working too long on putting my own quotation book together, subject by subject (600+ done so far) and this is one book I always check out for both the unusual and unique thought and the most familiar ones, which he seems to nail very often. As a matter of fact, it is remarkable how often he does this.

It's been around along time, and so, unless it has been seriously updated, which I doubt, it is mostly good for more classic quotes. But it is excellent, and always a fun browse.

Since it's about the same price as the Burton Stevenson Home Book of Quotations, also called the MacMillan book of Maxims, Proverbs...... or something like that, it's not an easy choice between the two. This book spares you from some pretty sappy, bland and uninspiring stuff you'll find in the massive Stevenson book. But the Stevenson book is soooo much bigger that I'd probably pick it first, over just about any other quotation book. This book is certainly among the top ten though, for someone who wants a comprehensive quotation book library.

The day after the W inauguration, here's a line, from this book from Jefferson, That government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part." Thomas Jefferson: Letter to H.D. Tiffin, 1807

Note the source and date. These are some of the nice features of this book.