The Yale Book of Quotations is a quotations collection that is noted for its focus on modern and American quotations and for its high level of scholarship and reliability. Edited by Fred R. Shapiro, The Yale Book of Quotations was published by Yale University Press in 2006 with a foreword by Joseph Epstein, with 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. This article is about quoting. ... Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908. ... Joseph Epstein, also known as Colonel Gilles, was a leader of the French Resistance during the Second World War. ...

Relative to its nearest competitors, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, The Yale Book of Quotations is characterized by its greater focus 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, film lines, folk and anonymous songs, political slogans, proverbs, and television catchphrases. There is also extensive coverage of traditional literary sources. There are, for example, 400 quotations from the Bible, 106 quotations from Charles Dickens, 127 quotations from T.S. Eliot, 153 quotations from Mark Twain, and 455 quotations from William Shakespeare. Bartletts Familiar Quotations, often simply called Bartletts, is an American reference work that is the longest-lived and most widely distributed collection of quotations. ... This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library of Congress. ... Dickens redirects here. ... Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 - January 4, 1965), was a major Modernist Anglo-American poet, dramatist, and literary critic. ... Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

The Yale Book of Quotations is also characterized by 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. The book's introduction spells out the steps taken. In compiling The Yale Book of Quotations, Shapiro made extensive use of online databases to find earlier or more precise information about famous quotations. He also used the Stumpers network of reference librarians and the American Dialect Society electronic mailing list, as well as traditional library research (Shapiro is associate librarian and lecturer in legal research at the Yale Law School). 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. The Stumpers-L listserv is a resource available for librarians and others to discuss reference questions which they were unable to answer using available resources. ... According to its web site, the American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, is 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 Sterling Law Building Sculptural ornamentation on the Sterling Law Building Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

Shapiro's research resulted in many significant findings, often correcting misattributions elsewhere. The following are representative and indicative of the research applied:

• It was the Earl of Sandwich and the English actor and playwright Samuel Foote 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, based upon a 1935 book.

• "Go West, young man" was indeed by Horace Greeley. 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 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 "was great, but don't forget that Ginger Rogers did everything he did, . . . backwards and in high heels" has been attributed to Ann Richards, Linda Ellerbee, or Faith Whittlesey. Shapiro found that the earliest reference was in the Frank and Ernest comic strip on May 3, 1982, and he contacted the strip's creator, Bob Thaves, to confirm that Thaves was the originator.

The Earl of Sandwich is a title in the peerage of England, created by Charles II and bestowed upon Sir Edward Montagu. ... For other people named Samuel Foote, see Samuel Foote (disambiguation) Samuel Foote (January 27, 1720 – October 21, 1777), a Cornish dramatist and actor, was baptized at Truro on January 27, 1720. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Photographic portrait of Greeley Horace Greeley (February 3, 1811–November 29, 1872) was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder of the Republican party, reformer and politician. ... Fred Astaire (May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987), born Frederick Austerlitz in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. ... Ginger Rogers (July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress, singer and dancer. ... Dorothy Ann Willis Richards (September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician and teacher from Texas. ... Linda Ellerbee (born Linda Jane Smith in Bryan, Texas, USA, August 15, 1944) is an outspoken journalist who is most famously known for several jobs at NBC News, including Washington (DC) correspondent, and reporter and co-anchor of NBC News Overnight. ... Frank and Ernest is a comic strip created and illustrated by Bob Thaves. ... Bob Thaves, also known as Robert Thaves, (born 1924 in USA) is the creator of the comic strip Frank and Ernest which began in 1972. ...

External links

The New Yorker] Book review by Louis Menand

Yale University Press The Yale Book of Quotations' home page, including excerpts.