A New Book of Quotations

The Yale Book of Quotations

Library Journal: "This collection of 12,000 quotations is a real treat! The quotes range over literature, history, popular culture, sports, computers, science, politics, law, and the social sciences, and although American quotations are emphasized, the book's scope is global. The authors represented are as diverse as William Shakespeare, John Lennon, Jack Dempsey, both Presidents Bush, J.K. Rowling, Rita Mae Brown, Confucius, Warren Buffet, and Deng Xiaoping."

I have selected a few of my favorite quotations from the book and included a related title in the APL collection for each person.

J. Robert Oppenheimer
US physicist, 1904-1967
"When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atom bomb."
American Prometheus; the Triump and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird

Walker Percy
American Writer, 1916-1990
"The fact is I am quite happy in a movie, even a bad movie. Other people, so I have read, treasure memorable moments in their lives."
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

Philip K. Dick
American Writer, 1928-1982
“Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away.”
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

Julian Barnes
British Writer, 1946-
“Books say: she did this because. Life says she did this. Books are where life is explained; life is where things aren't."
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

Tom Waits
American singer-songwriter, 1949-
“I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy.”
Real Gone by Tom Waits


For more quotation sources, please see APL’s Quotation Locator Research Guide.