Book Corner: The Yale Book of Quotations

Yale University Press puts out damn good books. You probably know this already as I'm sure some of you are the proud owners of Eugene O'Neill's, Long Day's Journey into Night, or Nicholas Murray's fresh biography of Kafka, or The Yale Pelican History of Art.

Well, they've gone and done it again with The Yale Book of Quotations, edited by Fred R. Shapiro. With more than 12,000 well-known quotations, this 1000-page tome is a snappy, welcome addition to any trivia-buff's collection. Not only do you get the classics, like "God does not play dice with the universe," but Shapiro provides the full context of the quote. In this case, Einstein's letter to Max Born actually read, "The theory yields much, but it hardly brings us closer to the Old One's secrets. I, in any case, am convinced that He does not play dice."

Plus, for those of us who grew up on the Internet, Shapiro adds a handy 150-page Keyword Index. So if you look up "Dice," you get not only Einstein's, but Mallarme's "A Throw of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance." There are also pop culture quotes, sports quotes, advertising slogans and TV catchphrases.

My copy of the book came with a few fun quote quizzes, which YUP has kindly given me permission to reproduce for you all. Answers for the first (along with another matching quiz), found after the jump. [This just in! -- For future editions of the book, submit your own favorite famous quotations at www.quotationdictionary.com]