Release date 09/09/2004

Mandelson is in!

STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01 9th SEPTEMBER 2004

Peter Mandelson, new Trade Commissioner for Europe, has entered the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations for the first time, sitting beside the great and the bad (next door to Nelson Mandela, and not far from Machiavelli) with the words 'I am a fighter and not a quitter'.

Since it was first published in 1941, the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations has celebrated its diamond jubilee as the nation's favourite guide to words of wisdom and entertainment from past and present, and from the sports field to the poet's pen. A major new edition is published on 9 September 2004.

The sixth edition includes a history of this iconic book and the Introduction to the first edition.

ECHOES OF THE PAST

Quotes have always been borrowed to add spice to what is being said, and today the practice is thriving. As Oxford Quotations continually monitor the language, new material includes not only high-profile utterances of the last few years but also, and excitingly, quotations from an earlier time which have acquired new resonance - and which may make surprising links between famous names.

Bill Clinton echoed Lord Salisbury ('when the oracle has spoken you never know what it means') on the inscrutability of elections: 'The American people have spoken - but it's going to take a little while to determine exactly what they said'. The Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman remade Kipling's quotation into: 'Responsibility without power, the fate of the secretary through the ages'. Henri Cartier-Bresson took his trademark 'decisive moment' from the 17th-century French politician, the Cardinal de Retz.

Voices of the past may address contemporary concerns. Those with anxieties about 'stealth taxes' would find their worst fears justified by the advice of Louis XIV's chief minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 'The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing.' And those involved in major enterprises, from the Millennium Dome to the current Olympic bid, can take comfort from Edmund Burke's warning that 'Those who carry on great public schemes' should be prepared for 'fatiguing delays', 'mortifying disappointments', and 'shocking insults'.

WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS

War factors high in the new additions: George W. Bush, making his first appearance in the dictionary, identifies: 'an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of this world', and Tony Blair ('this is not the time to falter') stands 'shoulder to shoulder' with him. Disraeli said, 'With words we govern men' and with words men are led: such as Tim Collins's address to his troops in Iraq: 'If you are ferocious in battle, be magnanimous in victory.' Words of the past with new topicality come from as long ago as the classical Greece of Aeschylus and Demosthenes ('Excessive dealings with tyrants are not good for the security of free states').

THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE

From the world of politics, find out what David Blunkett said about asylum seekers and how Alistair Campbell makes his first appearance. Become personal with the Iron Chancellor, Gordon Brown ('I'm a father; that's what matters most. Nothing matters more') and Cherie Blair ('I'm not Superwoman...'). Jeremy Paxman goes head to head with Michael Howard, who makes his own debut (as does Michael Portillo - but Charles Kennedy is still to be seen).

QUEEN AND COUNTRY

The Queen continues to lead her family in the number of quotes with a poignant new addition ('I thank you also from the bottom of my heart for the love you gave her [the Queen Mother]...') and is joined by her late sister, Princess Margaret, for the first time. J K Rowling (on poverty and childbirth), Serena Williams, and Cleopatra ('I will not be triumphed over') have something in common because they are all newcomers to the dictionary. Women who have pushed forward the boundaries in the past, Amy Johnson, Indira Ghandi, and Elizabeth David ('good food is always a trouble and its preparation should be regarded as a labour of love') rub shoulders with women of today: Cathy Freeman, Theresa May, and Delia Smith ('A hen's egg is quite simply a work of art...').

New additions from entertainment, Anne Robinson ('You are the weakest link...goodbye'), Eddie Izzard ('Cake or death?'), and Johnny Cash meet with the glitzy world of fashion designers Jean Muir ('The clothes in themselves do not make a statement. The woman makes the statement and the dress helps') and Donna Karan. In sport, Jonny Wilkinson, with typical nonchalance ('It was probably the easiest attempt I had all day'), beats David Beckham into the dictionary.

Elizabeth Knowles says, 'To be Editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations is an enormous privilege and endlessly exciting. Reach for this book for the answer to the question 'who said that?' then stay to cross countries and centuries in a world's variety of quotations.'

As John Bunyan said, and new to this edition, 'words easy to be understood do often hit the mark; when high and learned ones do only pierce the air', and it is this notion which gives quotations an eternal ability to engage and entertain us across time and space.

If you would like more information, or to interview Elizabeth Knowles, please contact Sarah Kidd on 01865 353911 or email sarah.kidd@oup.com

See the full list of quotations added to the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (pdf)

Read the Introduction to the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (pdf)

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education in its worldwide publishing. The preparation of dictionaries, of all types and for all ages, has been a central part of its activities for more than 100 years.

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