Small is beautiful...
In the words of the economist E. F. Schumacher 'Small is beautiful', and the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations gathers together the best of the best: the wisest and wittiest quotations on every subject. They range from brief modern summaries to the more sober phrasing of the past: at Character can be found both Kurt Vonnegut's 'We are what we pretend to be' and David Hume's 'A propensity to hope and joy is real riches: one to fear and sorrow, real poverty'.
Sometimes the comments are surprising: 'The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way' perhaps sounds too modern to be William Blake, and there is nothing Darwinian about Charles Darwin's line 'Much love much trial, but what an utter desert is life without love'. And the words of James Dean 'Take it easy driving - the life you save may be mine', while appropriate to every new driver, have a special resonance given the way that he met his death.
Quotations can be warm or cynical: at Marriage there is the choice between Bill Cosby 'The heart of marriage is memories' or Benjamin Franklin 'Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards'. On Children, Walt Disney offers 'Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children', but Julian Barnes says 'Quality time? There's always another load of washing'. On aspects of age, Kenneth Clarke says 'What's the point of growing old if you can't hound and persecute the young?' but Emily Dickinson replies 'We turn not older with the years, but newer every day'.
There are contrasting views too on how we should spend our lives. Henry James says 'Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind', but one quotation which it might be useful to remember for those who love words is the comment of Laurence Peter, the editor of another dictionary of quotations, 'The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time'.
All these and many more can be found in the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, a perfect gift and a perfect source for speeches on any occasion.
Susan Ratcliffe
21/10/2008
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