Ranging over the globe and over the centuries, here is a sparkling collection of over 6,000 remarks and witticisms, judgements and observations on all the topics you are likely to want a quotation on. The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations contains surprises of pithy wit, asides of originality and insight, as well as phrases chosen simply for the elegance and evocativeness of their expression.

Love and marriage, death and religion, food and drunkenness: all the eternal concerns are here- as well as a host of issues more particular to our time. As varied as the topics they comment on are the people the editor has found as his sources- from Aristotle to Mae West, from St. Augustine to Oscar Wilde, from Budha to Virginia Woolf.