Brewer’s Famous Quotations

The only quotation book that tells the stories behind the quotations has been expanded and updated. Now, readers can find important information other references the colorful anecdotes and historical incidents that provide the context, background, and wider significance of each famous saying. Did Neil Armstrong revise his famous giant leap” quotation after he got back from the moon? Did the aeronautical engineer who coined Murphy’s Law (if anything can go wrong, it will”) actually mean it as a warning about safe design? Here’s the inside story on 5,000 great quotations, from ancient times to the novels of Douglas Adams.
Going far beyond the scope of most dictionaries of quotations, this compilation provides erudite and entertaining commentary on the origins and context of around 5,000 quotations and the ways in which they have been used, misused or misconstrued. Nigel Rees, the veteran writer and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Quote… Unquote’, draws on an enormous fund of lexicographical expertise, historical research and anecdote as he explains what was actually said, who said it and why.