Shakespeare: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions) [Paperback]

William Shakespeare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 10, 1998 | Series: Dover Thrift Editions

With over 500 offerings from the most quoted writer in the English language, this modestly priced volume provides a luxurious assortment of memorable and profound thoughts. Conveniently arranged by topic, the source of each quote is fully identified for subjects ranging from love and marriage to truth, beauty, death, music, and more.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 14 and up
  
• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; 1st Ed. edition (June 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486404358
• ISBN-13: 978-0486404356
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Quotations
  • #61 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > British > Shakespeare

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brevity is the soul of wit., November 30, 2002

By 

Chris Salzer (Gainesville, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shakespeare: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

If you're looking for a complete and expensive collection of Shakespeare quotes, then look somewhere else. However, if you're looking for hundreds of his most famous quotes from his plays & sonnets in an abridged 64 page format arranged by subject for only a dollar - then look here!

As the ostensibly wise Polonius so aptly put it, "Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." Also recommended: Dover's Oscar Wilde's Wit & Wisdom. I read both of them whenever I'm bored and in need some intellectual stimulation - the best two investments per dollar you can make. Get thee to a nunnery! Urr...read this first.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you love Shakespeare, this book is for you!, June 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Shakespeare: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

This book includes famous quotes from a variety of literary works by William Shakespeare. If you love Shakespeare's amazing words but don't have the time to read all of his plays, this book is for you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The world's mine oyster, October 9, 2011

By 

L. Power "nlp trainer" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shakespeare: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions) (Paperback)

Recently I have bought several books of quotations by some of the best minds of all time. Dover editions has several, for example Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde among others.

This particular one has the advantage of being inexpensive, and does contain many great quotations I don't recall reading before, I feel I must mention two of my favorites for you to consider.

My favorite by far, and I think unbeatable is Shakespeare's Wordcraft (Softcover), which breaks down Shakespeare's quotations down into patterns, and shows he crafted many of these quotes, and how you too can craft quotations of similar brilliance.

It does not use fancy jargon or explanations. Mostly, it shows patterns such as reverberations, reversals, repetitions, and then list quotes, and as you read you can discern what is happening, it's really eye opening.

Another one, the Kindle version William Shakespeare Complete Works Ultimate Collection: 213 Plays, Poems, Sonnets, Poetry including the 16 rare, hard-to-get Apocryphal Plays PLUS Annotations, Commentaries of Works, Full Biography, on Kindle. For a ridiculously modest price you have Shakespeare's complete works. If you don't already have Kindle, you can download a Kindle app for your computer here on Amazon, and experience it that way. With that you have a complete Shakespeare database so if you want to look up an obscure quote like; green eyed monster, time out of joint, or beetle oer the base, you can find every reference even if the words are not side by side. If you wish to look up a common structure like neither..nor, it will show you every place where both these words appeared. This search feature beats most quote sites.

The advantage of this book is that it presents quotations without you having to look for the unknown jewel. I read many good quotations I do not recall reading before. If it was a longer book, it's about 64, and included some of the soliloquys more completely I would probably give it five stars. I realise though that a soliloquy goes slightly beyond the usual scope of a quotation, so maybe it's unrealistic on my part to impose this expectation.

Like all quote books it distils the essence from all his works, saving you the time of diving through all his plays to find the particular pearls, showing you a selection of some of the very best quotes by the master wordsmith of all time.

It's well worth it for how little you pay, and how much you can get out of it.

I think you will enjoy it, and I hope you found this review helpful.