Best Dictionary Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings Page 3

“Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.”

“You evidently do not suffer from "quotation-hunger" as I do! I get all the dictionaries of quotations I can meet with, as I always want to know where a quotation comes from.”

Knows Want I Can Suffering Hunger Quotations Dictionary

Book:The letters of Lewis Carroll

Source: The letters of Lewis Carroll

“In the dictionary of satyagraha, there is no enemy.”

Enemy Dictionary Satyagraha

Book:The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi

Source: The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi

“The word 'defeat' is not to be found in my dictionary, and everyone who is selected as a recruit in my army may be certain that there is no defeat for a satyagrahi.”

May Certain Found Army Defeat Dictionary Selected Recruit Satyagraha

Book:Gandhi on Nehru

Source: Gandhi on Nehru

“My dictionary has no such expression as a violent fight.”

Fighting Violence Expression Violent Dictionary

Book:Collected Works

Source: Collected Works

“I bought a dictionary. First thing I did was, I looked up the word "dictionary", and it said "you're an asshole".”

Firsts Said Humor Funny Dictionary

Author:Demetri Martin

“You need to release yourself of any expectation of what that material should be. Just start letting it be what it's naturally evolving into, even if it means just pulling words out of the dictionary and laying them one after another. Words are everywhere.”

Ifs Needs Should Mean Materials Expectations Release Evolve Pulling Dictionary

Author:Antony Hegarty

“Walt Whitman, he who laid end to end words never seen in each other's company before outside of a dictionary.”

Ends Company Dictionary Walt

Author:David Lodge

“I just wish they'd put a new word in the dictionary bigger than love because love just doesn't describe what I feel.”

Feels Wish Love Is Bigger Dictionary New Words

Author:John Mayer

“Ludicrous concepts…like the whole idea of a 'war on terrorism'. You can wage war against another country, or on a national group within your own country, but you can't wage war on an abstract noun. How do you know when you've won? When you've got it removed from the Oxford English Dictionary?”

Knows Ideas War Country Whole Groups Concepts Terrorism Abstract Do You Know Dictionary War On Terror Oxford Nouns War On Terrorism

Author:Terry Jones

“The multiplicity of facts and writings is become so great that every thing must soon be reduced to extracts and dictionaries.”

Writing Facts Quotations Dictionary Multiplicity

Author:Voltaire

“You know you're an Arizona native when you have to look up "mass transit" in the dictionary.”

Knows Looks Mass Look Up Native Dictionary Arizona Mass Transit

Author:Paul Johnson

“There is many a thing which the world calls disappointment; but there is no such thing in the dictionary of faith. What to others are disappointments are to believers intimations of the will of God.”

World Disappointment Believer Gods Will Dictionary

Author:John Newton

“When I start asking my friends, "What do you think this means?" And it leads to way more interesting conversations than what it actually ends up meaning in the dictionary. Like "apocryphal," for instance.”

Thinking Way Mean Ends Interesting Conversation My Friends Asking Instance Dictionary Interesting Conversation

Author:Andrew Bird

“If one were loyal to one's nation only because it was good and true ... one would not be loyal to any nation but to truth and goodness. The idea of patriotism would have no place either in our dictionaries or our lives.”

Ifs Ideas Nations Our Lives Goodness Loyal Dictionary True Ones

Author:Max Eastman

“Justice is a word that resides in the dictionary. It occasionally makes its escape, but is promptly caught and put back where it belongs.”

Justice Caught Dictionary

Author:Jack Black

“In the room where I work, I have a chalkboard, and as I'm going along, I write the made-up words on it. A few feet from that chalkboard is a copy of the full 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, to which I refer frequently as a source of ideas and word roots.”

Writing Made Ideas Rooms Feet Source Roots Copies Volume Dictionary Oxford Chalkboards

Author:Neal Stephenson

“Larousse Gastronomique is a veritable dictionary of cooking terms for the French kitchen. If a chef were allowed only one book, this would have to be it.”

Ifs Book Term Cooking Kitchen Chef Dictionary

Author:Mario Batali

“The dictionary has been in the making for several decades, and the result is well worth the wait. MacLean and those who worked with her have consulted with Iñupiaq speakers from across Alaska's North Slope to compile a comprehensive collection of word stems, along with postbases, grammatical endings, and an array of other valuable material. . . . This dictionary will prove fascinating for anyone interested in the Iñupiat and their language.”

Wells Has Beens Language Waiting Results Materials Prove Valuable Decades Collections Fascinating Speakers Stem Dictionary Comprehensive Alaska Slopes Worth The Wait

Author:Lawrence Kaplan

“And no, I'm not a walking C++ dictionary. I do not keep every technical detail in my head at all times. If I did that, I would be a much poorer programmer. I do keep the main points straight in my head most of the time, and I do know where to find the details when I need them.”

Ifs Knows Needs Would Be Walking Details All Time Dictionary Programmers

Author:Bjarne Stroustrup

“The Devil will use our words and his dictionary.”

Use Devil Dictionary Our Words

Author:Adrian Rogers

“I've been in 'Who's Who' and I know what's what, but it'll be the first time I ever made the dictionary.”

Knows Firsts Made First Time Dictionary

Author:Mae West

“Nothing can astound an American. It has often been asserted that the word "impossible" is not a French one. People have evidently been deceived by the dictionary. In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise.”

People America Easy Simple Impossible Overcoming Difficulty Arise Deceived Dictionary

Book:From the Earth to the moon (low cost). Limited edition

Source: From the Earth to the moon (low cost). Limited edition

“I call myself a radical conservative. What's that? Well, let's analyze it. Go to the dictionary. Radical: One who gets to the roots of things. And I'm a conservative because I want to conserve the green of the grass, the potability of drinking water, the first amendment of the Constitution and whatever sanity we have left.”

Want Firsts Wells Left Water Roots Constitution Green Drinking Conservative Radical Grass Sanity Amendments Dictionary First Amendment Drinking Water

Author:Studs Terkel

“You can't win every battle! You must have the word Defeat in your dictionary; if not, defeat will triumph even more strongly!”

Ifs Winning Battle Defeat Triumph Dictionary Can't Win

Author:Mehmet Murat Ildan

“I put a Phrygian cap on the old dictionary.”

Dictionary Caps

Author:Victor Hugo

“Please help keep the world clean: others may wish to use it. Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence. The only place success comes before work is a dictionary Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.”

World Should May Helping Stories Use Wish Fiction Politician Please Logic Method Science Fiction Clean Conclusion Dictionary Detectives Systematic Detective Stories Wrong Conclusion

Author:Arthur C. Clarke

“Homo Americanus is going to go on speaking and writing the way he always has, no matter what dictionary he owns.”

Way Writing Matter Goes On No Matter What Dictionary Speaking And Writing

Author:Kurt Vonnegut

“A physicist friend of mine once said that in facing death, he drew some consolation from the reflection that he would never again have to look up the word "hermeneutics" in the dictionary.”

Looks Said Mines Reflection Look Up Consolation Physicist Dictionary Hermeneutics Facing Death

Book:Facing Up

Source: Facing Up

“I think 'unbelievable' is an unbelievably stupid word.”

Unbelievable Dictionary Stupidest

Author:Matthew McConaughey

“I have the liberal dictionary right here...let's see how they define water-boarding: 'Something done by the evil troops, who we don't support, to innocent terrorists violating their rights to bomb our cities and make us get gay marriage.'”

Done Evil Water Cities Support Rights Gay Terrorist Innocent Bombs Troops Gay Marriage Dictionary

Author:Jon Stewart

“It might interest you to know that the 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary identifies the optimist in complimentary terms, but says nothing about the pessimist. The word 'pessimist' was not in our vocabulary at that time. It's a modern 'invention' which I believe we should 'dis-invent.'”

Knows Should Believe Might I Believe Term Interest Modern Invention Optimist Vocabulary Dictionary Pessimist

Author:Zig Ziglar

“The Constitution has to be interpreted loosely, otherwise it becomes a straitjacket. You can't interpret it literally. You can pretend to, and go digging around in 18th Century dictionaries to figure out what 'cruel and unusual punishment' meant or what the 'right to bear arms' meant, but that is all fake really. The Constitution has to be interpreted in light of modern needs, and that's what they (the strict interpreters) end up doing in spite of all their investigations.”

“A panda walks into a tea room and ordered a salad and ate it. Then it pulled out a pistol, shot the man in the next table dead, and walked out. Everyone rushed after it, shouting "Stop! Stop! Why did you do that?" "Becuase I am a panda," said the panda. "That's what pandas do. If you don't believe me, look in the dictionary." So they looked in the dictionary and sure enough they found Panda: Racoon-like animal of Asia. Eats shoots and leaves.”

Ifs Men Believe Looks Said Enough Next Found Walks Animal Rooms He Man Shots Tables Don't Believe Tea Believe In Me Asia Dictionary Salad Shouting Pistols Pandas

Author:Ursula K. Le Guin

“Success brings poise, especially avoirdupois. Success comes before work only in the dictionary.”

Dictionary Best Work Poise Hard Work Comes Success

Author:William Cranch Bond

“I never understood whether the word 'amnesty' is correct or not. Maybe I am not very intelligent but I checked the dictionary to find the meaning.”

Understood Intelligent Dictionary Amnesty

Author:Kapil Dev

“DAGUERREOTYPE Will take the place of painting. (See PHOTOGRAPHY.) (From The Dictionary of Received Ideas, assembled from notes Flaubert made in the 1870s.)”

Made Ideas Painting Photography Notes Dictionary Daguerreotypes

Author:Gustave Flaubert

“When you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? It could be remember.Because all of you have made covenants-you know what to do and you know how to do it-our greatest need is to remember.”

Knows Needs Looks Made Important Remember Know How Do You Know Dictionary Covenant Important Words

Author:Spencer W. Kimball

“If we don't understand how metaphor works we will misunderstand most of what we read in the Bible. No matter how carefully we parse our Hebrew and Greek sentences, no matter how precisely we use our dictionaries and trace our etymologies, no matter how exactly we define the words on the page, if we do not appreciate the way a metaphor works we will never comprehend the meaning of the text.”

Ifs Way Matter Use Pages Appreciate Metaphor Sentences Greek Dictionary Hebrew Etymology

Author:Eugene H. Peterson

“Fandango was around before the Internet. Fandango is a Spanish-American dance. It's a lively tempo dance. It's almost like the tango. That's what it says in the Merriam-Webster [dictionary]. The second entry is [defined as] 'tomfoolery.' That's what it says in the dictionary, that's what I go by. I remember Queen saying it too on 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' When I was little I never understood what they meant by 'do the fandango.”

Littles Remember Internet Understood Defined Queens Dictionary Lively Entry Tempo Bohemian Tango Bohemian Rhapsody

Author:DJ Quik

“To define is to limit, to set boundaries, to compare and to contrast, and for this reason, the universe, the all, seems to defy definition....Just as no one in his senses would look for the morning news in a dictionary, no one should use speaking and thinking to find out what cannot be spoken or thought.”

Thinking Should Looks Reason Use Seems Universe Morning Limits News Definitions Senses Boundaries Compare Contrast Dictionary

Author:Alan Watts

“The Beatles did everything long before anyone else. They weren't afraid to try things and to experiment with a lot of sounds. In 200 years, when you look up 'rock and roll' in the dictionary, it'll have a picture of the Beatles next to it.”

Trying Years Looks Long Next Sound Rocks Experiments Look Up Rock And Roll Dictionary

Author:Joe Perry

“Ordinary Bibles often include cross-references and brief concordances; Study Bibles include much more, all bound up in one fat volume, so that readers can find a lot of useful explanation on each page without having to hunt through Bible dictionaries and commentaries and the like.”

Study Reader Pages Ordinary Crosses Bounds Fats Explanation Volume Hunts Dictionary Commentary

Author:D. A. Carson

“I've always been fascinated with prostitution. I looked it up in the dictionary as a child, and I remember hearing that Jesus would hang out with prostitutes. I would always focus on the prostitutes.”

Children Remember Jesus Focus Hearing Hanging Out Fascinated Dictionary Prostitution

Author:Craig Seymour

“Many journalists become very defensive when you suggest to them that they are anything but impartial and objective. The problem with those words "impartiality" and "objectivity" is that they have lost their dictionary meaning. They've been taken over. "Impartiality" and "objectivity" now mean the establishment point of view.”

Mean Problem Lost Views Taken Point Of View Objectives Journalist Establishment Dictionary Objectivity Impartiality

Author:John Pilger

“I'm basically a poetry scholar, and I'm happier here in my studio with my row of Chinese dictionaries than I am, frankly, at Lincoln Center.”

Studios Chinese Scholar Dictionary Lincoln Center

Author:Sam Hamill

“I used to teach. I quote American history and I love words. I've read the dictionary I don't know how many times throughout my life. People say, "You read the dictionary?" I say, "Yes, and you can really believe it."”

People Knows Believe Used Teach Know How American History Dictionary

Author:Jackee Harry

“Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.”

Art Philosophy Watches History Worst Expected English Language Dictionary Lexicographer

Author:Samuel Johnson

“It's really hard to find materials. Also, prices of metal have gone completely through the roof, insanely expensive. And if you go to a dictionary and look up starving artist, you'll see my picture.”

Ifs Looks Hard Artist Gone Materials Look Up Expensive Metals Roof Starving Dictionary Starving Artist

Author:Z'EV

“If you look up the word "gab" in the dictionary, it's insignificant of importance, of no substance. That's what gab is.”

Ifs Looks Importance Substance Look Up Insignificant Dictionary

Author:Malachy McCourt

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Dictionary Quotes