History of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations Part 4

About the major reference book Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, examples of quotes found in the book.

The Story behind BARTLETT'S FAMILIAR

QUOTATIONS

Modern Operation: To update Bartlett's Familiar Quotations for a new edition, a special staff is hired, and a pool of persons who are experts in their respective fields is established. In today's world of mass communication and fleeting fashions, the editorship of a work such as Bartlett's has become an intricate but creative job. The current edition is the first computerized one; the 600-page index was compiled entirely by computer for greater comprehensiveness and accuracy than was previously possible.

Size and Distribution of Sales: No information available.

Examples of Typical Material: The following is a random sampling of quotes through the ages on a subject of enduring interest: husbands and wives.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his

mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and

they shall be one flesh.--Genesis 2:24

Every one of you hath his particular plague,

and my wife is mine; and he is very happy

who hath this only.--Pittacus

He that hath wife and children hath given

hostages to fortune; for they are impediments

to great enterprises, either of virtue or

mischief.--Francis Bacon, "Of Adversity"

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me ye women if you can.

--Anne Bradstreet

Here lies my wife: here let her lie!

Now she's at rest, and so am I.

--John Dryden,

Epitaph intended for his wife

A little house well filled, a little field well

tilled, and a little wife well willed, are great riches.

--Benjamin Franklin,

Poor Richard's Almanac

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a

single man in possession of a good fortune,

must be in want of a wife.

--Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the

simple reason that it is more difficult to be

witty every day than to say pretty things from

time to time.

--sHonore de Balzac,

Physiologie du Mariage

I should like to see any kind of a man, distin-

guishable from a gorilla, that some good and

even pretty woman could not shape a husband out of.

--Oliver Wendell Holmes,

The Professor at the Breakfast-Table

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,

And argued each case with my wife;

And the muscular strength, which it gave to

my jaw,

Has lasted the rest of my life."

--Lewis Carroll,

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland