The quotations in the book were originally compiled by Tryon Edwards. In the authors' index at the back of the book he's listed as an American Theologian and editor, and I guess that's the source of the problem. Throughout the book, the quotations have an obvious pro-religion (and specifically pro-Christian) bias, as evidenced by their overwhelming presence, and there is also a blatant anti-science, anti-skepticism, anti-agnosticism, and anti-atheism bias by many quotations that reflect those anti- views and an almost complete lack of quotations that are in support of those ideologies.

I do not think it is too much to expect that for any given subject there be a fairly balanced number of quotations to represent the various opinions and views on it. However, in this book, as described above, for several topics the selected quotations only present one side of opinions while no quotations are included to give evidence of dissenting opinions, which most certainly do exist. This is unfortunate. Ideally, the quotations selected would give one the opportunity to consider diverse, even opposite, points of view on various topics and then choose which viewpoint makes better sense.

Even if Edwards's goal was to proselytize with his book of quotations, it would have been good to include quotations reflecting opinions differing from his own so that: 1) speakers or writers would have access to quotations that are in disagreement to their own views so that they might include them in writings and speeches to confront them in order to bolster their arguments, and 2) if the opposing views are indeed flawed then that should be clear by their inclusion. By excluding opposing points of view altogether, it only brings into question the integrity of the one who compiled the quotations.

The best defense I can think of for Edwards is that he simply did not make any attempt to expose himself to points of view that differed from his own (this is not the defense!), and since the quotations were compiled long before the advent of computers, tracking down the quotations was too difficult, somehow. Of course, this does not excuse the bias and lack of differing views in the quotations, but perhaps it at least partially explains it.

To correct the problem (and perhaps it was corrected in versions after 1961, I don't know) I think many quotations need to be added, to represent the remarkable differences in views, opinions, and thoughts that have been held. This way, readers can make their own choice on what makes more sense on issues (not that a few short quotations are the best, or even a good, way to try and decide complex, important issues), rather than having only one view presented by the chosen quotations. Also, I don't think any quotations should be deleted, because, like I'm trying to make clear, I want a book of quotations that presents many different viewpoints, including ones that I am either unaware of or aware of but disagree with, as a book of quotations which only forwards one set of opinions is quite lame, as this collection makes clear.

To demonstrate the bias, here are a few of the most egregious examples: For subject areas relevant to religion, a plethora of quotations are included, while for those dealing with science or anything that might be opposed to ardent belief in Christianity, the quotations are either disparaging or there simply aren't any included. For example, Bible gets 5 pages of quotations, and there are an additional 8 pages of phrases from the Bible, Christ, Christian and Christianity get 5 pages total, God, 2 pages, Prayer gets 4 pages of quotations, and Religion gets 9 pages. On the other hand, Science gets a total of 3 pages of quotations, most of which try to connect science with God, and there aren't separate sections for the major subject areas studied by science, except for Geology which gets 2 quotations, both connecting geology with God. I realize that this book was originally published over 100 years ago, but the way that quotations dealing with science are ignored is simply inexcusable.

While many quotations are listed from people who are unknown to me, there are but a handful of quotations from those generally considered today to be great thinkers. Here is but a sampling of the low number of quotations selected from great writers and thinkers: Lewis Carroll - 1, Leonardo Da Vinci - 1,Charles Darwin - 2, Will Durant - 4, Albert Einstein - 7, Sigmund Freud - 0, Karl Marx - 0, Sir Isaac Newton - 3, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - 1, Thomas Paine - 5, Edgar Allan Poe - 1, Benedict Spinoza - 2, Mark Twain (whose quotations alone could fill a book - one of which is in my shopping cart presently) - 5, Lao Tze - 1, H.G. Wells - 8.

Fortunately, this compilation includes many quotations from Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare (even a separate section for him, arranged, questionably, alphabetically by key word, instead of by play), Charles Dickens, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Of course, I wouldn't have bought this book if I had known that the quotations it contains present such an unbalanced and biased view of the world. Instead of being up front with the bias, by having a title that reflects the nature of the quotations in the book, a title was used that suggests the compilation was comprehensive. Certainly it would be much more accurate to have the title of this book be "The New Dictionary Of Belief." Or, in the seemingly unimaginable event that this book is representative of thoughts from several hundred years ago to one hundred years ago, then this book's worth lies only in its historical value.


One of the Best Quotation Books   September 6, 2001
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is one of the best quotation books of all time. My oldest edition is at least 100 years old. And at that time, it was probably the best, most useful quotation book in existence (except possibly for the Allibone set of prose and poetry quotations, published in the 1880s. It set the standard for contemporary subject oriented quotations. Prior to Tryon Edward's Dictionary of Thoughts, most quotation books were either organized by author, or, if organized by subject, included turgid, lifeless quotations. This dictionary has great thoughts, stimulating ideas and a fantastic selection of both subjects and quotations for the many subjects. Since it is not hard to find used at a reasonable price, this is one very much worth including in any library. I've given out a number of copies as gifts (I buy them when I find them at the right price in the used book stores I haunt in my travels.

The only one I can think of off the top of my head which is clearly superior is Burton Stevenson's book, sometimes called the Home book of Quotations and alternately called the Macmillan book of Maxims... etc. The other excellent newer book is the Thesaurus of Quotations. But these are usually a bit pricier. And they contain different quotes. If you are a writer or speaker, this is a pretty good investment. If you are quotation afficionado, this is a must have.
I base my opinions of this book on my experience collecting over 400 quotation books dating back to 1590, and over 50,000 keyed in quotations on my computer. I have over 1000 health and psychology and inspirational quotations on my website listed in my "about me."


The best quotation collection ever   August 30, 2000
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

As a public speaker, teacher and writer, I have collected about 20 books of quotations. Many are good, but this one is the best. It is extremely comprehensive and eclectic, without being pedantic. Although some other sources have more contemporary quotations, if I could only have one book of quotes, this would be the one. It is informative, entertaining, and most importantly, useful.


The New Dictionary of Thoughts   November 29, 1999
Superior. Source for inspiration and knowledge from our ancestors. As a avaricious child reader and adult I have never been disappointed when I turned to this book. Usually searching for a specific topic or quote ends up in spending enjoyable time reading what the great minds of all time have to share.


The New Dictionary of Thoughts   May 10, 1999
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is an interesting book of all the books that I have. The thoughts in it are interesting and very useful to use, depending on what you're seeking. I haven't been in the book for a few years since I got but I recently dug into some other subjects of thoughts besides music and I'm finding it rather useful to have around. My copy date on this book is 1949 and was given to me as a 14th birthday present. As I said, this book is rather useful, depending on who you are. High school and college English teachers would find this book useful, the subjects are broad and range from Chemisty and Physics to Love, Lust, and Marriage and other interesting topics. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who can find it. It is a worthwhile book to have.