--- title: "1 Collected Dictionaries Quotes By Mark Forsyth" description: "1 Collected Dictionaries quotes by Mark Forsyth. Plus more from Mark Forsyth and more Collected Dictionaries sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/274/mark-forsyth-19782_books_every-dictionary-contains-a-world-i-open_13123.jpg" --- > [“Every dictionary contains a world. I open a book of thieves’ slang from Queen Anne’s reign and they have a hundred words for swords, for wenches, and for being hanged. They did no die, they danced on nothing. Then I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/every-dictionary-contains-a-world-i-open-a-book-of-thieves-slang-from/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/274/mark-forsyth-19782_books_every-dictionary-contains-a-world-i-open_13123.jpg) ## More by Mark Forsyth > [“Every dictionary contains a world. I open a book of thieves’ slang from Queen Anne’s reign and they have a hundred words for swords,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/every-dictionary-contains-a-world-i-open-a-book-of-thieves-slang-from/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“Pot itself has nothing to do with pots and pans, but comes from the Mexican-Spanish word potiguaya, which means marijuana leaves. And marijuana is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/pot-itself-has-nothing-to-do-with-pots-and-pans-but-comes-from-the/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“I had to go outside. I had to let the element of chance in.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/i-had-to-go-outside-i-had-to-let-the-element-of-chance-in/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it was the sausage-maker who disposed of the body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/curiosity-may-have-killed-the-cat-but-it-was-the-sausage-maker-who/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [Poetry is much more important than the truth, and, if you don't believe that, try using the two methods to get laid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/poetry-is-much-more-important-than-the-truth-and-if-you-don-t-believe/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [ “Wouldst like to con a glimmer with me this early black?’, which he \[Cab Calloway\] helpfully explains as ‘the proper way to ask a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/wouldst-like-to-con-a-glimmer-with-me-this-early-black-which-he-cab/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“Love is nothing because those who do something for the love of it do it for nothing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/love-is-nothing-because-those-who-do-something-for-the-love-of-it-do/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“Wamblecropt is the most exquisite word in the English language. Say it. Each syllable is intolerably beautiful.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/wamblecropt-is-the-most-exquisite-word-in-the-english-language-say-it/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“Shakespeare was not a genius. He was, without the distant shadow of a doubt, the most wonderful writer who ever breathed. But not a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/shakespeare-was-not-a-genius-he-was-without-the-distant-shadow-of-a/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“The glamour's off. Almost any question you ask can be answered. It's only the questions that you didn't know to ask that remain, dancing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/the-glamour-s-off-almost-any-question-you-ask-can-be-answered-it-s/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“There's always a strange feeling you get when you come across one particular line by chance. It feels somehow significant. That's irrational of course,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/there-s-always-a-strange-feeling-you-get-when-you-come-across-one/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“Oxygen was called flammable air for a while, but it didn't catch on.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/oxygen-was-called-flammable-air-for-a-while-but-it-didn-t-catch-on/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [But Shakespeare never drank coffee. Nor did Julius Caesar, or Socrates. Alexander the Great conquered half the world without even a café latte to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/but-shakespeare-never-drank-coffee-nor-did-julius-caesar-or-socrates/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [If you are to use Alexander Graham Bell’s product, which is to say the blower, you should, in all courtesy, use it as he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/if-you-are-to-use-alexander-graham-bell-s-product-which-is-to-say-the/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) > [“It is, incidentally, a favour that e-books have done for the Good Bookshop: they have made books beautiful again. A few years ago, book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-forsyth/it-is-incidentally-a-favour-that-e-books-have-done-for-the-good/) [Mark Forsyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-forsyth/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collected-dictionaries/mark-forsyth/#itemlist", "name": "1 Collected Dictionaries Quotes By Mark Forsyth", "numberOfItems": 1, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Every dictionary contains a world. I open a book of thieves’ slang from Queen Anne’s reign and they have a hundred words for swords, for wenches, and for being hanged. They did no die, they danced on nothing. Then I peek into any one of my rural Victorian dictionaries, compiled by a lonely clergyman, with words for coppices, thickets, lanes, diseases of horses and innumerable terms for kinds of eel. 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