Dictionary Quotes

340 quotes by 289 authors

The English language has about 450,000 commonly used words, but more may be needed. What to you call someone who has lost a sibling or… — Jeffrey Zaslow
There is a certain blend of courage, integrity, character and principle which has no satisfactory dictionary name but has been called different things at different… — Louis Adamic
According to the dictionary, knock has two definitions: "to strike something with a sharp blow," and "to find fault with, a harsh and often petty… — Marvin J. Ashton
You'll find sympathy in the dictionary between sh*t and suicide. — Roddy Piper
Words fascinate me. They always have. For me, browsing in a dictionary is like being turned loose in a bank. — Eddie Cantor
The final lesson a writer learns is that everything can nourish the writer. The dictionary, a new word, a voyage, an encounter, a talk on… — Anais Nin
Usually I try to be there by six. Everything has been taken off the walls so that there's nothing to arrest my sight. On the… — Toni Morrison
The provisions of the Constitution are not mathematical formulas having their essence in their form; they are organic, living institutions transplanted from English soil. Their… — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Language is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections,… — Noah Webster
Actually if a writer needs a dictionary he should not write. He should have read the dictionary at least three times from beginning to end… — Ernest Hemingway
A song doesn't just come on. I've always had to tease it out, squeeze it out. 'No thesaurus can give you those words, no rhyming… — Dorothy Fields
I can't describe the feeling when I go down - it's down down down and there's never going to be an up again. And whatever… — John Marsden
Now a Jew, in the dictionary, is one who is descended from the ancient tribes of Judea, or one who is regarded as descended from… — Lenny Bruce
The New Oxford Dictionary has declared Sarah Palin's word 'refudiate' to be the 2010 Word of the Year. Palin was honored and said she would… — Conan O'Brien
And that brings us to tonight's word: Truthiness. Now I'm sure some of the word-police, the 'wordanistas' over at Websters, are gonna say, 'Hey, that's… — Stephen Colbert
Travel the world, learn other languages, demand liberty, despise violence, read books, and keep a dictionary nearby. — Jeff B. Davis
If I am hated at Barcelona, it is their problem but not mine. Fear is not a word in my football dictionary. — Jose Mourinho
Rap music... sounds like somebody feeding a rhyming dictionary to a popcorn popper. — Tom Robbins
I have been called a curmudgeon, which my obsolescent dictionary defines as a 'surly, ill-mannered, bad-tempered fellow'. Nowadays, curmudgeon is likely to refer to anyone… — Edward Abbey
Now what is a wedding? Well, Webster's dictionary describes a wedding as the process of removing weeds from one's garden. — Homer

Who Wrote These Dictionary Quotes

289 authors contributed a total of 340 Dictionary Quotes, led by these top contributors: