The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Under each author, quotations are arranged by the alphabetical order of the titles of the works
from which they come, even if those works were not written by the person who is being quoted.
Poems are usually cited from the first book in which they appeared.
Quotations by foreign authors are, where possible, given in the original language and also in an
English translation.
A reference is given after each quotation to its original source or to an authoritative record of
its use. The reference usually consists of either (a) a book-title with its date of publication and a
reference to where the quotation occurs in the book; or (b) the title of a newspaper or magazine
with its date of publication. The reference is preceded by “In” if the quotation comes from a
secondary source: for example if a writer is quoted by another author in a newspaper article, or if
a book refers to a saying but does not indicate where or when it was made.
HOW TO.2 Examples
Here are some typical entries, with notes to clarify the meaning of each part.
Charlie Chaplin (Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin) 1889-1977
All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.
‘My Autobiography’ (1964) ch. 10
Charlie Chaplin is the name by which this person is best known but Sir Charles Spencer
Chaplin is the name which would appear in reference books such as Who’s Who. Charlie Chaplin
was born in 1889 and died in 1977. The quotation comes from the tenth chapter of Chaplin’s
autobiography, which was published in 1964.
Martin Luther King 1929-1968
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Letter from Birmingham Jail, Alabama, 16 Apr. 1963, in ‘Atlantic Monthly’ Aug. 1963, p. 78
Martin Luther King wrote these words in a letter that he sent from Birmingham Jail on 16
April 1963. The letter was published later that year on page 78 of the August issue of the Atlanta
Monthly.
Dorothy Parker 1893-1967
One more drink and I’d have been under the host.
In Howard Teichmann ‘George S. Kaufman’ (1972) p. 68
Dorothy Parker must have said this before she died in 1967 but the earliest reliable source we
can find is a 1972 book by Howard Teichmann. “In” signals the fact that the quotation is cited
from a secondary source.
HOW TO.3 Index
If you remember part of a quotation and want to know the rest of it, or who said it, you can
trace it by means of the index (1). The index lists the most significant words from each quotation.
These keywords are listed alphabetically in the index, each with a section of the text to show the