Brewer's Famous Quotations

More about the book

The only quotation book that tells the stories behind the quotations has been expanded and updated. Now, readers can find important information other references neglect: the colorful anecdotes and historical incidents that provide the context, background, and wider significance of each famous saying. Did Neil Armstrong revise his famous “giant leap” quotation after he got back from the moon? Did the aeronautical engineer who coined Murphy’s Law (“if anything can go wrong, it will”) actually mean it as a warning about safe design? Here’s the inside story on 5,000 great quotations, from ancient times to the novels of Douglas Adams.