Encyclopedia Quotes

“In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch-Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

“Will there ever be an encyclopedia? Possibly. I would say two things about the encyclopedia: firstly, I’ve always said and I stand by it, whenever I do do a printed encyclopedia I would like all the proceeds to go to charity. Back in 1998 I never dreamt I personally I would be in the position that I could set up a large charitable foundation and personally do things for charity, and I’ve done other charity books already.”
― J.K. Rowling

“That girl,' tutted Alsana as her front door slammed, 'swallowed an encyclopedia and a gutter at the same time.”
― Zadie Smith, White Teeth

“Problems may be solved in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to use all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

“Right,' he said. 'So it stands to reason there's something about the line that fortifies or protects a corpse. The soul. The ... animus. The quiddity of it.'
'Gansey, seriously,' Adam interrupted, to Blue's relief. 'Nobody knows what quiddity is.'
'The whatness, Adam. Whatever it is that makes a person who they are.”
― Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys

“I used to be the god of poetry, which does not mean I am a walking encyclopedia of every obscure line ever written.”
― Rick Riordan, The Burning Maze

“The world encyclopedia, the universal library, exists, and it is the world itself.”
― Alberto Manguel, The Library at Night

“The only way to educate oneself is by making books a life companion.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, The Book of Maxims, Poems and Anecdotes

“Rape culture is a concept of unknown origin and of uncertain definition; yet it has made its way into everyday vocabulary and is assumed to be commonly understood. The award-winning documentary film Rape Culture made by Margaret Lazarus in 1975 takes credit for first defining the concept”
― Joyce E Williams

“She wished Martin hadn't taken his Encyclopaedia Britannica with him when they split up. She missed that more than she missed him.”
― Jenny Diski, The Vanishing Princess

“One alphabet at a time, you can write an encyclopaedia. One word at a time, you can publish an entire library.”
― Israelmore Ayivor, How You Can Write Your Dream Book

“Tony Cox, still a painter and not yet married to Yoko Ono, pioneered in the use of mescaline for draft-evasion. 400 milligrams taken before his own preinduction physical prompted an angry outburstas an orderly took a stab at his arm to draw blood. Tony roared, "What the fuck do you think you are doing?" and was led into the presence of a psychiatrist with whom he engaged in a protracted discussion of the merits of the New York school of abstract expressionist painting, all the while naked. Tony got his 4F classification, presumably on grounds of schizophrenia, and went on to counsel others liable to military service, using the same approach.”
― Peter Stafford

“There are bars of Pear's soap and a thick book called Pear's Encyclopedia, which keeps me up day and night because it tells you everything about everything and that's all I want to know.”
― Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes (Scholastic ELT Reader)

“Metaphors can be read according to multiple interpretations; yet these interpretations can be more or less legitimated on the grounds of an underlying encyclopedic competence.”
― Umberto Eco, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language

“Even the most ingenuous metaphors are made from the detritus of other metaphors - language speaking itself, then - and the line between first and last tropes is very thin, not so much a question of semantics as of the
pragmatics of interpretation. At any rate, for too long it has been thought that in order to understand metaphors it is necessary to know the code (or the encyclopedia): the truth is that the metaphor is the tool that permits us to understand the encyclopedia better. This is the type of knowledge that the metaphor stakes out for us.”
― Umberto Eco, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language

“What do you want this new museum of ours to be, the director had asked him at one of the meetings – an encyclopedia or a novel?”
― Christoph Grafe, OASE 70: Architecture and Literature

“The appearance of the screaming golden skulls that decorate the armor of their various stages – faces of the tormented victims, plaid in gold, those made as offerings to summon the Harbinger itself.”
― L.P. Cowling, Notes From The Monster Cartographer

“I managed a single glance over my shoulder, and what did my gaze fall upon but my encyclopaedia, pages stacked tidily beneath my paperweight, little bookmarks sticking out the sides indicating sections requiring revision. That pinnacle of faerie scholarship, which I had only weeks ago likened to a museum exhibit of the Folk, neatly pinned down and labelled by the foremost expert on the subject---that is, me---brimming with meticulously documented accounts of foolish mortals who bumbled into faerie plots and games.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

“This is about my encyclopaedia, isn't it?"
His face hardened. "I don't like what you're implying, Emily."
I gave a disbelieving laugh. "I don't like being accused of professional misconduct."
His reaction had bolstered my suspicions. I'd heard rumors that Rose was working on his own encyclopaedia of the Folk--- a project that had reportedly occupied much of his career. He'd said nothing to me about it before or after my book came out, but there had been a distinct cooling of our already cool relations.
"I don't wish to imply anything untoward," I said. "So I will simply say it: you resent me. You spent years on your own encyclopaedia, obsessing over minor details as you always do, and you were too blinded by your own arrogance to think that someone else might beat you to the punch. Ruining my reputation will be to your benefit, won't it? I've often noticed, sir, that for all we scholars shake our heads at the amorality of the Folk, on many occasions we demonstrate that we lack the high ground.”
― Heather Fawcett, Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands

“If you're a researcher on this book thing and you were on Earth, you must have been gathering material on it."
"Well, I was able to extend the original entry a bit, yes."
"Let me see what it says in this edition, then. I've got to see it."
... "What? Harmless! Is that all it's got to say? Harmless! One word! ... Well, for God's sake I hope you managed to rectify that a bit."
"Oh yes, well I managed to transmit a new entry off to the editor. He had to trim it a bit, but it's still an improvement."
"And what does it say now?" asked Arthur.
"Mostly harmless," admitted Ford with a slightly embarrassed cough.”
― Douglas Adams , The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy