No editor is credited with compiling this, though there is a (very brief) foreword by Reginald Hill. According to the blurb, there are "over 6,000 thematic quotations"
but since few of us will count them, this should be taken on trust. The adjective "thematic" applies because the quotations are grouped according to subject and not under the names of the writers/speakers, which is at once more diffuse and more accessible than in most works of this kind. It is a tautology to say that a lot is eminently quotable, along with a certain amount of flat epigrams and deflatable wisecracks which will appeal only to dimmer readers. Phineas Barnum of circus fame is credited with saying "Every crowd has a silver lining." To Daniel O'Connell is attributed the phrase "The Englishman has all the qualities of a poker except its occasional warmth." Indeed, England comes in for plenty of stick; the act or/manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree says: "The national sport of England is obstacle racing. People fill their rooms with useless and cumbersome furniture, and spend the rest of their lives trying to dodge it." From Peter J. Laurence (1919-1990): "The noblest of all dogs is the hot dog; it feeds the hand that bites it." The Emperor Marcus Aurelius: "What is not good for the beehive, cannot be good for the bees." Graham Mourie, the All Black captain: "Nobody ever beats Wales at rugby, they just score more points." Stalin: "The state is a machine in the hands of the ruling class for suppressing the resistance of its class enemies." And so on, through 472 pages.