英国奇幻小说家特里普拉切特、已故爵士乐大师汉弗莱列堤顿、美国总统巴拉克奥巴马等人对新版辞典亦有贡献。当然,并不是每句名言都绝对原创,奥巴马的一句"The arc of history is long but it bends towards justice."就和黑人领袖马丁路德金在1968年说过的某句话极其相似,也有语言学家提出美国传教士西奥多帕克也曾在1853年有过类似的言论。
这本《牛津名言辞典》还首次收录了一些古训,包括中国古代圣贤孔子的至理名言。据悉,这些"老话"被"重提"是因为它们在近年频繁地被人反复说起,放到当代也具有可借鉴的现实意义。其中,美国前总统托马斯杰弗逊两百年前说过的一句"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."在金融危机的背景下听起来更是意味深长。
辞典部分新收录
"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." — Confucius
既来之,则安之。——孔子。
"Dress cute wherever you go, life is too short to blend in." — Paris Hilton
无论去哪儿都该穿得漂漂亮亮的,人生苦短,何苦从众。——希尔顿集团继承人帕丽斯希尔顿
"What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick." — Sarah Palin
"Real freedom is freedom from fear, and unless you can live free from fear you cannot live a dignified human life." — Burmese political activist Aung San Suu Kyi
"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." — Former US president Thomas Jefferson
银行机构比常备军更加危险。——美国前总统托马斯杰弗逊
"As we journey through life, discarding baggage along the way, we should keep an iron grip, to the very end, on the capacity for silliness. It preserves the soul from desiccation."— Humphrey Lyttelton
"I think computer viruses should count as life. Maybe it says something about human nature, that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive." — Stephen Hawking