"I always have a quotation for everything - it saves original thinking," wrote Dorothy L. Sayers in 1932. The Beacon Book of Quotations by Women is a lively compendium of written treasures which even original thinkers will appreciate. Sure to be an essential reference for speakers, writers, trivia buffs, and conversationalists everywhere, the book is also a reader's delight, gathering together the wisdom and wit of women from six continents and many centuries. In The. Beacon Book of Quotations by Women, quotations on more than 800 subjects (from earth to sky, laughter to tears, music to mysticism, and birth to death) are arranged topically for easy reference. Two thirds of the selections are appearing for the first time in a book of quotations. More than 1,300 women - artists, actors, musicians, politicians, athletes, scientists, novelists, poets, and many others - are represented by their most memorable words:. Rita Mae Brown on. Birth: "I think of birth as the search for a larger apartment." Lisa Birnbach, author of The Official Preppy Handbook, on democracy: "In a true democracy everyone can be upper class and live in Connecticut." Alice Walker on life: "Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is less boring, and because it has fresh peaches in it." Judith Martin ("Miss Manners") on adolescence: "Show Miss Manners a grown-up who has happy memories of teenage years, with their. Endless round of merrymaking and dancing the night away, and Miss Manners will show you a person who has either no heart or no memory." Martha Graham on critics: "They never raised a statue to a critic." Virginia Woolf on money: "Money dignifies what is frivolous if unpaid for." Fran Lebowitz on conversation: "Polite conversation is rarely either." Erica Jong on belief: "There are no atheists on turbulent airplanes." The most comprehensive book of its kind in print, The. Beacon Book of Quotations by Women brings the best of women's words from biblical times to the present to today's readers, writers, and speakers.