Courtney Thomas offers an intriguing investigation of honour's social meanings amongst early modern elites in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England.

All cultures have proverbs that capsulize subjects simply and effectively. Many of these are cross-cultural. For example, according to a Danish proverb, "The greater the fear, the nearer the danger," while a Latin proverb says, "The less there is of fear, the less there is danger." This work includes over 20,000 proverbs from more than 120 languages, nationalities and ethnic groups. The proverbs are arranged under 1,300 headings (e.g., accidents, divided loyalty, marriage, prosperity, shame), and each includes the nationality, group or language in which it originated. Comprehensive keyword and subject indexes allow access to the material in multiple ways.

The quotations in this unique dictionary cover all aspects of the military art─war, personalities, traditions and customs, weapons and equipment, as well as virtues and failings. It is a fascinating and comprehensive collection which includes over 5000 quotations and spans the past two thousand years. The words of Catherine the Great are here, along with those of Churchill, Shakespeare, Nimitz, Clausewitz, Kant, and John F. Kennedy. Napoleon I and Thomas Jefferson share a page with Robert E. lee and Alfred Thayer Mahan. The scope of the subject matter covered by the quotations is extensive. The table of rubrics runs between Action to Zeal with 365 pages in between. Aggression, Causes of War, Détente, Duty, Loyalty, Luck, Profanity, Recruits, Victory, Weapons, and Women are but a few of the headings. Quotations under each entry appear in chronological order. Transcending the barriers of the profession of arms, there is much here for the student, the teacher, the historian, the politician, the reference specialist, the public speaker, and the interested reader. The words of hundreds of the world's greatest philosophers, poets, admirals, generals, prophets, and politicians serve both to inspire and to remind us of Santayana's words: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

The Bard penned 38 plays, 154 sonnets and several other poems. This is a rich collection, thoroughly indexed, of 6,516 extraordinarily apt quotations, arranged under 1,275 topics that cover almost the entire range of human effort and thought, from Ability to Zeal. It is an immense aid to writers, speakers and general readers. The Topical Index is of key words and ideas. A Character Index is subarranged by topic. And a play/poem Title Index leads to all the quotes gleaned from each.