Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/the-10-most-quoted-books-in-history-and-why-they-still-matter/
1. The Bible: The Foundation of Western Literary Consciousness
According to Guinness World Records, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 6 billion copies sold and distributed as of 1995. Yet its real impact goes far beyond numbers. In the Oxford English Dictionary’s first edition, the Bible emerged as one of the two most quoted sources, with its predominance in English-speaking culture taken for granted, and concordances widely available throughout the period when the dictionary was edited. Think about the language you use every day. Phrases like “the writing on the wall,” “a drop in the bucket,” and “the blind leading the blind” all come from biblical texts. The influence runs so deep that even people who’ve never opened a Bible quote it without realizing.
2. Shakespeare’s Complete Works: The Playwright Who Shaped English
Shakespeare was the most quoted source in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, with the dictionary quoting thousands of examples from literary sources, principally Shakespeare. Hamlet and Othello each contain more than fifty biblical references alone. Shakespeare wrote or co-wrote approximately 39 plays and 154 sonnets, as well as a variety of other poems. His works are performed and studied worldwide even…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-01-21 08:05:00
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