I love a good quotation. Knowing a few makes me feel smart, and uttering them makes me look the same. Underneath I can be the poser I really am, but armed with the wit and wisdom of others who's to tell? The eminently quotable Oscar Wilde is often credited with the appropriate, "Good writers borrow. Great writers steal." Which may have transmogrified into "Brilliance borrows, genius steals." but that's the baser half of why we love quotations. The good news is that they distill great thought into bite sized pieces so that we can roll them around in our minds and let them sink in. - Ern

From the book's webpage:

In this unprecedented collection of science fiction and fantasy quotations, the reader revisits the stunning moment when Mary Shelley's Frankenstein monster first comes to life; witnesses the transformation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde; is present when Bruce Wayne resolves to become Batman; and overhears the cosmic conclusions of The Incredible Shrinking Man. Drawing upon two centuries of the vast and provocative literature of science fiction and fantasy, this comprehensive book presents more than 2,900 quotations from wide-ranging sources, including science fiction and fantasy stories, novels, films, and television programs.

(Source: Yale Press)