The idea to "compile a dictionary of philosophical quotations" originally came from famed analytic philosopher A.J. Ayer (e.g., Language, Truth and Logic), and he spent several months soliciting contributions from his philosophical colleagues (28 "major contributors" and 24 "other contributors"; weighted in favor of English analytic philosophers, which explains a certain "slant" in the selections, that other reviewers have noted) prior to his death in 1989. His literary executors obtained the services of writer Jane O'Grady to complete the project, and she did a fine job.
The selections are arranged alphabetically by author's last name (or ONLY name, as in "Epicurus"), and generally include all quotations from a single book in sequence, before moving on to another book. Book title, section, page number, and in some cases translator citations are given, so that one can look up the quote for oneself (a notable deficiency in most "Famous Quotes" collections).
This is not a "perfect" collection; some well-known quotations are omitted (e.g., Santayana's quote from Reason in Common Sense: The Life of Reason Volume 1 (v. 1), "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"); some worthy philosophers are virtually omitted (philosopher of science Imre Lakatos is limited to a single quotation), while some "questionable" figures are included (Gurdjieff and Ouspensky get a page each); and one can certainly question the relative amount of space given to some philosophers vis-à-vis others (e.g., Plato gets 11-1/2 pages, while Aristotle gets 7; Nietzsche gets 10 pages, but Kierkegaard only 4; Merleau-Ponty gets 7 pages, while Ryle gets less than 2; Hume and Kant each get about 12 pages).
Such caveats aside, for those of us who ask ourselves, "Now, in which book did Feyerabend say, 'Anything goes'?" or "What is the exact wording of Kant's 'starry heavens above' quote?" you may well find this book indispensable. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!