Cocteau Quote About Dictionaries
Shapiro, Fred
fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Tue Apr 30 20:41:32 UTC 2013
Jonathon Green has asked me about a source for the following quotation, said to be by Jean Cocteau with the context being a reference to Victor Hugo:
"The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.'' (orig. 'Un chef-d'oeuvre de la littérature n'est jamais qu'un dictionnaire en désordre').
I'm not familiar with this line, although I like it a lot. Can anyone help with tracking down the source?
Fred Shapiro
Editor
YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)
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