Many authors will use quotations from literature as the title for their works. This may be done as a conscious allusion to the themes of the older work or simply because the phrase seems memorable. The following is a partial list of book titles taken from literature. It does not include phrases altered for parody.
Work Author Literary referenceAbsalom, Absalom!Bible: 2 Samuel Bible: Psalm 66:13A che punto è la notte (literally, "At which point is the night") and Franco LucentiniBible: Isaiah After Many a Summer Dies the Swan, Ah, Wilderness! (), Rubaiyat of Omar KhayyamAlien Corn (play), "Ode to a Nightingale" (short story), "Ode to a Nightingale"All the King's Men, "Humpty Dumpty"All Passion Spent, Samson AgonistesAlone on a Wide, Wide Sea, Anglo-Saxon Attitudes, Through the Looking-GlassAntic Hay, Edward IIArms and the ManVirgil, AeneidAs I Lay DyingHomer, OdysseyBeautiful World, Where Are You, "The Gods of Greece"Behold the ManBible: John Beneath the Bleeding, East CokerBeyond the Mexique Bay, "Bermudas"Blithe Spirit, "To a Skylark"Blood's a Rover, A Shropshire Lad, Poem ("Reveille")Blue Remembered Earth, A Shropshire Lad, Poem Blue Remembered Hills, A Shropshire Lad, Poem Bonjour Tristesse, "À Peine Défigurée"Brandy of the Damned, Man and SupermanBurning Bright, Burning Bright, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, "American Names"Butter In a Lordly DishBible: Judges By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and WeptBible: Psalm 137:1Cabbages and Kings, Through the Looking-Glass ("The Walrus and the Carpenter")Bible: Revelation Captains Courageoustraditional "The ballad of Mary Ambree"Careless People, Carrion Comfort, "Carrion Comfort", Moby-DickBible: Psalm 90:3Clouds of WitnessBible: Hebrews Cometh Up as a FlowerBible: Job , Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and DivertingConsider the LiliesBible: Matthew Consider Phlebas, Cover Her Face, The Duchess of Malfi, Il Penseroso, "The Adventure of Silver Blaze", Dance Dance Dance, "Death's Echo", "Dover Beach"Darkness Visible, Paradise LostDarkness Visible, Paradise LostDarkness Visible: A Study of Vergil's Aeneid, Paradise LostDarkness Visible, Paradise LostDeath Be Not Proud , Holy Sonnets XDevices and DesiresBook of Common Prayer, Down to a Sunless Sea, Kubla KhanDown to a Sunless Sea, Kubla KhanDrive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Horace, Odes iii 2.13Dying of the Light, "Do not go gentle into that good night"East Is East, East of EdenBible: Genesis Ego Dominus TuusDante, La Vita NuovaEndless Night, England's Green, Everything is Illuminated, The Unbearable Lightness of BeingQuran 13:18 ( Arthur John Arberry)Except the LordBible: Psalm 127:1, p. 18Eyeless in Gaza, Samson AgonistesFair Stood the Wind for France, Ballad of AgincourtFame Is the Spur, , "Remorse for Intemperate Speech", A Tale of Two CitiesFar From the Madding Crowd, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and Pamela Whitlock, Sohrab and Rustum, "A Farewell to Arms (To Queen Elizabeth)"Fear and TremblingBible: Philippians Fearful Symmetry, , For a Breath I Tarry, A Shropshire Lad, Poem For Whom the Bell Tolls, Meditation XVIIFrequent Hearses, From Here to Eternity , "Gentlemen-Rankers"Bible: Proverbs , "The Pulley", "Ode: Intimations of Immortality", The Maid of Orleans, "The Song of the Wandering Angus"Bible: Ecclesiastes Gone with the Wind, "Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynara", "Battle Hymn of the Republic"Great Work of Time, "An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland"Bible: Psalm 37:35, Happy Families Are All Alike, Anna KareninaHave His CarcaseHomer, Iliad ( William Cowper)Bible: Jeremiah , "The Lonely Hunter"His Dark Materials, Paradise LostHorseman, Pass By , "Under Ben Bulben"Bible: Ecclesiastes How Doth the Little Crocodile?, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ("How Doth the Little Crocodile")How Sleep the Brave, "How Sleep the Brave"How Sleep the Brave, "How Sleep the Brave"How Sleep the Brave, "How Sleep the Brave"Human Voices, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, "Sympathy"I Sing the Body Electric!, "I Sing the Body Electric"I Will Fear No EvilBible: Psalm 23:4If I Forget Thee JerusalemBible: Psalm 137:5If Not Now, When?Pirkei Avot 1:13 Ill Fares the Land, The Deserted VillageIll Fares the Land: Migrants and Migratory Labor in the United States, The Deserted VillageIn Death Ground and Steve WhiteSun Tzu, The Art of WarIn a Dry Season, In Dubious Battle, Paradise LostIn the Forests of the Night, In a Glass DarklyBible: 1 Corinthians , "The Broken Tower"It's a Battlefield, The Invasion of the Crimea, Vol. 6Jacob Have I LovedBible: Romans Jesting Pilate, Of TruthBible: Luke 17:21Bible: 1 Corinthians , Murder in the CathedralZhuangzi, Book XXIII, paragraph 7Let Us Now Praise Famous MenBible: Ecclesiasticus Lilies of the FieldBible: Matthew This Lime Tree Bower, , The Analysis of BeautyLittle Boy Lost, Bible: Song of Songs Little Hands Clapping, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", , EpipsychidionLook Homeward, Angel, Look to Windward, , The Birth of Tragedy, "Andrea del Sarto", Religio MediciMany WatersBible: Song of Songs , "The Kingdom of God", Bible: Matthew , Moab Is My WashpotBible: Psalm 60:8Matsuo Bashō, SaruminoMonstrous Regiment, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of WomenBible: Psalm 121:6Mother Night, Faust, Part One (), Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Mr Standfast, The Pilgrim's ProgressNectar in a Sieve, Bible: Matthew Nine Coaches Waiting, The Revenger's TragedyNo Country for Old Men, "Sailing to Byzantium"No Highway, The WandererNo Longer at Ease, Journey of the MagiNoli Me TangereBible: John Not Honour More, "To Lucasta, Going to the Warres"Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, Number the StarsBible: Psalm 147:4O Jerusalem! and Larry CollinsBible: Psalm 137:5O Pioneers!, "Pioneers! O Pioneers!"Of Human Bondage, EthicsOf Mice and Men, "To a Mouse"Oh! To be in England, "Home Thoughts From Abroad", "Oh, whistle and I'll come to you, my lad", MiddlemarchOut of AfricaPliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, 8, 6., "Lift Not The Painted Veil Which Those Who Live"Pale Kings and Princes, "La Belle Dame sans Merci", Paths of Glory, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, "Passage to India"Poison Tree, , Postern of Fate, "The Gates of Damascus"Precious Bane, Paradise Lost, Quo VadisBible: John (Vulgate translation)Recalled to Life, A Tale of Two CitiesRecalled to Life, A Tale of Two CitiesRing of Bright Water, "The Marriage of Psyche"The Road Less Traveled, "The Road Not Taken"Bible: 1 Corinthians Seven Pillars of WisdomBible: Proverbs , Gettysburg Address, , , "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came"Some Buried Caesar (), Rubaiyat of Omar KhayyamSpecimen Days's prosework, The Duchess of MalfiStranger in a Strange LandBible: Exodus , , The White DevilBible: Ecclesiastes Surprised by Joy, "Surprised by Joy", "Morning Song of Senlin"Taming a Sea Horse, "My Last Duchess"Tender Is the Night, Terrible Swift Sword, "Battle Hymn of the Republic"That Good Night, "Do not go gentle into that good night"That Hideous Strength, Ane DialogThings Fall Apart, "The Second Coming"This Side of Paradise, "Tiare Tahiti"Those Barren Leaves, "The Tables Turned"Thrones, Dominations, Paradise LostTiger! Tiger! (alternative title of The Stars My Destination), , Time and ChanceBible: Ecclesiastes Time and Chance: an AutobiographyBible: Ecclesiastes Time and ChanceBible: Ecclesiastes Time and ChanceBible: Ecclesiastes , "Twelfth Night"Time of our Darkness, "For the Fallen"Bible: Ecclesiastes Time To Murder And Create, Tirra Lirra by the River, To a God UnknownRigveda Book XTo Sail Beyond the Sunset, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Three Men in a BoatTo Your Scattered Bodies Go, Holy Sonnets VIII, Unweaving the Rainbow, "Lamia"Vanity Fair, The Pilgrim's ProgressVile BodiesBible: Philippians Bible: Matthew (Douay translation), Through the Looking-Glass ("Jabberwocky")Bible: Romans Waiting for the Barbarians, "Waiting for the Barbarians"Wandering Recollections of a Somewhat Busy Life, Recollections of a Busy Life, From Ritual to RomanceBible: Joshua (as rephrased in John Wesley's Explanatory Notes), "The Way Through the Woods"Bible: Isaiah What's Become of Waring, "Waring"When the Green Woods Laugh, Where Angels Fear to Tread, , "The Second Coming"Wildfire at Midnight, The Revenger's Tragedy, A Shropshire Lad, Poem Bible: Psalm 55:6, The Wife of Bath's Prologue and TaleWorld Enough, and Time, "To His Coy Mistress"World Enough and Time, "To His Coy Mistress"Book of Common Prayer,
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