Hilton and Palin join Confucius in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

Words of wisdom from Paris Hilton and Sarah Palin are to take their places alongside pearls from the likes of William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and William Wordsworth in the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.

American airhead and heiress Hilton's pithy advice to "dress cute wherever you go, life is too short to blend in", is one of 20,000 new comments featured in the seventh edition of the dictionary, which is published today.

Also included is Sarah Palin's quip, "What's the difference between a hockey mum and a pitbull? Lipstick," made during the American presidential campaign in 2008.

Other new entries include an exhortation to retain the capacity for silliness from Humphrey Lyttleton and Terry Pratchett's description of his Alzheimer's Disease as "an embuggerance".

There are more serious offerings from the likes of Stephen Hawking and Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, who says: "Real freedom is freedom from fear, and unless you can live free from fear you cannot live a dignified human life."

In addition to the new sayings, old quotes that have re-entered popular use or have suddenly become more relevant to today's world have been dusted off for inclusion. Into this category falls US president Thomas Jefferson's observation: "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies".

A comment from Confucius which echoes Paris Hilton's contribution but has a different emphasis is also featured. "Wherever you go, go with all your heart," he advises.

Barack Obama is also included in the dictionary - although his effort is not as original as you might think. He is credited with the line: "The arc of history is long but it bends towards justice." The comment, which is strikingly similar to an epithet from Martin Luther King Jnr, is also much the same as a quote from US preacher Theodore Parker: "The arc is a long one... and from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice". That was in 1853. ·