A quotation in a speech, article or book is like a rifle in the hands of an infantryman. It speaks read more

A quotation in a speech, article or book is like a rifle in the hands of an infantryman. It speaks with authority.

Proverbs often contradict one another, as any reader soon discovers. The sagacity that advises us to look before we leap read more

Proverbs often contradict one another, as any reader soon discovers. The sagacity that advises us to look before we leap promptly warns us that if we hesitate we are lost; that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but out of sight, out of mind.

Every man is a borrower and a mimic, life is theatrical and literature a quotation

Every man is a borrower and a mimic, life is theatrical and literature a quotation

To be occasionally quoted is the only fame I care for.

To be occasionally quoted is the only fame I care for.

I do not say a proverb is amiss when aptly and reasonably applied, but to be forever discharging them, right read more

I do not say a proverb is amiss when aptly and reasonably applied, but to be forever discharging them, right or wrong, hit or miss, renders conversation insipid and vulgar.

Reality is the only word in the English language that should always be used in quotes.

Reality is the only word in the English language that should always be used in quotes.

A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand read more

A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool.

I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.

I hate quotation. Tell me what you know.

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages is preserved into perpetuity by a nation's proverbs, fables, read more

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages is preserved into perpetuity by a nation's proverbs, fables, folk sayings and quotations.