Maybe our favorite quotations say more about us than about the stories and people we're quoting.

Maybe our favorite quotations say more about us than about the stories and people we're quoting.

Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience.

Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience.

The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

To quote copiously and well requires taste, judgment and erudition, a feeling for the beautiful, an appreciation of the noble, read more

To quote copiously and well requires taste, judgment and erudition, a feeling for the beautiful, an appreciation of the noble, and a sense of the profound

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.

When a thing has been said and well said, have no scruple; take it and copy it

When a thing has been said and well said, have no scruple; take it and copy it

Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said

Certain brief sentences are peerless in their ability to give one the feeling that nothing remains to be said

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.

He that tries to recommend (Shakespeare) by select quotations, will succeed like the pedant in "Hierocles", who, when he offered read more

He that tries to recommend (Shakespeare) by select quotations, will succeed like the pedant in "Hierocles", who, when he offered his house to sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a specimen