The teachings of elegant sayings should be collected when one can. For the supreme gift of words of wisdom, any read more

The teachings of elegant sayings should be collected when one can. For the supreme gift of words of wisdom, any price will be paid.

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.

I pick my favourite quotations and store them in my mind as ready armour, offensive or defensive, amid the struggle read more

I pick my favourite quotations and store them in my mind as ready armour, offensive or defensive, amid the struggle of this turbulent existence.

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

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

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.

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

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

The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit.

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.