With all deference to Chairman Mao and other authors whose quotations derive from longer works, it seemed that I was read more

With all deference to Chairman Mao and other authors whose quotations derive from longer works, it seemed that I was becoming the world's first writer of self-contained ready-made quotations

Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience.

Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long experience.

An apt quotation is like a lamp which flings its light over the whole sentence.

An apt quotation is like a lamp which flings its light over the whole sentence.

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

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. The quotations, when engraved upon the read more

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. The quotations, when engraved upon the memory, give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.

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.

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.

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.