You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.
—Anonymous
I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
A quotation at the right moment is like bread to the famished.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The wise men of old have sent most of their morality down the stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm or epigram.
—Edwin Percy Whipple (1819–86) American Literary Critic
It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations. Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations is an admirable work, and I studied it intently. The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
I might repeat to myself, slowly and soothingly, a list of quotations beautiful from minds profound; if I can remember any of the damned things.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
Our best thoughts come from others.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until an equal mind and heart finds and publishes it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The obscurest sayings of the truly great are often these which contain the germ of the profoundest and most useful truths.
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72) Italian Patriot, Political Leader
Particles of science are often very widely scattered, and writers of extensive comprehension have incidental remarks upon topics remote from the principal subject, which are often more valuable than former treatises, and which are not known because not promised in the title. He that collects these is very laudably employed, as he facilitates the progress of others, and by making that easy of attainment which is already written, may give some adventurous mind leisure for new thoughts and original designs.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I pick my favorite quotation and store them in my mind as ready armor, offensive or defensive, amid the struggle of this turbulent existence.
—Robert Burns (1759–96) Scottish Poet, Songwriter
Whatever we may say against collections, which present authors in a disjointed form, they nevertheless bring about many excellent results. We are not always so composed, so full of wisdom, that we are able to take in at once the whole scope of a work according to its merits. Do we not mark in a book passages which seem to have a direct reference to ourselves? Young people especially, who have failed in acquiring a complete cultivation of mind, are roused in a praiseworthy way by brilliant passages.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
A great man quotes bravely, and will not draw on his invention when his memory serves him with a word as good.—What he quotes he fills with his own voice and humor, and the whole cyclopedia of his table-talk is presently believed to be his own.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The proverb answers where the sermon fails, as a well-charged pistol will do more execution than a whole barrel of gunpowder idly exploded in the air.
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Novelist, Historian
I always have a quotation for everything—it saves original thinking.
—Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957) British Crime Writer
Children seldom misquote. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn’t have said.
—Anonymous
With just enough of learning to misquote.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognizably wiser than oneself.
—Marlene Dietrich (1901–92) German-born American Actor, Singer
A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.
—Philibert Joseph Roux (1780–1854) French Surgeon
Quotation, n. The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. The words erroneously repeated.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, ‘Verify your quotations.’
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Quotations offer one kind of break in what the eye can see, the ear can hear.
—Ihab Hassan (1925–2015) Egypt-born American Literary Theorist, Writer
Quotation, sir, is a good thing; there is a community of mind in it: classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Full of wise saws and modern instances.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Everything has been thought of before, but the problem is to think of it again.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The essence of a quote is the compression of a mass of thought and observation into a single saying.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Political Leader, Writer, Editor, Journalist
Abstracts, abridgments, summaries, etc., have the same use as burning glasses, to collect the diffused rays of wit and learning in authors, and make them point with warmth and quickness upon the reader’s imagination.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
I must claim the quoter’s privilege of giving only as much of the text as will suit my purpose, said Tan-Chun. If I told you how it went on, I should end up by contradicting myself!
—Cao Xueqin (1715–63) Chinese Writer
The adventitious beauty of poetry may be felt in the greater delight with a verse given in a happy quotation than in the poem.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
We frequently fall into error and folly, not because the true principles of action are not known, but because for a time they are not remembered; he may, therefore, justly be numbered among the benefactors of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences that may early be impressed on the memory, and taught by frequent recollection to occur habitually to the mind.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist