You complain, Velox, that the epigrams which I write are long. You yourself write nothing; your attempts are shorter. – Marcus Valerius Martialis, translated from Latin

What a good thing Adam had — when he said a good thing, he knew nobody had said it before. – Mark Twain, 1867

Often we were rescued by that ever-present help in time of trouble, the beloved benefactor known only as “Anonymous.” – Frank Spencer Mead (1898–1982), preface to 12,000 Religious Quotations, 19

…I didn’t do anything that can properly be called research; rather, I proceeded by the methodless method of “determined browsing”— – Rudolf Flesch, on collecting excerpts for The Book of Unusual Quotations, 1957