…the taste of the finely-worded truth rolled upon the tongue as its thought is revolved in the mind. – William Francis Henry King, “Introduction,” Classical and Foreign Quotations, 18

[S]ources are not too reliable. The words and thoughts are the thing. “The best words in the best order” is the object of all quotations. Who made the order and when is of interest, but not vital as the many quotations by “Anon.” testify. – Robert Irvine Fitzhenry (1918–2008), The Harper Book of Quotations

Seek not to know who said this or that, but take note of what has been said. – Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, translated from Latin

How many of us have been first attracted to reason, first learned to think, to draw conclusions, to extract a moral from the follies of life, by some dazzling aphorism from Rochefoucauld or La Bruyere. – Edward Lytton Bulwer