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. – Sir Winston Churchill

The Grecian’s maxim would indeed be a sweeping clause in Literature; it would reduce many a giant to a pygmy; many a speech to a sentence; and many a folio to a primer. – C.C. Colton, “Preface,” Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words: Addressed To Those

The wise men of old have sent most of their morality down the stream of time in the light skiff of apothegm or epigram; and the proverbs of nations, which embody the commonsense of nations, have the brisk concussion of the most sparkling wit. – Edwin P. Whipple, lecture delivered before the Boston Mercantile Library Associa

And in spite of his practical ability, some of his experience had petrified into maxims and quotations. – George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), Daniel Deronda (Book II, Meeting Streams), 1876