The aphorist sees in every truth a wise saying, and in every contradiction, two wise sayings. – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known quotations. – H.L. Mencken, about Shakespeare

Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. Many will read the book before one thinks of quoting a passage. As soon as he has done this, that line will be quoted east and west. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Quotation and Originality,” Letters and Social Aims, 1876

A learned historian declared to me of a contemporary, that the latter had appropriated his researches; he might, indeed, and he had a right to refer to the same originals; but if his predecessor had opened the sources for him, gratitude is not a silent virtue. – Isaac D’Israeli, “Quotation,” A Second Series of Curiosities of Literature