But, perhaps, the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in a few words. – Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, November 19, 1751

In quoting others we cite ourselves. – Julio Cortázar (1914–1984), Around the Day in Eighty Worlds

Someone — Cyril Connolly? Ezra Pound? — once said that anything that can be read twice is literature; I would say that anything that bears saying twice is quotable. – Joseph Epstein, “Quotatious,” A Line Out for a Walk: Familiar Essays, 1991

Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk… – William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, c.1598