One man’s wit, and all men’s wisdom. – John Russell, definition of a proverb

[D]ifferent people have different quotational gravity. – Willis Goth Regier, Quotology, 2010

Short sentences drawn from long experience. – Miguel de Cervantes

A true quotation cannot be divorced from the character who uttered or scribbled it; it should say as much about the person quoted as about the particular subject referred to, and for this reason an anthology of quotations should be a kind of portrait gallery. – Robert Andrews, The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, “Introduction”