A single gnomic line can come to resonate with centuries of subsequent wisdom. – Gary Saul Morson, The Words of Others: From Quotations to Culture, 2011

Some lines are born quotations, some are made quotations, and some have “quotation” thrust upon them. – Gary Saul Morson, The Words of Others: From Quotations to Culture, 2011

An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines but dimly. – Edwin P. Whipple, lecture delivered before the Boston Mercantile Library Associa

There are plenty of good maxims in the world; we fail only in applying them. – Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), translated from the French by an unnamed transl