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

An epigram is a gag that’s played Carnegie Hall. – Oscar Levant (Thanks, Garson O’Toole of quoteinvestigator.com!)

In these pages the novelist should be able to find a striking verse to head his chapter, the raconteur add to his bon mots, the man of the world enrich his stock of maxims, the divine obtain some deep thought drawn from the wells of ancient learning. – William Francis Henry King, “Introduction,” Classical and Foreign Quotations, 18

The hunter for aphorisms on human nature has to fish in muddy water, and he is even condemned to find much of his own mind. – Francis H. Bradley, Aphorisms, 1930