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

It is my belief that nearly any invented quotation, played with confidence, stands a good chance to deceive. – Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens), Following the Equator: A Journey Around the Worl

The ancients, who in these matters were not perhaps such blockheads as some may conceive, considered poetical quotation as one of the requisite ornaments of oratory. – Isaac D’Israeli, “Quotation,” A Second Series of Curiosities of Literature

One would think that a scissors and pastepot collection like this would require little help. Not true. A tribe of hunters and gatherers is required: there is so much to be seen for so little selected. – Robert Irvine Fitzhenry (1918–2008), The Harper Book of Quotations