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Quotes about quotations

49 quotes from 37 people

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Proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.
Chinua Achebe1930–2013Things Fall Apart (1958), Chapter 1
- Talking
Like your body your mind also gets tired so refresh it by wise sayings.
AAli599–661Nahj al-Balagha
- Wisdom
It is unbecoming for young men to utter maxims.
Aristotle384–322 BC
The purpose of aphorisms is to keep fools who have memorised them from having nothing to say.
Isaac Asimov1920–1992In Memory Yet Green (1979), p. 188
In general, when reading a scholarly critic, one profits more from his quotations than from his comments.
W. H. Auden1907–1973The Dyer’s Hand, and Other Essays (1962), “Reading”
- Reading
I have gathered a posie of other men’s flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is mine own.
John Bartlett1820–1905
The surest way to make a monkey of a man is to quote him. That remark in itself wouldn’t make any sense if quoted as it stands.
Robert Benchley1889–1945“Quick Quotations” in My Ten Years in a Quandary and How They Grew (1936)
Quotation, n. The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. The words erroneously repeated.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)
- Comedy
It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.
Winston Churchill1874–1965My Early Life: A Roving Commission (1930), Chapter 9 (Education At Bangalore).
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.”
Winston Churchill1874–1965The Second World War, Volume IV: The Hinge of Fate (1951)
- Advice
Beware of thinkers whose minds function only when they are fueled by a quotation.
ECEmil Cioran1911–1995Anathemas and Admirations (1987)
- Thinking
The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.
IDIsaac D'Israeli1766–1848Often credited to Benjamin Disraeli
The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, may be preserved by quotations.
IDIsaac D'Israeli1766–1848Curiosities of Literature (1791–1834)
The wise make proverbs, and fools repeat them.
IDIsaac D'Israeli1766–1848
Quotations, like much better things, has its abuses.
IDIsaac D'Israeli1766–1848