Collecting quotations seems a similar occupation to the one practiced by those birds and animals who pick up shiny pebbles, pieces of glass and paper to line their nests and burrows. They discard one, pick up another, apparently at random, but all with a particular spot in mind. The result is a living place that conforms to their own sensibility and shape.

The quotations when engraved upon the memory give you good thoughts. They also make you anxious to read the authors and look for more.

... sayings resonate with significance.

We recognize the epigram when uttered or printed just as swiftly as we recognize beauty in a woman, yet rarely can we describe either.

An epigram often flashes light into regions where reason shines dimly.

A thought embodied and embrained in fit words walks the earth a living being.

The majority of those who put together collections of verses or epigrams resemble those who eat cherries or oysters: they begin by choosing the best and end by eating everything.

I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.

Though old the thought and oft exprest, Tis his at last who says it best.

Most men are rich in borrowed sufficiency: a man may very well say a good thing, give a good answer, cite a good sentence, without at all seeing the force of either the one or the other.