Maria Edgeworth grumbled against vandals who ruined immortal works by quoting the life out of them. "How far our literature may in future suffer from….

Flatter yourself critically..

Quotation lovers love rare words..

Quotology disdains no quotations whatsoever, a duty it bears stoutly, with bloodshot eyes and sagging shelves..

Flattery works like a drug..

In phrases as brief as a breath worldly wisdom concentrates..

Cunning authors cut to be quoted..

Flattery.... gets its kicks by flirting with insult and ridicule..

At its best, flattery is truth well dressed, and it is best dressed with fine see-through fabrics. Honest flattery can caress a lover, cover up a gaf….

Like pollen on a honeybee, flattery clings to the things you tell yourself..

Excellent flatterers welcome attentive audiences; mighty potentates enjoy public praise. In the most pleasing situation, a flatterer would genuinely ….

If you flatter yourself properly you will be better able to enjoy yourself. Stretch your joy so that others enjoy you too..

[D]ifferent people have different quotational gravity..

Care for yourself enough to listen carefully to what you say to yourself..

Misquotation is quotology’s swamp. Amateur quoters mix and mangle Shakespeare and Scripture. Professors gaffe and printers bungle. It’s a mess we mus….

Quotologists encounter happy surprises, bright books by faded authors, treasures hidden under dust..

Great quotation collections glean the millennia, distill essences, and battle for bragging rights about who’s bigger, who’s smarter, who’s best. Who-….

A little flattery, like a warm bath and soft towel, will let you get along with yourself, lie down with yourself, and sleep..

Ralph Keyes calls quotation collectors "quotographers," the men and women who gather catchwords, watchwords, war words, winged words, maxims, mottos,….

Quotations calcify into clichés..

Say what you want without saying it yourself: quote. Very useful, this, sometimes lovely, and versatile, too: big thoughts in small pieces, neatly wr….