Primer: On Quotations
A short saying often contains much wisdom.
—Sophocles, fifth century BC
I quote others only in order to express myself better.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1595
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
—William Shakespeare, 1596
The next best thing to being witty oneself, is to be able to quote another’s wit.
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—Christian Nestell Bovee, 1862
When reading a scholarly critic, one profits more from his quotations than from his
comments.
—W. H. Auden, 1962
That’s the point of quotations, you know: one can use another’s words to be insulting.
—Amanda Cross, 1971
Quotation, n. The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911
Misquotation is, in fact, the pride and privilege of the learned.
—Hesketh Pearson, 1934
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Of several later paraphrases of this quip, perhaps the most popular is one by W. Somerset
Maugham: “The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit”.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. K. Likharev (ed.), Essential Quotes for Scientists and Engineers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63332-5_1
1
A short saying often contains much wisdom.
—Sophocles, fifth century BC
I quote others only in order to express myself better.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1595
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
—William Shakespeare, 1596
The next best thing to being witty oneself, is to be able to quote another’s wit.
1
—Christian Nestell Bovee, 1862
When reading a scholarly critic, one profits more from his quotations than from his
comments.
—W. H. Auden, 1962
That’s the point of quotations, you know: one can use another’s words to be insulting.
—Amanda Cross, 1971
Quotation, n. The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1911
Misquotation is, in fact, the pride and privilege of the learned.
—Hesketh Pearson, 1934
1
Of several later paraphrases of this quip, perhaps the most popular is one by W. Somerset
Maugham: “The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit”.
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
K. K. Likharev (ed.), Essential Quotes for Scientists and Engineers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63332-5_1
1