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

Quotations calcify into clichés.

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

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

Ralph Keyes calls quotation collectors "quotographers," the men and women who gather catchwords, watchwords, war words, winged words, maxims, mottos, sayings, and quips into books of a thousand pages. Through the centuries quotation collectors have saved quotations that would otherwise be lost.

Flattery works like a drug.

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