Quotation ... A writer expresses himself in words that have been used before because they give his meaningbetter than he can give it himself, or because they are beautiful or witty, or because he expects them to touch a cord of association in his reader, or because he wishes to show that he is learned and wellread. Quotations due to the lastmotive are invariably ill-advised the discerning reader detects it and is contemptuous the undiscerning is perhaps impressed, but eventhen is at the sametime repelled, pretentious quotations being the surest road to tedium. Henry W. Fowler»
