Quotes: Quotations.

A collection of quotes on various topics. The sentence in bold face is a plain statement of the quote that follows.

Quotations
I use quotations to express ideas I cannot express as well.
Quotes 152 For I make others say what, now for want of knowledge, now for want of understanding, I cannot so well myself express. Montaigne, Selected Essays.

I read to reinforce opinions I already have.
Quotes 227 I have not at all studied to make a book; but I have studied somewhat…if it is studying somewhat to skim over and pinch, by his head or feet, now one author and then another, not at all in order to form my opinions, but certainly to assist, second, and serve those long since formed. Montaigne, Selected Essays.

Don’t we quote to show off rather than to express a truth?
Quotes 558 But is it not true that we seek more the honor of quoting than the truth of the statement? Montaigne, Selected Essays.

We quote the Bible only to produce a certain effect on the audience.
Quoting 678 ‘What measure ye mete so it shall be meted unto you again,’ cries the counsel for the defense, and instantly deduces that Christ teaches us to measure as it is measured to us…we peep into the Gospel only on the eve of making speeches, in order to dazzle the audience…which may be of use to produce a certain effect. Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov.

I quote words that say better what I would say.
Quoting 278 L. Speyer: I quote a good deal in my talks [on poetry]…like to call upon my radiant cloud of witnesses to back me up, saying the thing I would say, and saying it so much more eloquently. Hull, ed. The Writer’s Book.