Selecting High Quality Quotations

Quotation Selection Guidelines

There are millions of quotations. Some are very good; most are mundane. Here are three quotes, along with a couple of comments, that tell you what we look for when selecting quotations for our E-Mail lists.


    That writer does the most, who gives his reader the most    
    knowledge, and takes from him the least time.               
                                               Colton (1780-1832)

Keep track of a list's batting average. Its ratio of hits to misses; quotations you like to quotations you don't like.


    Whatever we well understand we express clearly,             
    and words flow with ease.                                   
                                     Nicholas Boileau (1636-1711)

If you don't understand a quote, the author probably didn't express himself clearly. It's the editor's job to screen out quotations that are blurry or lack clarity.


     If you be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with   
     sunbeams - the more they are condensed the deeper they burn.
                                       Robert Southey (1774-1843)