A classic is a book that doesn't have to be written again.

"The race of man, while sheep in credulity, are wolves for conformity."

"Yes, it's hard to write, but it's harder not to."

The most familiar quotations are the most likely to be misquoted . . . . Some have settled down to false versions that have obscured the true ones. They have passed over from literature into speech.

"The first writers are first and the rest, in the long run, nowhere but in anthologies."