“To be apt in quotation is a splendid and dangerous gift. Splendid, because it ornaments a man's speech with other men's jewels; dangerous, for the same reason.”
Robertson Davies Dangerous Jewels (1960).
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Robertson Davies 282
Canadian journalist, playwright, professor, critic, and nov… 1913–1995Related quotes

“Live life when you have it. Life is a splendid gift-there is nothing small about it.”
“They were brave and splendid, all the men. They died like brave men.”
Source: The Band That Played On (Thomas Nelson, 2011), p. 151

Though sometimes attributed to Addison, this actually comes from a speech delivered by the Irish lawyer Charles Phillips in 1817, in the case of O'Mullan v. M'Korkill, published in Irish Eloquence: The Speeches of the Celebrated Irish Orators (1834) pp. 91-92.
Misattributed

Mont Saint Michel and Chartres (1904)

"The Frailty and Hurtfulness of Beauty", line 1

Source: Books, Coningsby (1844), Endymion (1880), Ch. 52.