To quote copiously and well, requires taste, judgment, and erudition, a feeling for the beautiful, an appreciation of the noble, and a sense of the profound.

Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) was an American writer and compiler best known for his aphorisms and for assembling literary “thoughts” and quotations for a general readership. The remark reflects a 19th‑century culture in which commonplacing, recitation, and quotation were treated as marks of education and moral refinement, not merely as rhetorical ornament. Bovee’s work often comments on reading, authorship, and the ethical/aesthetic responsibilities of the cultivated mind. In that milieu, quoting “well” implied discernment—selecting passages that elevate taste and character—rather than simply displaying memory or learning.

Bovee distinguishes between mere accumulation of citations and the art of quotation. “Copiously” suggests breadth of reading, but he insists that abundance alone is insufficient: good quotation demands taste (aesthetic discrimination), judgment (fitness to occasion and argument), and erudition (genuine learning). The final triad—feeling for beauty, appreciation of nobility, and sense of profundity—frames quotation as a moral-aesthetic act: what one chooses to repeat reveals one’s values and depth. The line also implies that quotation can be creative and elevating when it is guided by cultivated sensibility rather than vanity or pedantry.