Had Lorenzo opened the famous passage in "The Merchant of Venice" thus,- "How calm the moonlight lies upon this bank," and continued to the end of the dozen lines in the same key, saying,- "There's not the tiniest star that can be seen But in its revolution it doth hum, Aye chanting to the heavenly cherubins," his words would not have become celebrated and quotable.
"Essays Æsthetical"
George Calvert
He has few or no single scenes or passages of such high and sustained excellence as to be specially quotable; and there is throughout him an indefinable flavour as of study of his elders and betters, an appearance as of a highly competent and gifted pupil in a school, not as of a master and leader in a movement.
"A History of English Literature Elizabethan Literature"
George Saintsbury
On every page of the book there was something pungent, something quotable; but many pages of such writing became tiresome.
"Brief History of English and American Literature"
Henry A. Beers