“‘Each memory in turn is treasured in the lovely, lighted depths of her engagement diamond, to be an endless source of happy inspiration. For such a radiant role, her diamond need not be costly or of many carats, but it must be chosen with care.’. . .

It was from the exhaustion of writing such carbonated prose [for De Beers diamonds] that the most compressed diamond of a headline was formed. In April of 1947, Frances Gerety was laboring mightily. . . . She was exhausted from trying to come up with a new line that would bring together all the intrinsic and romantic qualities of the diamond and have it not make any sense whatsoever. . . . ‘Dog tired, I put my head down and said, ‘Please God, send me a line.’’ He must have because she wrote, ‘A Diamond Is Forever.’”

—James B. Twitchell, from Twenty Ads that Shook the World, 2000.