quotes! wheeee! :D

[reenka]

Meme gacked from sistermagpie where I went to the random quote generator and picked the 5 that I eventually decided suited my beliefs/personality most. And you should definitely go ahead and make my day and do it if you want to also :D Basically, I just can't resist 'cause I'm obsessed with quotes. :P

    When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me.
- W. Somerset Maugham

    The gods never let us love and be wise at the same time.
- Publilius Syrus

    Doubt is a feeling too lonely to know that faith is its twin.
- Khalil Gibran

    Things are only impossible until they're not.
- Jean-Luc Picard

    Life is a tragedy for those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
- Horace Walpole


...but these are some of my old favorites, and I think they suit me better, too (don't they?), plus they're just better quality quotes, ehehe:
    
    Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

- Anais Nin

    There is at the back of every artist's mind something like a pattern or a type of architecture. It is a thing like the landscape of his dreams; the sort of world he would wish to make or in which he would wish to wander; the strange flora and fauna of his own secret planet.

- G.K. Chesterton

    For love is no part of the dreamworld. Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel.

- Neil Gaiman

    The mystery of the universe is its comprehensibility.

- Albert Einstein
~~

I should add that my favorite type of quote is one that's neither obvious nor just witty, but rather startling in its ability to encapsulate a deep truth into a sentence or two, hopefully utilizing metaphor, contrast, and irony. I generally find most 'favored' or popular quotes not dense enough, not deep enough, not complex enough :P A truly great quote (to me) should be one you can meditate on, not just read and smirk/exclaim at. It shouldn't be an 'oh my GOSH, how CUTE' response, but rather a slowly growing realization, culminating in an intense 'Oh my GOD' type lightbulb moment. I don't ask for much, I know :P Well, that is how I am; if a truism isn't mysterious, I generally find it vaguely trite.

The other thing, I guess, is that there's a ton of cute or pithy quotes out there that achieve some sort of insight, some poking at human folly, whatever. (My) point is to transcend folly & attain some measure of full-bodied comprehension of any issue-- something beyond the objective/subjective divide. True insight is like that, I think.
    (I'm not sure if I'm going to be seen as pretentious, intimidating or just disgustingly earnest here... um, all I mean is that I'm as elitist with quotes as I am with anything I really like a lot. Uh. -.- Or whatever the word is for 'extremely picky, but not in a judging-others way, just in a differentiating-in-quality way'.) Btw, one of these days I'll just be like, FINE, FINE I AM ELITIST, SO WHAT? But I've tried to move past that phase of teenage rebellion when my idea of a comeback was telling people I didn't care about them (though at least it was true in my case?) ^^;;; I think when people say 'you're elitist' as an accusation they really mean 'you're harshing my buzz' or being insensitive rather than caring about what the other person's standards actually are... since the real-world negative connotation refers to someone who dismisses things based on arbitrary social divisions.

Comments

[wobblygoblin.livejournal.com]

My favorite chuckle-quote is:

"Good generally conquers evil. Unless, of course, good is stupid."

But my other favorite quotes come from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

“Solitude is impractical and yet society is fatal.”

“People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.”

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

But more telling:

“Stay at home in your mind. Don't recite other people's opinions. I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I remember reading that last Emerson quote in High School sometime & feeling much affection for it! I excuse my unhealthy penchant for quotes by the fact that (as in my first quotation), I have the odd ability to absorb the things I read & make them a part of -me-, so tell me what I know I'd have to also tell you what I got from others :D

[wobblygoblin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm sure it will eventually become a problem when I write something and totally forget to credit a quote I've internalized. XD

And I've always taken Emerson's meaning as you shouldn't go searching quotes for answers--you'll realize the truth of most quotes simply by living. :) But they're still fun!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Well, naturally, uh, I wouldn't put things as 'favorite quotes' if I hadn't realized their truth 'simply by living' in the first place, see, so it all works out :>

Possibly I'm just sort of incapable of believing anyone unless I sort of realize I've always known it myself already, just hadn't realized I'd known it. Just like Death said, everyone is born knowing everything, we just forget 'cause that's all that makes it okay sometimes :>

[wobblygoblin.livejournal.com]

Ha, true indeed.

Also, on a completely unrelated topic:

REENA, you NEED to watch the show PSYCH because omg it has adorable, snarky boys and detective work and witty banter! (!) Please, I feel you must have this show in your life--Bitorrent it or something. Um, you can watch clips online at the USA website (I think?) and--and--! The main character reminds me of Draco-by-Maya. No, no. HE IS. He even has daddy issues!

The potential for slash is, of course, vast, since none of the fellows have managed to keep lady callers in their lives yet. And (in what I feel is SUBTEXT TO THE NTH DEGREE) we have boys sitting on the lap of other boys who do not like them.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Hee! Sounds like I'd like it.... mmm, witty banter <3<3<3 Um, but currently I'm in England & my laptop's keyboard's broken + bittorrent is blocked by the campus network, so :( Hee. I have to check it out back when I'm in depresso-land, otherwise known as NYC ^^;;

[lucretius.livejournal.com]

Hm. The Walpole quote is rather perfect.

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Heh! That was skirting the edge of being 'too obvious' to me, but that's mostly because I've heard it ages ago and have since completely internalized it to the point where I'm like, 'you mean some people DON'T realize this??' :D

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Walpole's my favorite too--but I like Gibran a lot too!

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I have a small but long-running obsession with Kahlil Gibran! He's so quotable and wise and I'm a bit fangirly about him... heh. I pretty much agree with everything he ever said, sort of like I agree with Einstein & generally Rilke & John Barth and GK Chesterton :>

[scoradh.livejournal.com]

Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you
because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most
unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.
~ Roald Dahl

BEAT THAT. :P

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

That is shiny, 'tis true. It's sort of how I am naturally, though, so it wouldn't occur to me that it needs a quote (ie, 'obvious', ahahah, probably only to me & people like me). Magic is always both hidden and everywhere you look, because the magic is in how you look :>

[blacksatinrose.livejournal.com]

You cannot slander human nature; it is worse than words can paint it.
-Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834 - 1892)-

That one's my top choice. Oh yes. Then comes:

Chase after truth like hell and you'll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat-tails.
-Clarence Darrow (1857 - 1938)-

...that's possibly the motto of my entire life.

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
-Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)-

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
-Dr. Seuss (1904 - 1991)-

Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere, wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation.
-William H. Sheldon-

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

Man, the one by Sheldon made me stop and realize, hey, YEAH! Which is really cool. That's what I want quotes to do-- simple yet totally striking in its ability to turn your head around. Or something. Yes. The Dr Seuss one has been on my userinfo for ages :D

I really like the Darrow one! A little bitter, but I don't think he's wrong-- just perhaps a little sturm-und-drang or something.... It's true that you can't really slander human nature 'cause people -have- done things as bad as anyone can think of, but specific human beings aren't representative of 'human nature' and can thus surprise you :D

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I just don't see how people could pick a set of quotes that didn't have at least one about the glory of books. ^_^

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

I suppose I just accept that no everyone's as obsessed with the written word as I am ^^;; heh.