quotes! wheeee! :D
Aug. 14th, 2006 06:28 pmMeme 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.
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.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:32 pm (UTC)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!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 08:06 pm (UTC)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 :>
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 08:36 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-16 01:09 pm (UTC)