Favorite Quotes

[JoelR]

I was inspired by this topic by subscribing to a "quote of the day" service.   I've always been uplifted by the phrases and quotations of famous people, so I wanted to see if any of you have a personal quote or motto.

I have two:

"Carpe Diem" - Probably the most famous quote of all, this is by far my most favorite of all time.  To me, it's such a powerful and empowering phrase to seize the moment and to cherish your life, to live and desire and work for a richly vibrant life.   

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer." - Albert Camus.  I didn't run across this quote until about a year ago, and I really wish I had found it sooner, since I think it speaks so much to the sheer invincibility within me and each of us to endure even the worst of times.  I've been through some incredibly painful and dark moments in my younger years that dramatically and forever changed the course of my life, yet I remember during those years that the only thing keeping me going was through sheer willpower.  It wasn't any desire to intentionally live a full or happy life, or it was to simply exist -- and it was when I was stripped of everything did I discover that I needed to keep going.

What are your favorite quotes, and why are they meaningful to you?  

 

Edited September 20, 2015 by JoelR

[JoelR]

A great quote for today:

My painting does not come from the easel.  -Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock's Convergence

[JackFTwist]

"These are the times that try men's souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.  Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.  What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.  Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated."

          -- Thomas Paine, "The American Crisis, no. 1" [Dec. 23, 1776; italics in the original]

[JackFTwist]

"Work is the curse of the drinking class."  -- Oscar Wilde

(@ JoelR:  This quotation probably isn't exactly in the spirit you intended for this forum topic.  But an occasional bit of incisive humor from one of the greatest wits of the last century can have its own salutary effects.)

[JackFTwist]

 

"These are the times that try men's souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.  Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.  What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.  Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated."

          -- Thomas Paine, "The American Crisis, no. 1" [Dec. 23, 1776; italics in the original]

[The following comments were originally part of the post containing the quotation above, but the system timed me out before I finished them and posted only the quotation.  Serves me right for being such a slow and long-winded writer!]

Whenever I hear or read a politician -- or most anyone else, for that matter -- say something like, "The Founding Fathers believed/knew/thought ...," my eyes start to glaze over and my brain goes into idle.  It's usually such a clichéd attempt to seem profound, insightful, and erudite.  But chances are the speaker or writer has never read a word the sainted Founding Fathers said or wrote, beyond maybe the stirring prefaces to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the first two amendments in the Bill of Rights (the rights to freedom of religion, speech, the press, "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," and to bear arms), plus whichever section or clause supports whatever cause they're currently advocating.  (And chances are their staff speech writers had to look the last one up in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.)  They never made it to the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence, the commitment that 56 representatives of the Thirteen Colonies affixed their signatures to:  "And for the support of this Declaration ... we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."  This definitely wasn't some empty political cliché to them!  By signing the Declaration, they were committing high treason against the British Crown, so they were effectively signing their own death warrants if they should ever be captured.  How many members of today's political and intellectual classes (my profession places me among the latter) would be willing to make such a solemn and momentous commitment?

But every once in a while, I chance upon some Founding Father's scribblings, like the Thomas Paine quotation above, and I'm gob-smacked by the reminder that those guys really got it.  (And no, I don't usually spend my leisure time reading their often ponderous prose.)  There's more wisdom and insight in those three sentences than in a year's worth of commencement addresses or speeches on the floors of the Senate and House of Representatives.  Too bad the writings of the often-quoted Founding Fathers have long since disappeared from most public school curriculums in the U.S.  They have a lot to teach us, if only we knew it's there.

Here endeth the lesson.  My wine glass is empty, so I can write no more.  Thanks be to God.

[JoelR]

"Work is the curse of the drinking class."  -- Oscar Wilde

(@ JoelR:  This quotation probably isn't exactly in the spirit you intended for this forum topic.  But an occasional bit of incisive humor from one of the greatest wits of the last century can have its own salutary effects.)

​There's no particular "spirit" for this board -- I started out somber and profound (or at least I pretended to be) simply because I was in a moody perspective yesterday night .  But any and all quotes are welcome!  

[Freddy57]

"It has become a race between computer programmers to make better idiot proof computers and the universe to make better idiots. So far the universe is wining." This is quote I came across a few years back. I'm not sure who the author was but I got kind of chuckle out of it.  

[Doug]

While campaigning for the 2008 presidential nomination Mike Huckabee demonstrated the "depth" of his scientific knowledge when he said:

"It's scientifically impossible for the bumblebee to fly; but the bumblebee, being unaware of these scientific facts, flies anyway."

....and here is the proof.........

Don't you juist love it when a small insect can confuse the scientific clan.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Doug

[Doug]

Lerner and Loewe, My Fair Lady.

"The French don't care what they do actually, as long as they pronounce it properly."

Very true, try speaking French as a foreigner in Paris and see what happens!!

[Kawika]

Gretchen Cryer from I'm Getting My Act Together And Taking it On The Road

"And I don't know what's coming. But this new day feels fine. 'Cause I woke up this morning and the face in the mirror was mine"

This  quote has always meant a lot to me since I saw the show but it's becoming more significant as time rolls by... as the song is about self discovery and renewal.

[tbill]

The difference between sex and love is that sex relieves tension and love causes it.

 - Woody Allen

[tbill]

You show me a three year old running around a flea market in his underpants drinking Coca-Cola out of a baby bottle, and I'll show you a future NASCAR fan.

- Jeff Foxworthy