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You Can Quote Me On That
 By Joanne Rock I’ve had a lot of cause to think about quotes recently. My son’s English teacher asked him to write a credo essay in which he explained why a famous quote could be adopted in his own life. My husband was asked for his favorite quote at his workplace for a project they were doing. I was happy to help them both think through some quotes as I keep lists of the ones I like best. When I taught English Composition at a handful of universities, I always liked to put a quote on the board every day to give students a little something extra to think about. Every now and then we’d discuss the quote of the day for a critical thinking exercise and sometimes the students would respond to the quote in their journals. But most of the time, the quotes were simply in the background—tiny learning snippets that might resonate for someone. I don’t know what attracts me to quotes, but a copy of John Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations ends up on my desk fairly often. I like thumbing through now and again for a little inspiration or a mini history lesson. A perennial favorite is Theodore Roethke’s “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.” I’m also a big fan of Eleanor Roosevelt’s “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” (How’s that for a bit of personal “ooh-rah” on a tough day?) I also like Zora Neale Hurston’s “Some people can look at a mud puddle and see an ocean with ships.” That’s from one of my favorite books Their Eyes Were Watching God. Zora may have meant that one as a bit of a put-down for fanciful thinkers, but I preferred to embrace it as the optimist’s guide to life. If we can’t see the possibilities in a situation—the glorious inside the simple—then we aren’t using enough imagination. So what about you? Did you have to put a favorite quote on your yearbook page? Have you come across some favorite sayings since then that embody your point of view or inspire you? Share a favorite or two on the boards this week and I’d be happy to share a copy of my new release, SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT (Special Edition 7/08) with a random poster. 21 Responses to “You Can Quote Me On That” |
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July 14th, 2008 at 7:48 am
Here are 3 of my favorites:
“WINNER= Whatever I Need (to do), Never Ever Regret (actions taken)”- HS teacher’s motivational speech on what it takes to be a winner in life
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think.” Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh
“If it’s to be, It’s up to me”- HS Chem teacher
July 14th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I, too, keep a notebook with quotes I come across. Some of them are by famous people, and easy to find, some are from people without any apparent claim to fame, but whose words have touched me.
A few favorites:
We are all lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking up at the starts — Oscar Wilde
Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic — Arthur C. Clarke
Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain — Schiller
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter — Dr. Martin Luther King
The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not. The cure is occupation — George Bernard Shaw
Since I can go on forever, I’ll stop with those.
July 14th, 2008 at 10:39 am
“Smiles are addictive, so be a dealer.” This is attached to all of my emails and it is amazing how many smiley faces I get from sent messages. LOL :grin:
July 14th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I am on the shy side, but I love this quote: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” T.S. Eliot and ” Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” Confucius. :grin:
July 14th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I love ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ as well and the quote you posted is one of my favorites from that book, for the reasons you stated.
As for my personal favorite it’s:
“No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is vicious.” - Henry Brook Adams
That quote is one I picked up at work. There used to be a quote a day whenever we logged in to the data system we use. I was very disappointed when that disappeared but very happy that I had copied that quote before it went away.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
A few of my favorites are…
“I live in my own little world but it’s OK, everyone knows me here.”
“I am a nobody, nobody is perfect, and therefore I am perfect.”
“Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy woman has no time to form.”
“May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings, slow to make enemies and quick to make friends. And may you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.”
July 14th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
For pure fun, I like this quote “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” LOL
I use this one a lot with my husband and 2 sons! 
July 14th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I never did put a quote in my yearbook. I was going to put “If you can’t be yourself than who else can you be.” I always seem to mess up all of my quotes so I decided not to put one in. My husband put something about “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” It really suits him.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I didn’t put a quote under my yearbook picture, but my friend had a quote by William E. Henry, “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
July 14th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
so simple, so short and yet so profound, my fav quote is from a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace:
Carpe Diem (seize the day)
July 14th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I’m embarrassed by the quote I chose for in high school–it was from a song by New Order. Today’s quote is, “She who laughs, lasts”–some days require lots of laughing :)
July 14th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I agree that Carpe Diem is a great quote
We did not have quotes in our year book! It would have been fun.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
One of my favorites is:
It’s never too late to be who you should have been.
This always inspires me to do better!
July 14th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
This one, an Indian proverb is posted on my fridge:
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.
This was my HS yearbook quote:
The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or, more correctly, being loved in spite of yourself. Victor Hugo
This is my email signature:
Experience is the hardest teacher. You get the test first and the lesson afterward.
Unknown
This is posted on my wall at work:
“The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievements, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, “I was wrong”.”
Sydney J. Harris
And I just like this one:
Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind. Henry James
July 15th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Ben Franklin:
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
July 15th, 2008 at 3:48 am
No yearbook, no qoutes.
This is one of my favorites: Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open. Elmer G. Letterman
or : Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore? H.W.Beecher
July 15th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
The blogger ate my post yesterday? Maybe it didn’t like my quote lol. Anyway it was - Never say Never (don’t know who said it ) but l learned the hard way on that one.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
:mrgreen: think this is a G rates blog isnt it?
July 16th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I had so much fun reading these! I cut and pasted them into my cyber quote list for future inspiration. I’m posting quotes on my fridge all summer for the kids and my husband to enjoy. Well– *I* enjoy them. They have no choice but see them and think about them since I quiz them on what they mean. I figure they need to temper their cereal box reading with a little Horace now and then, right? Thank you, all!
***The thread winner is Angie-la! Congratulations and I’m emailing you privately to obtain a shipping address (send to: joanne@joannerock.com) so I can put your book in the mail ASAP. Have a wonderful week!*** :grin: :grin:
July 16th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Congrats, Angie-la!
Thank you, Joanne.
July 16th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Congrats Angie-la!!!