It's a bit lonely here at the moment, okay?

[jadesfire]

The subject line explains the spamming. Apologies to the flist, and I promise to use "ETA" from now on.

We all know that my general klutziness is one of the things that makes me a danger to myself and others - an inability to walk through doors rather than into them, a tendency to forget to swipe open locked doors and hence bash my nose on them, and a complete ignorance as to where the exact edges of the bookcases are all mean that I really, really wish all the sharp corners of the world should be padded. And while I'm usually covered in bruises, today is the first time the books have drawn blood. I scraped my hand along the corner of a book and have a nice graze, right along the knuckle, just enough to make typing really, really painful. Ow!

Also, the second part of Stephen Fry's series on the English language is about Quotation, and is just as brilliant as the first. As Dorothy L Sayers puts it "A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought" and therefore I absolutely love it. My brain retains quotations much more easily than anything else, which is both useful and annoying (remembering my PIN would be a whole lot more helpful). I'm perfectly capable of holding entire conversations almost entirely in quotations, mostly from Buffy and the Discworld, and it's incredibly useful when you can't think what else to say. There should be a link to the programme from the Radio 4 website.

So tell me, oh wise and wonderful flist, what's your favourite quote? Or your top three? I'm hard-pushed to choose, but if I have to?

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx

ETA: I'm going to update as we go, so come and add yours!

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
Ralph Waldo Emerson via darththalia

I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
"Walden" Henry David Thoreau's via pwcorgigirl

"I've never met a chocolate I didn't like"
Deanna Troi, Star Trek Next Gen via aeron_lanart

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.
Mark Twain via aeron_lanart

Humans need fantasy to be human... to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape
Hogfather, Terry Pratchett via smithy161

Comments

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

*shudder* My ex used to have a thing about me quoting stuff. I love quotations, and it amused me to deploy them liberally. And he used to say similar to Dorothy (only less wittily). Hearing that sort of thing again is scary. :-(

I was reshelving in our Law section back in college, and for some reason there was a combination of a sharp edge and heavy books. I slid the books onto the shelf, and managed to slice a flap of skin all the way along the edge of my little finger. *winces*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

er...sorry? I think quotation's awesome - if someone's already said it, why try to find different words for it? *scratches head*

Yeah. Books are vicious. I actually laughed at my doctor when he said I had "a fairly sedentry job". This building has FIVE FLOORS and the books don't move around them by themselves...

[thalia]

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. - Ralph Waldo Emerson. I've never been much good with consistency, foolish or otherwise.

And I'm not the klutziest person ever, but it seems like I'm always finding bruises that I don't know where I got. Sorry about your knuckles.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like that quote. Haven't heard that before. Like you, consistency is not my strong point :)

I've been covered in bruises and scrapes pretty much since I was old enough to walk. It's a gift ;) I'm not bleeding any more, which is good, but it would still be much easier if I could just type right-handed. Ouch!

Ooh, and I put your commentary for 'Snookered' up over here (http://heretoutopia.livejournal.com/53963.html). It was fascinating to do, thanks. I could get into the habit of these commentary things...

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I read Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" as a very impressionable 14-year-old and still use this quote to explain why I prefer simple things:

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”

And I often mutter, "What fresh hell is this?" when the phone rings. I like to imagine that Dorothy Parker hated telephones as much as I do! :D

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's a really good one. I think I'm going to have to update the post with these.

*grin* Yeah, I have a tendency to just yell "Oh go away!" when the phone rings. Yours is much better :D

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Door frames and book shelves *move* I tell you. You aren't walking into them, they just aren't where they're supposed to be.
Reminds me of a conversation I had in work once...

"What's that bruise on your arm?" (I shall say at this point that this was a most impressive bruise, about 3.5 inches long down the length of my forearm)

Me: "Door bit me."

"You're supposed to walk through doors, not into them!"

Me: "I was! No-one told the door though."

Cue exasperated look from work colleague.

And the quotes I like the best?

"I've never met a chocolate I didn't like" - Deanna Troi, Star Trek Next Gen (It has a certain appeal, what can I say? *g*)

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." Mark Twain

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Yes! Yes! That EXACTLY! I swear they move when we're not looking!

*giggle* I might have predicted the first... I'll add them to the list :D

[smithy161.livejournal.com]

"Humans need fantasy to be human... to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape" - Terry Pratchett, Hogfather.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* I like that one.

*adds to list*

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

"I love deadlines. I like the wooshing sound as they go by." - Douglas Adams

"Give me a fulcrum, and a fixed point to place it, and I can move the world" - Archimedes

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'd forgotten the Adams one. yes, I love that too.

Thanks :)

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Oh, at least you can remember where you got the bruises, I get the most hideous things without knowing into what I actually bumped into. And oh, I have so many favourite quotes, I try to stick them in front of my fics when they fit.

I love deadlines, I like the whooshing sound they make when they rush by - Douglas Adams (and I will so quote him when they activate CERN about the bizarre universe, too)

The doors to Heaven and Hell are adjacent and identical - Nikos Katzanzakis

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. - Carl Sagan (probably my favourite at the moment as I can so relate to that ^^)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*grin* I've usually walked into a bookcase or door. I swear they jump out at me...

cool, thanks! I'll add them to the rapidly growing list...

[avon-09.livejournal.com]

Embrace change. But just don't get into heavy petting with it.

(The Little Book of Complete Bollocks)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*snort* No comment ;)

[avon-09.livejournal.com]

And basically the Blakes 7 script...

AVON: Tarrant is brave, young, handsome - there are three good reasons for anyone not to like him.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*giggle* Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

1. On the first day, Man made God - Anonymous.

2. Writers are liars, my dear. - Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Preludes & Nocturnes)

3. I'm a liar and I have a drinking problem. Which is as good a description of a writer as you'll ever see. - Mark Manning

I have a weakness for snarky quotes about writing and writers that point out that ZOMG WE'RE NOT MAJIK.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Oh good grief yes. Joyce Grenfell had a wonderful piece satirizing Enid Blyton for her attitude to writing children's books, which was along the lines of 'wandering off into fairy land'.

I love the Gaiman quote - must reserve the Sandman books at the library. Why do they never have Volume 1?

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

Here's one of my favourite quotes:

"Understanding is a three-edged sword. Your side, my side and the truth in between." - J. Michael Straczynski.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I've heard a version of that from someone else and like it very much. *nods* Definitely.

[naye]

Awww! Books can be dangerous, sometimes. I know! But at least they very rarely give you rabies?

I'm terrible at remembering quotes, but my Google Fu is strong, and so the bits and pieces I do manage to memorize is enough for me to track them down!

This quote by Mark Twain isn't as snappy as many of the others posted, but if there were ever words I have chosen to live by, it would be these:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."


Another wordy quote, by someone who said a lot of very intelligent things:

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." - Albert Einstein

(Who also said that:

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.")

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Books are vicious and attack when you least expect - a huge pile of them fell and broke my keyboard the other week. You can't turn your back on them for a minute ;)

There are some truly wonderful Einstein quotes, about many thinsg other than physics. I hadn't heard that one before - brilliant, thanks.

[idontlikegravy.livejournal.com]

*points to icon*

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

Quotes I especially like are:

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity" though I really can't recall who said it first.

"This is not life in the fast lane. This is life in the oncoming traffic!" Terry Pratchett.

"Racing is life. Everything else is just waiting." Steve McQueen.

[rustydog.livejournal.com]

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than a whole one. ~E. B. White

I can't remember quotes or lyrics or anything very easily (unless I focus on memorizing them), and I'm amazed by people who can. I compensate with a careful system of collection and storage.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Hee. That's very cool.

I wish I couldn't remember them sometimes - they just seem to stick in my head. Usually it's just a fragment that I drive myself (and everyone else) insane with until I can get rid of it again :)

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

*shudder* My ex used to have a thing about me quoting stuff. I love quotations, and it amused me to deploy them liberally. And he used to say similar to Dorothy (only less wittily). Hearing that sort of thing again is scary. :-(

I was reshelving in our Law section back in college, and for some reason there was a combination of a sharp edge and heavy books. I slid the books onto the shelf, and managed to slice a flap of skin all the way along the edge of my little finger. *winces*

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

er...sorry? I think quotation's awesome - if someone's already said it, why try to find different words for it? *scratches head*

Yeah. Books are vicious. I actually laughed at my doctor when he said I had "a fairly sedentry job". This building has FIVE FLOORS and the books don't move around them by themselves...

[thalia]

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. - Ralph Waldo Emerson. I've never been much good with consistency, foolish or otherwise.

And I'm not the klutziest person ever, but it seems like I'm always finding bruises that I don't know where I got. Sorry about your knuckles.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I like that quote. Haven't heard that before. Like you, consistency is not my strong point :)

I've been covered in bruises and scrapes pretty much since I was old enough to walk. It's a gift ;) I'm not bleeding any more, which is good, but it would still be much easier if I could just type right-handed. Ouch!

Ooh, and I put your commentary for 'Snookered' up over here (http://heretoutopia.livejournal.com/53963.html). It was fascinating to do, thanks. I could get into the habit of these commentary things...

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I read Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" as a very impressionable 14-year-old and still use this quote to explain why I prefer simple things:

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”

And I often mutter, "What fresh hell is this?" when the phone rings. I like to imagine that Dorothy Parker hated telephones as much as I do! :D

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's a really good one. I think I'm going to have to update the post with these.

*grin* Yeah, I have a tendency to just yell "Oh go away!" when the phone rings. Yours is much better :D

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Door frames and book shelves *move* I tell you. You aren't walking into them, they just aren't where they're supposed to be.
Reminds me of a conversation I had in work once...

"What's that bruise on your arm?" (I shall say at this point that this was a most impressive bruise, about 3.5 inches long down the length of my forearm)

Me: "Door bit me."

"You're supposed to walk through doors, not into them!"

Me: "I was! No-one told the door though."

Cue exasperated look from work colleague.

And the quotes I like the best?

"I've never met a chocolate I didn't like" - Deanna Troi, Star Trek Next Gen (It has a certain appeal, what can I say? *g*)

"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." Mark Twain

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Yes! Yes! That EXACTLY! I swear they move when we're not looking!

*giggle* I might have predicted the first... I'll add them to the list :D

[smithy161.livejournal.com]

"Humans need fantasy to be human... to be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape" - Terry Pratchett, Hogfather.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*nods* I like that one.

*adds to list*

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

"I love deadlines. I like the wooshing sound as they go by." - Douglas Adams

"Give me a fulcrum, and a fixed point to place it, and I can move the world" - Archimedes

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'd forgotten the Adams one. yes, I love that too.

Thanks :)

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Oh, at least you can remember where you got the bruises, I get the most hideous things without knowing into what I actually bumped into. And oh, I have so many favourite quotes, I try to stick them in front of my fics when they fit.

I love deadlines, I like the whooshing sound they make when they rush by - Douglas Adams (and I will so quote him when they activate CERN about the bizarre universe, too)

The doors to Heaven and Hell are adjacent and identical - Nikos Katzanzakis

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. - Carl Sagan (probably my favourite at the moment as I can so relate to that ^^)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*grin* I've usually walked into a bookcase or door. I swear they jump out at me...

cool, thanks! I'll add them to the rapidly growing list...

[avon-09.livejournal.com]

Embrace change. But just don't get into heavy petting with it.

(The Little Book of Complete Bollocks)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*snort* No comment ;)

[avon-09.livejournal.com]

And basically the Blakes 7 script...

AVON: Tarrant is brave, young, handsome - there are three good reasons for anyone not to like him.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

*giggle* Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

[apiphile.livejournal.com]

1. On the first day, Man made God - Anonymous.

2. Writers are liars, my dear. - Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Preludes & Nocturnes)

3. I'm a liar and I have a drinking problem. Which is as good a description of a writer as you'll ever see. - Mark Manning

I have a weakness for snarky quotes about writing and writers that point out that ZOMG WE'RE NOT MAJIK.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Oh good grief yes. Joyce Grenfell had a wonderful piece satirizing Enid Blyton for her attitude to writing children's books, which was along the lines of 'wandering off into fairy land'.

I love the Gaiman quote - must reserve the Sandman books at the library. Why do they never have Volume 1?