Quotes for the Ages

[bugen]

One of my favorite aspects of reading in general is coming across phrases, often concentrated from much larger ideas, that cut through any debris and get right to the heart of the matter. But it’s not always the knowledge bombs that are so fascinating in these combinations of words. Many times rare truths are within that are much harder to find ‘in the wild,’ and sometimes impossible. Occasionally an entire work, even a career, can be found in a single line.

I come across these fairly frequently, often highlighting them in my kindle, sometimes writing them down, throwing into a word document on my PC, etc., but it’s not a good system and I’m constantly losing, misplacing, and forgetting them. Is anyone interested in sharing some of these gems here? Maybe not so much 300 of your favorite quotes all at once, but if you just read something amazing I’m sure I’m not alone in wanting to hear about it.

After spending a good half an hour looking into the various ways to quote things properly I've found the styles seem to hinge upon a Works Cited page which isn’t going to apply. But I think it would be cool if we could list quotes in a way that allows others to look them up themselves if desired, so I've combined styles into one citation. But it’s absolutely not necessary if you don't have the info or you just plain don't feel like listing it - we'd rather see the quote than not!

This first one was found earlier today. It gave me pause…

[bugen]

“Where all life dies, death lives, and nature breeds,
Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, inutterable, and worse. . .”

(Milton, John. Paradise Lost pg. 49. The Franklin Library, 1979)

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[Sock Monkey]

Fantastic idea for a thread, bugen! I'll start tracking down some of my favorites and start posting some soon.

[bugen]

Thanks! Can't wait to see how this turns out. It'd be sweet if it catches on and we're all throwing ingenious quotes around constantly.

[srboone]

One of my favorite quotes:

"My means of our myths and legends we maintain a sense of what we are worth and who we are. Without them, we would undoubtedly go mad."

Michael Moorcock, Mother London (1988).

[markgunnells]

One of my all-time favorite literary quotes is from The Handmaid's Tale: "Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it."

I also loved from Koontz's Odd Thomas: "We are not strangers to ourselves, we only try to be."

[mhatchett]

“To be a book-collector is to combine the worst characteristics of a dope fiend with those of a miser.”
Robertson Davies


"Live right so when it comes your time to die,
you will not be like those whose hearts are filled with
the fear of death, who weep and pray for a little more
time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song and die like a hero going home."
-Tecumseh

[bugen]

"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."

-Arthur C. Clarke (don't know where this originated. But it's used as the opening quote to the PC game XCOM: Enemy Unknown)

[bugen]

"Even 500 to one, they were still no match for me; but there were more than that. At least twelve and a half more."

(Rogers, Mark. Samurai Cat Goes to the Movies pg. 184. TOR, 1994)

[bugen]

"Some people, as De Quincey said, have a natural aptitude for being murdered."

(Charles Williams, War in Heaven)

[William J. Grabowski]

"The universe does not exist as we think it exists. We do not exist as we think we exist."
(John A. Keel, The Mothman Prophecies [1975])

[bugen]

"Because it was summer, nobody considered the motive of the birds."

(John Blackburn, Broken Boy, opening line)

[TJCams]

"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."

-Arthur C. Clarke (don't know where this originated. But it's used as the opening quote to the PC game XCOM: Enemy Unknown)

Love this quote, and it's oh so true.

I think this was just Clarke talking about his views on the possibility of ET life, seeing as he is a hard sci-fi writer with knowledge of space related research, and also being a futurist. One of my favourite authors, and I agree with a lot of his philosophies (I guess you could call it).

[bugen]

"You shouldn't trust the story-teller; only trust the story."

(Neil Gaiman, Sandman #38, The Hunt)

[Brian861]

"Happiness should remain unexplained for as long as possible"

Stephen King (can't recall the book)