"By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote."
 It seems
appropriate to begin a discussion of quotes with one from a master, Ralph
Waldo Emerson. He is not only a fantastic source, but also (obviously)
a devoted follower as well.
If one of life's great joys is reading (and it certainly is for me)
then it's corollary is quoting. Finding that one sentence or passage in
a work that leaps out at you and sharing it with everyone you know is tons
of fun and educational, too. Sir Francis Bacon stated perfectly how I feel
about reading: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and
some few to be chewed and digested."
I started my first quote book in high school and it came in handy on
many
occasions. Today, I keep quote files on my laptop and my palm pilot. My
only mistake with that first book was in ignoring my sources. For example,
I love this quote but can't remember who wrote it.
We must come to grief and regret anyway - and I for one would
rather regret the reality than its phantasm, knowledge than hope, the deed
than the hesitation, true life and not mere sickly potentialities.
Good quotes can come from great literature, bad movies, or a stranger walking
by on the street. It's the words themselves that speak to you. Okay, I'll
admit there are quotes that I treasure that make no sense to others. "Eagertransmigrophobia
is the fear of wanting to be reincarnated as a fence post." Some are just
funny in context, as when my friend, Kevin Fox, told me "He was gesturing
with the brain hand," when he showed me the picture on the right. 
Some are just plain funny, like these two from The Tick (world's most quotable
cartoon): "You know, when a tomato grows out of your forehead, it gets
you thinking. Life is just a big tossed salad, but you don't eat it, you
live it!" and "Now, now. There will be plenty of time for brain-eating
after we conquer the earth."
But quotes are not for amusement alone. They can also transmit wisdom
and that is when they are most powerful. Emerson again: "Life is not so
short but that there is always time enough for courtesy." Good old Benjamin
Franklin: "Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is
the stuff life is made of." William Shakespeare has way too many to list,
but two of my favorites are: "No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en;
In brief, sir, study what you most affect." from Taming of the Shrew and
"Love sought is good, but given unsought is better." from Twelfth Night.
One that strikes me like a mack truck every time I read it is from Lois
McMaster Bujold:
I have always thought - tests are a gift. And great tests are
a great gift. To fail the test is a misfortune. But to refuse the test
is to refuse the gift, and something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune.
In some ways, poetry speaks to me as large quotes. I often include whole
poems in my quote files even though they are much longer than the other
quotes. I can choose no single quote that defines me or my philosophy,
so I will close with a poem that speaks to me of my childhood and my dreams.
Sea
Fever by John Masefield.
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the sea again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the sea again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted
knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream, when the long trick's over.
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