Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Quotes for the ages











I am an aficionado of the short quotation. I have in this space covered the master, Mark Twain, who, even though he didn't say all the things he said, is still so far ahead of everyone else with what he did say that it hardly matters. I have even dabbled in writing the quotation myself, achieving a peak of success in 2015 with:

"It's not the sneeze that's such a problem, it's what to do with it after."


So I'm just saying I'm highly attuned to the tradition of the quote. This weekend I saw one of the most brilliant movies, well, ever, The Big Short. It used a few quotes, and the quality of these quotes reflected the quality of the movie. One was by Mark Twain (naturally) and read:


"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."


And then, disarmingly, it gave us this marvelous quote:


"Truth is like poetry. And most people fucking hate poetry."


And then for attribution it cited the above to "Overheard at a Washington, D.C. bar." Which just goes to show that you don't have to be Mark Twain to pierce the heavens.


During a rather enjoyable weekend of clothes shopping with my wife I myself overheard a quote. Two women were talking, one of them far more than the other, and she said:


"There could be a great book of things I say, but I'm too scattered to write it myself. I would need someone to follow me around and write down what I say."


I have decided, for today, to be that person.














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