Share your favorite quotes

[LilAlex]

It's from an English sci-fi author's short story from the 50's

Like: "With great power comes great responsibility."

I believe that was also Dante.

 

[Starstruck8]

Disclaimer: I mean this in an entirely positive way.

@Starstruck8 I am this close to start posting intentionally miscredited lesser and lesser known quotes just to test how many you can catch.

Strange as it may seem, I don't sit at my computer with a list of well-known misattributed quotes, waiting to pounce. That would be dickish. And quixotic:
XKCD - Duty Calls.
I check only the ones that jump out as implausible.

Oh, that reminds me! Another reason I love the quote I posted is everybody believes it to be some ancient Chinese proverb/curse.

It's from an English sci-fi author's short story from the 50's

Makes it doubly awesome in my book.

I was delighted that you said correctly that it wasn't a Chinese curse. But now I check, it seems that though Terry Pratchett did say it, he was not the originator:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/12/18/live/
It seems that it had been floating around at least since the 1930s, possibly much earlier.

An interesting response to 'may you live in interesting times' is Harry Lime's speech from The Third Man: “In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

[For pedants, cuckoo clocks originated in Bavaria, not Switzerland.]

We all know, or should, that the net is full of misattributed quotes. The solution is simple. If you like the thought, but cannot verify the claimed author, just give the quote without attribution. Or cover your backside with 'attributed to'. Great thoughts should be able to stand on their own, without being misattributed to great people.

 

[missy]

We all know, or should, that the net is full of misattributed quotes.

Ha, this is the truth. Did I share this already?

The Big List of 47 Famous Misquotes That Have Fooled You

The internet is filled with misquotes. Some of the more frequently used quotes, which are attributed to famous people, are wrong. The inaccuracy is due to..

innovativewealth.com

 

[Avondale]

XKCD - Duty Calls.

There's this notion (people say it - so I'm not entirely off topic) that if you're struggling to get answers to a question you've asked on the internet, your best course of action is to make a second account and use it to give an outrageously wrong answer. People's urge to help is nowhere near as strong as their need to correct someone who's wrong on the internet.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

"Well sh%^#$t" said in a long drawn out way without much emotion. That is what grandma used to say and our family says it often and affectionately when things aren't going right.

 

[jaqjaqjaq]

"Well sh%^#$t" said in a long drawn out way without much emotion. That is what grandma used to say and our family says it often and affectionately when things aren't going right.

I had to say this out loud and with a southern accent!

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Strange as it may seem, I don't sit at my computer with a list of well-known misattributed quotes, waiting to pounce. That would be dickish. And quixotic:
XKCD - Duty Calls.
I check only the ones that jump out as implausible.



I was delighted that you said correctly that it wasn't a Chinese curse. But now I check, it seems that though Terry Pratchett did say it, he was not the originator:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/12/18/live/
It seems that it had been floating around at least since the 1930s, possibly much earlier.

An interesting response to 'may you live in interesting times' is Harry Lime's speech from The Third Man: “In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

[For pedants, cuckoo clocks originated in Bavaria, not Switzerland.]

We all know, or should, that the net is full of misattributed quotes. The solution is simple. If you like the thought, but cannot verify the claimed author, just give the quote without attribution. Or cover your backside with 'attributed to'. Great thoughts should be able to stand on their own, without being misattributed to great people.

Don't say that. I wouldn't call it dickish at all.
I love things of this kind, so I find them little factoid treasures.
Quotes are a funny thing. Words are wind.
I think just about everything has been said, several times, by several people, in their own unique ways over history. We've been around a long time.
The beauty is it stays profound. Whether we get the actual nuance, though, well...
As long as they say it in a unique way and have proof of such, I give credit.

I did not include those because these attributions are debatable.
People also credit J.F. Kennedy for it in the 60's.
They also do this for some diplomat in the 1930's.

I think in reality it's much older, and there is a Chinese proverb that's similar.

Who knows.

We are famous for misinterpreting the meaning of the original!

The quote as I find and use it in it's entirety came from Mr. Russell, so I will always attribute the whole quote to him as he's the first to string it that way.

My favorite quote absurdity.

Never believe everything you read on the internet
~Abraham Lincoln

Attributed to some cheeky dink on the internet.

 

[Starstruck8]

Further down the rabbit hole. It's a warren...

The quote as I find and use it in it's entirety came from Mr. Russell, so I will always attribute the whole quote to him as he's the first to string it that way.

I've found this from 'Duncan H. Munro' (pseudonym of Eric Frank Russell):
"For centuries the Chinese used an ancient curse: 'May you live in interesting times!' It isn't a curse any more. It's a blessing. We're scientific and civilized. We've got so many rights and liberties and freedoms that one can yearn for chains for the sheer pleasure of busting them and shaking them off. Reckon life would be more livable if there were any chains left to bust." [Astounding Science Fiction, April 1950, 'U-Turn', p137]
https://ia601204.us.archive.org/29/...pe1736/Astounding_v45n02_1950-04_cape1736.pdf

This seems much like the 'traditional' version and a fair way from the delightful "May you live in interesting times and come to the attention of important people, and may the gods give you everything you ask for." So is there some other Russell story, or is there some more 'missing links'?

Quotes are a funny thing. Words are wind.
I think just about everything has been said, several times, by several people, in their own unique ways over history. We've been around a long time.
The beauty is it stays profound. Whether we get the actual nuance, though, well...

Beautiful and true.

 

[empliau]

It's not inspirational, but it is jewelry-adjacent, and I just love that lush verse drama language:

Whether we fall by ambition, blood or lust,
Like diamonds we are cut with our own dust. (Webster, Duchess of Malfi)

 

[missy]

 

[missy]

 

[canuk-gal]

Don't say that. I wouldn't call it dickish at all.
I love things of this kind, so I find them little factoid treasures.
Quotes are a funny thing. Words are wind.
I think just about everything has been said, several times, by several people, in their own unique ways over history. We've been around a long time.
The beauty is it stays profound. Whether we get the actual nuance, though, well...
As long as they say it in a unique way and have proof of such, I give credit.

I did not include those because these attributions are debatable.
People also credit J.F. Kennedy for it in the 60's.
They also do this for some diplomat in the 1930's.

I think in reality it's much older, and there is a Chinese proverb that's similar.

Who knows.

We are famous for misinterpreting the meaning of the original!

The quote as I find and use it in it's entirety came from Mr. Russell, so I will always attribute the whole quote to him as he's the first to string it that way.

My favorite quote absurdity.

Never believe everything you read on the internet
~Abraham Lincoln

Attributed to some cheeky dink on the internet.

LOLOS you've got some balls........halir!!!!!!!!!!

 

[missy]

 

[missy]

 

[missy]

 

[LilAlex]

^ Finally, a metric by which I'm successful!

 

[Starstruck8]

I feel awkward saying this, but... this seems to be another misattributed quote. It seems to be adapted from a poem by Bessie Anderson Stanley:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Anderson_Stanley

Here is a comment from a lover of Emerson:
https://avidly.lareviewofbooks.org/2019/08/27/on-fake-emerson-quotes/
She says,"...but it also makes me feel like such a failed teacher of nineteenth-century American literature. We’ve read so much Emerson together by this point, usually near the end of the semester. How can my students not realize that Emerson couldn’t have said that?" And that's the more polite bit.

It's still a great thought. Despite what I've said, I sincerely don't want to discourage people from posting inspiring or thought-provoking sayings. But it's wise to check the attributions, so as not to perpetuate error.

 

[LilAlex]

^ As Pete Townsend famously sang, "Every sentence in my head | Someone else has said."

I was going to say "wrote," but then I did my @Starstruck8-inspired due-diligence and saw that the song was actually written by John Entwistle.

But I have a feeling I'm about to learn a little more...

 

[missy]

I feel awkward saying this, but... this seems to be another misattributed quote. It seems to be adapted from a poem by Bessie Anderson Stanley:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Anderson_Stanley

Here is a comment from a lover of Emerson:
https://avidly.lareviewofbooks.org/2019/08/27/on-fake-emerson-quotes/
She says,"...but it also makes me feel like such a failed teacher of nineteenth-century American literature. We’ve read so much Emerson together by this point, usually near the end of the semester. How can my students not realize that Emerson couldn’t have said that?" And that's the more polite bit.

It's still a great thought. Despite what I've said, I sincerely don't want to discourage people from posting inspiring or thought-provoking sayings. But it's wise to check the attributions, so as not to perpetuate error.

lol and thank you. I meant it when I said please continue to correct any misquotes. I honestly don’t have the energy or patience to check all the quotes and I’m glad you’re on the case
I never remember the famous person whose quotes I love anyway. I wish I could blame old age but lol I was always like this.

Speaking of Emerson this is a wise quote.
Even if he didn’t say it lol

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”

^ As Pete Townsend famously sang, "Every sentence in my head | Someone else has said."

I was going to say "wrote," but then I did my @Starstruck8-inspired due-diligence and saw that the song was actually written by John Entwistle.

But I have a feeling I'm about to learn a little more...

Ha. Is anything truly original? Reminds me of the infamous copying thread on PS

 

[missy]

 

[Karl_K]

Used by people who think their opinions are facts.
99.9999999999999999999999% of facts on the internet are opinions not fact.
There are no facts on the news, it is all opinion.

 

[missy]

Used by people who think their opinions are facts.
99.9999999999999999999999% of facts on the internet are opinions not fact.
There are no facts on the news, it is all opinion.

Exactly. It is why I do not watch the "news" anymore...none of the reporting is unbiased. NONE of it. IMO

 

[missy]

 

[RunningwithScissors]

My maternal grandmother used to say something that I agree with wholeheartedly. I'm sure it wasn't original to her, but more of a saying from her time. She grew up on a farm in Kansas during the Great Depression and knew the value of high-quality, nutritious food:

"You either pay the grocer/farmer, or you pay the doctor."

The other one she used to say was "There's a lid for every pot", (meaning for each of us there is someone who fits us).

 

[missy]

Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand - and melting like a snowflake.

 

[missy]

 

[missy]