I almost never start new topics, but I've always been a fan of memorable or thought-provoking quotes and would like to get some from other posters. Here's the one that made me want to start this:

"Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite."
--John K Galbraith

"A champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion, when no one else is looking"

"Change your language, change your life."

It's been my mantra for several years now, thought it up myself, but yes, heavily influenced by pop psychology, Oprah, and all those religious broadcasters trying to make a buck.

From Mae West ...

"You want to live my life? Pay My Rent!" - Aunt Josephine (actress Nan Martin) making an appearance on "Valerie" on NBC back in the '80's.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT LINE!

Another favorite of mine is from "Dynasty". Blake Carrington to his lawyer Andrew Laird "The only good friend is a dead enemy!"

"Challenges are what makes life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful."

One of my favorites...

[ March 24, 2005, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: vballer7x2 ]

"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

I've always found this to be a bracing wake-up call. I read it in “The New York Times” years ago but have no idea whom I'm quoting.

"You'll live a whole life in the presence of lovers yet never know love. Many millions of humans, for thousands of years, have done just that. Expect no pity. Bear your load."

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
Classic!

Tempus edax rerum

(Time: the devourer of all things)

"The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be sure they have some pretty annoying virtues." -- Elizabeth Taylor

"They talk of my drinking, but never my thirst."

I've always found this to be a bracing wake-up call. I read it in “The New York Times” years ago but have no idea whom I'm quoting.

"You'll live a whole life in the presence of lovers yet never know love. Many millions of humans, for thousands of years, have done just that. Expect no pity. Bear your load."

[ March 26, 2005, 11:54 AM: Message edited by: dwb56 ]

[ March 26, 2005, 05:06 PM: Message edited by: StPtGator ]

God save me from my friends. I can protect myself from my enemies. --Martin Luther

"If you don't toot your own horn, somebody might use it as a spittoon."

Sorry, double post

[ March 26, 2005, 11:54 AM: Message edited by: dwb56 ]

An absolutely brillant quote. That's one of my favorites. By the way, that was a quote by UNC women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance to legend Mia Hamm.

Some of my other favorites:

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES."- Nike ad

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

From the Velveteen Rabbit



[ April 01, 2005, 01:21 PM: Message edited by: Allen ]

"You know I love you more than my luggage."

"Cause I know you like rabbits; and I know you like cheese."

Those who are willing to sacrifice liberty for temporary safety, deserve neither liberty, nor safety....Ben Franklin

"...or was it a run to the cut crystal punch bowl...it was the Cotton Bowl Sister Woman"

Shakers "Winter" vodka has me mourning my lost childhood in the current split second of alcohol induced honesty. So taking a trip down memory lane with The Power Of lard E.P. I just might have to quote some Swans. Time to melt.

"now i've got nothing to look at, and i've got no pain to deny, and i've got no body to bleed for, and i've got no sun to pull down from the sky, but i'm saved, yeah i'm saved, and i don't understand it, but i'm saved.
if mercy were to hold me closely, and hide me in her place of no pain, the angels would throw down the water, they cried from one hundred million eyes, and I have a feeling that's growing, somewhere behind my sleeping mind, i'm saved, yeah i'm saved, i don't know why, but i'm saved.
when sunlight falls on your shoulder, you look like a creature from heaven, you're holy when you open your eyes, and look up inside that sheltering sky, you're an angel, i'll never betray you, but i'll always be a lonely child, still i'm saved, yeah i'm saved, and i don't deserve it but i'm saved."
"saved" from the Swans "Burning World" release.

"Micron by micron my flesh starts to melt.
All that's left is brain and bones.
Hot beams on the cool wet sand.
Bury me - with the help of the wind and the waves."

LARD "TimeTo Melt."

Exceptional vodka :cool:

"Lard is in control. Lard whips and chains our soul."

My favorites.

The country’s moral values, far from changing, seem to remain unnaturally constant.
Joe Orton, The Good and Faithful Servant

I believe I once considerably scandalized her by declaring that clear soup was a more important factor in life than a clear conscience.
Saki

No matter which sex I went to bed with, I never smoked on the street.
Florence King, Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady (1985)

I’m tired, I’m tired of the truth and I’m tired of lying about the truth.
Edward Albee, The Death of Bessie Smith

Alcohol sobers me. After a few swallows of brandy I no longer think of you.
Marguerite Yourcenar, Fires (1935)

My two favorite quotes...

COMMON SENSE IS NOT SO COMMON.

WE ALL DIDN'T GET HERE BY THE SAME SHIP, BUT WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT.

The second one may not be word for word, but the thought behind it is GREAT!

When I first came out, I was continually agonizing over what everyone would think about me. A friend of mine threw this uncredited quote in my face, which helped put it all in perspective, that cold cold day, when the world, I swore, would end.

"Those who continually worry what others must think of them, should find solace in the discovery that they rarely do."

"We must overcome the notion that we must be regular. It robs you of your chance to be extraordinary"

said by stage and film actress Uta Hagen. I have no clue as to whom she was, but I really enjoyed the inspiration behind the quote.

A quote from the book "The Lord Won't Mind".

"If it's love, the lord won't mind, cuz there's too much hate in this ole world already"

"Wagner was right. Verdi was right. They were both right!" -- Arturo Toscanini

"I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men and German to my horse." -- Emperor Charles V

"Love is, essentially, only for the very stupid or the very poor." -- Somerset Maugham

Edited because, well, shit. If I'm gonna quote somebody, I gotta get it right.

[ April 04, 2005, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: Jerzoid ]

Keep your words sweet.. you might have to eat them.

"You're not too bright are you....I like that in a man" --Kathleen Turner

A quote I have posted in my cubicle.

"AHHHHH, I see the f**k up fairy has visited us once again."

And one in the bathroom at the cottage, "Attn Government: Men are meant to be hard, NOT tax returns".

Don't recall which novel this comes from, perhaps one by John Barth, but it's stayed with me for years:

"While it is true that no man is an island, many a man lives his life as an isthmus or periphery."

~Adam

One of my favorites!

Also: "When you get to the goal line, act like you've been there before." - Bear Bryant

Green Day was on VH1 Storytellers this past weekend performing their entire cd AMERICAN IDIOT...

Audience Member: Do you think every person who voted for Bush is an American Idiot?
Billie Joe Armstrong: No, of course not. Just a misinformed idiot.

A few bon mots from McCourt's Queer Street:

"Gaga's life is an open book ... fallen off the remainder table."

"It's more than an easy metaphor, darling, flute playing. Only when you have mastered double tonguing and flutter tonguing, and not before, are you ready to open for business."

(A)"Nietzsche. Didn't Nietzsche invent Superman?" ("Yes, he did, darling, you're quite right -- everything but the cape; Travis Banton invented that."

(A3) "I get vertigo in the Ramble, dear -- all those precipitous declivities." ... (B3) "Hitchcock is out at Universal making a picture called just that." (A3) "Precipitous Declivities?" (B3)"No, you idiot, Vertigo."

"If. The middle word in Life."

"'I f**ked his brains out ... I f**ked his brains out.' He kept on insisting like that. 'Really," I finally said back, 'hardly the work of an evening, was it? How did you pass the rest of the time you'd purchased -- reading to him aloud from Huckleberry Finn?'"

"When young, all living things are passionate, and their passionate hope of mastering the world is what makes them attractive; especially to predators."

"...concerning the queer American dream. If the dream of ...every straight American boy is to stand one day tall at a podium, outdoors ... in the nation's capital, freezing his ass off in January and declare, 'I do solemnly swear ... to protect, defend' - whatever ... then so help me God, the dream of every red-blooded American queer is to stand indoors halfway up a townhouse staircase in a black taffeta Edith Head gown and bark, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night!'"

Until this day I will never forget the quote/line from actress Christine Baranski's character on the show Sybil. There was this question asked by Sybil if Christine's character would rather have sex with Ross Perot or have sex with the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Christine's character didn't even bat an eye before saying to Sybil... "Well, do the monkeys bite?"

Every time me and my partner are comparing anything gross to, well anything even grosser, we say "Well, do the monkeys bite?" and we both laugh our asses off.

I know, I know.... inside jokes just don't translate well into written word.

[ April 05, 2005, 12:16 PM: Message edited by: gadbearr ]