Words for the Wise
I am a bit of a word nut. I love them. In fact my love for them is so much a part of who I am that I used to, when I was a kid, read the dictionary to learn new words. I should confess that I sometimes still participate in this very nerdy activity. But, what can I say? I guess only something I’ve already said… which is, I love them. They can be beautiful, strange, hilarious, functional, mysterious, and so much more. There are so many vehicles for self expression available just by opening up a copy of Webster’s or browsing through one of my favorite sites, Dictionary.com. All those words, which are used to make sentences, paragraphs, and stanzas. It’s mind boggling and exciting at the same time. Think about it… each time a person puts some of those little buggers together, it’s a form of self expression that is solely unique. Every writer, every orator, uniquely using their own voice. It’s a wonderful thing.
I guess that’s why I love quotes, poetry, and all things literary. I love listening to all of those unique voices doing their own thing. Putting those linguistic puzzles together like only they, as the author, can. Which brings me to some quotes I ran across recently. Something about each of these struck me, and because this is my personal space to share words that have meaning to me, I’m going to put them out there.
“Imagination is a ship, and with it we may sail into uncharted waters, discover new lands and peoples, and finally reutrn home with the treasures of a world that we alone have seen.” ~author unknown (this quote was on a birthday card I recently gave to a friend)
“From this hour I ordain myself loosed of limits and imaginary lines.” ~Walt Whitman
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” ~Proust
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” ~Goethe
I also love movies and one of the reasons for that is, you guessed it, the writing… here are a couple of examples of some really good movie writing…
Lindsey: We all see what we want to see. Coffey looks and he sees Russians. He sees hate and fear. You have to look with better eyes than that. – The Abyss
William Parrish: Love is passion. Obsession. Someone you can’t live without. Someone you fall head over heels for. Find someone you can love like crazy, and will love you the same way back. Listen to your heart. No sense in life without this. To make the journey without falling deeply in love, you haven’t lived a life at all. You have to try, because if you haven’t tried, then you haven’t lived. – Meet Joe Black
Paul Varjak: You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.” You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself. – Breakfast at Tiffany’s
