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OP And yet of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
My father collected books of quotations. He never wrote anything without some added sparkle, clarity, expertise, or humour from the past. Quotations illustrated and, in his eye, validated his opinion. He took great care with his selection. I think it's my fondest memory of him. At family or other gatherings he was often asked to speak. He took the task, no matter how small, very seriously. His delivery would be ponderous because of diffidence, but he was always able to get his audience to laugh, and, as toward the end funerals became more frequent, cry.
I kept many of his books of quotations. I couldn't keep them all because I live across an ocean. My sisters expected me to send the lot to Half Price Books, but I couldn't give them up.
I do love a well-placed quotation or allusion. A bad one is an abomination. Better never to have quoted at all. I prefer mine from the books I have read myself, but it's not a hard and fast rule.
How long is a ball of string? Like the Apprentice's broom, Frankenstein's enquiry or Phaedrus' hypotheses, the search for one quotation can lead you on an ever widening gyre. At first the flesh might be strong, but the soul will weary.
As my father often said, 'There's no substitute for common sense.'
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Quotations Christine W 10/26/09 09:13 AM Re: Quotations latishya 10/26/09 09:43 AM Re: Quotations Faldage 10/26/09 10:24 AM Re: Quotations Christine W 10/26/09 10:26 AM Re: Quotations BranShea 10/26/09 11:38 AM Re: Quotations tsuwm 10/26/09 08:01 PM Re: Quotations BranShea 10/26/09 08:36 PM Re: Quotations olly 10/26/09 09:23 PM Re: Quotations BranShea 10/27/09 11:16 PM Re: Quotations TheFallibleFiend 10/26/09 09:53 PM No end Christine W 10/27/09 01:52 AM Re: No end Jackie 10/27/09 02:39 AM Re: No end BranShea 10/27/09 11:37 AM Re: No end Faldage 10/27/09 10:38 PM Re: No end zmjezhd 10/28/09 03:07 AM Re: No end Christine W 10/28/09 08:35 AM Re: No end Faldage 10/28/09 10:26 AM Re: No end zmjezhd 10/28/09 10:29 AM Re: No end LukeJavan8 10/28/09 04:59 PM Re: Quotations latishya 10/26/09 07:43 PM Re: Quotations zmjezhd 10/26/09 11:26 PM Re: Quotations latishya 10/27/09 12:00 AM Re: Quotations Christine W 10/27/09 08:45 AM Re: Quotations latishya 10/27/09 08:49 AM Re: Quotations Christine W 10/28/09 08:43 AM
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