22 August 2010

Sayings

Whenever you fall, pick up something”.


“By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends”.

“Virginity is only a lack of opportunity”. 

“Experience is the comb that nature gives us when we are bald”. 

“The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful & has nobody to thank”.

You must have had a diary that has a quote at the bottom of every page. Or maybe seen these famous lines in email signatures. The quotable quotes, the sayings.

How do people come up with such one-liners that find their way into your heart? Expressing the essence of human life in one poignant line. I consider it a work of genius. Is it a lightning flash of brilliance or do you actually sit down & decide to write stuff like that & then think & think & pen down the lines one by one? It amazes me. To such an extent that back in high school, I used to even read two books called Wisdom and Quotable Quotes. Yaaaa! I even subscribed to Quotes once because a 6 month subscription to it was for like Rs 20/-.

Quotes are a favorite with educators. After all, they become easy choices as topics for essay writing contests. Who needs to break their heads over what topic to give, that will engage the students for 30 minutes when, all you’ve to do is, throw one of these heavy duty lines at them & they will sit there scratching their brains. It’s also the favorite of orators who insert these gems of wisdom in their speech for effect & applause.

I even sat myself down yesterday & said, “Look, you gotta write some intelligent lines. Now”. An hour later, I came up with a bland line like “Work smart & you will succeed in life”. Argh! Not my cup of tea. Actually, I have noticed that most everything is not my cup of tea. In spite of an M.A in English Literature, I couldn’t pen down a few impressive quotes. How pathetic!

This “write a saying” exercise is doing my 33 year old heart no good. What an ass am i! I aint no God. I can’t create beautiful flowers or animals or fish like Him. I can only enjoy them. Well, so it is with my love for sayings. I can only enjoy what the smart ones have written & left behind.

17 comments:

  1. “Virginity is only a lack of opportunity”.
    Pehehehe.......Now thats one opportunity which the opposite sex dies for....where older men can give millions to have.hehehheh...
    “The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful & has nobody to thank”.Absolutely true Suji.
    You know how do you get these quotes? When you have been down a certain path or in the dumps and all alone,you get pissed and blurt out stuff.And if you're really listening,you say," Oh crap ! Did that intelligent line just fly out of my mouth? " I have written only 2and they are somewhere on facebook.So thats not intelligent...Its your soul trying to speak out and instead of you hearing it within ,you blurt it out and then ponder over it.

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  2. Winners Never Quit;Quitters Never Win....one of my fav quotes :-)

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  3. interesting...have you read my old post "http://sushmaspage.blogspot.com/2011/04/me-books-and-few-quotes.html

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  4. Sujatha..now even I got to say something too..
    - Money,Attitude and Ego are like underwear...u shud have it but u shud never show it..unless u r Superman....!!
    btw.. nice post!!keep writing..keep posting :)

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  5. @Suzaan: truly it must be the soul speaking out

    @Pradeep: me too seen that one

    @sush: ya i did just now n posted a comment too

    @Himanshu: LOL -- good one there

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  6. There are so many quotes which I read and appreciate.
    'This too shall pass' is my favorite quotation.
    All others have taken this quote literally and they have passed out of my memory!

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  7. @Sahana: i remember that one - the story goes dat it was said to a famous king who wanted something he'd use in both gud n bad times. lovely words!

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  8. “By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends”. So true!!! Somebody send me some money! Quick ;-)

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  9. Following are some of my favourite quotes:

    "For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can." -Hemingway

    "You can wipe out your opponents. But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for being wiped out yourself." -Hemingway

    So on and so forth. I liked the one about experience. Good post.

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  10. @uspandey: nice quotes.
    is it a coincidence that both are from Hemingway? btw, Hemingway's Old Man & the Sea is my all time fav book

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  11. Guess the third post of yours I am commenting in line :) Your posts are short for a quick read and the topics are original.

    “Virginity is only a lack of opportunity”.
    LOL!! When you dont care of what you are actually saying, things like these do come out.

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  12. No, that's not a coincidence and I love Hemingway. Old Man and the Sea is a great work. Although most of Hemingway's books moved meA Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls did more. The Sun Also Risese is a subtle book.

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  13. I have heard a few of these before, but most of them are new to me. Was confused among a few to choose my favorite and chose the first one as the best one finally. :)

    "Whenever you fall, pick up something!" - I will try to do that but I can't guarantee. What i can guarantee is that i will tell people to do that even if i can't do. That's the biggest success a saying can get, right? :)

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  14. @Nandhini: thanks for your sweet comment Nandhini.

    @uspandey: hmm need to revisit some of those titles.

    @Bharathiraja: haha no pressure to choose :)
    yes, people doing it is a success for a saying

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  15. Priceless gems- these sayings ! They add spice to what we read and write. To understand and enjoy these sayings is no mean task !
    So what, if we can't invent some ourselves !

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    1. right on - so what if we cant invent some ourselves - :D we can always enjoy those penned by others :)

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