What is everyones favorite Quote?

[marutidas]

Mine is from Richard the 3rd by William Shakespeare
...." But then I sigh; and, with a piece of Scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
And thus I clothe my naked villany
With old odd ends stolen forth from holy writ;
And seem a Saint when most I play the Devil".

Leave the name of the person If you know it,
I just like to see how quoting infulences people.

[Emproph]

The measure of a mind’s evolution is it’s acceptance of the unacceptable.

-Thea Alexander

[Jennifer5]

Isn't impossible to pick just one....

Every gun that was made, every rocket fire launched, every shot fired signifies, in a final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.

The demand for equal rights in every vocation of life is just and fair; but, after all, the most vital is the right to love and be loved.

What kind of victory is it when someone is left defeated?

We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.
-Martin Luther King Jr.

We 'skate to close' because deep inside us we all want to be know and accepted as we really are, but fear keeps us from revealing ourselves. We even hope to be discovered, but fear it at the same time.

People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.

Why is it, that as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding gun, than holding hands?

There can only be division if love doesn't come first.

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not. -One of the people on the forums (sorry can't think who..)

When one believes in love as the Truth, hatred and harming other is the enemy. -Patrick(Emproph)

Ok, I'm really sorry that's 11 not 1... I love quotes...

[btw]

...quoting without cites! Good stuff, but who said 'em? What, I'm gonna have to Google 'em all myself?!?

Also, without intending offense (in my first post, no less...) and with all due respect to the silver-tongued among the membership, "Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not" was George Bernard Shaw, later cribbed, somewhat clumsily ("Some men look at things the way they are and ask why? I dream of things that are not and ask why not?") by Robert F. Kennedy (who very likely cited Shaw - we can be quite sure he read Shaw - but should have quoted word for word - "...are not and ask why not" is sooooooo clunky).

Just to play devil's advocate, one of my (many) faves:

"Trust the tale." - D.H. Lawrence

But my all-time topper, light, whimsical and utterly lacking in gravitas though it may be, which isn't to make any apologies for it, mind you, it's perfectly capable of standing on its own two feet, and indeed there may well be rather more to it than first meets the eye:

"Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be' - she always called me Elwood - 'In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me." - Elwood P. Dowd, Harvey

Are we having fun yet?

[btw]

Almost forgot...

"Are we having fun yet?" - Zippy the Pinhead

[Jennifer5]

...I don't know about the history of that quote or who said it or anything... so I don't know... I just like it

[Vortex]

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

Mahatma Gandhi

[Jennifer5]

that's a great one vortex

[marutidas]

How have these quotes changed your thinking, Is it merely that are said like a mantra or as a retort to someone who challenges you?

Those who think they are Wise, are truely Foolish.
(another of my favs)

[Jennifer5]

I'll use "We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams." as my quote... it has changed my thinking in a I guess smaller but very important way. I've always known that different was nothing bad and we're all different... but some how the wording there makes me feel more than ever that diversity is not just something that you 'accept' it's something you celebrate! Our differents are the very things that make us all amazing!

There are other quotes that hav changed my thinking more though... "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed(sp?) citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has." .....that quote just encourages me to keep doing those small little things to help change the world. For a couple years I was having a really hard time, and what I wanted more than anything was completely out of reach... I always wanted to fight for gay rights. I just never had any access to something I could do to actually help. When I foud that quote I started work on things... different power points and just small little things, that supported gay rights, that were all based on love and support for each other. Finally I found Soulforce... anyway, that quote still gives me hope for the future, one day this group (and others) will change the world! They have what it takes and can really work together as a group!

(once again I have rambled on 'sorry')

[Jennifer5]

My new favorite.

"We are known and hated for our love...and for no other reason. Had they themselves known Love, they would not have hated us, for they would have recognized the same Spirit that moved in them." -Dash

[suzer1013]

Originally Posted by btw;11591Also, without intending offense (in my first post, no less...) and with all due respect to the silver-tongued among the membership, "Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were and ask why not" was George Bernard Shaw, later cribbed, somewhat clumsily ("Some men look at things the way they are and ask why? I dream of things that are not and ask why not?") by Robert F. Kennedy (who very likely cited Shaw - we can be quite sure he read Shaw - but should have quoted word for word - "...are not and ask why not" is [I

sooooooo [/I]clunky).

That's interesting that RFK used it too! Actually, I first heard the quote in a speech by John F. Kennedy, not Robert. I had thought JFK penned it, but when I Googled it, it turned out it was Shaw. (Of course, many people wrote speeches for JFK. My partner has studied his life extensively, and probably knows what speech it came from and who actually wrote it. I'll have to defer to her expertise on that!) I first heard it in a theatre piece that is a one man show on JFK - - it was quite good, even though the actor didn't resemble JFK in the least. He had the voice and accent down perfectly, though!

Anyway, I've had it taped to my computer ever since!

Susan

[schoolboi]

see the quote on the bottom of all my posts

[Jennifer5]

Originally Posted by schoolboi

see the quote on the bottom of all my posts

and it is a great one

[Vanessa White]

Schooboi: You forgot to tell us how your fun quote has changed or influenced you or your life..... do tell!

I, like Jennifer, love quotes, I scribble them on paper, memorize, give them out as handouts at trainings, or send them to friends. I have many, but this one is one of my all time faves: (it is rather long, but worth it)

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God- Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us. It's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others." Nelson Mandela, from is Inaugural speech, 1994

Has this influenced me, and how? I feel like I live by this quote, that was given to me at a training that I attended four or so years ago. On days that I feel like I put myself out there way too much, I think about "who am I not to be" brilliant and gorgeous? And, that if I want to serve others and God in a way that is significant, I need to not shrink. I realize, in being fully myself, how deep my impact is on others, more in the last year of my life than ever. And it humbles me and fills me with great joy.

[Dash]

From C.S. Lewis:

"The process of living seems to consist in coming to realize truths so ancient and simple that, if stated, they sound like barren platitudes. They cannot sound otherwise to those who have not had the relevant experience: that is why there is no real teaching of such truths possible and every generation starts from scratch."
________________
Alas...I have forgotten from which book I took it. I read it years ago, and memorized it...though I had to resort to the internet to find it again and confirm the text. This is the trouble with relying too much on libraries for your reading material; once you've returned the book, you no longer have it for easy reference. Sigh...

The webpage on which I found it said it was from a letter to Dom Bede Griffiths, 8 May 1939, so perhaps I was reading an anthology of his letters. I'm not such a big fan of Lewis as I used to be, but would never doubt his wisdom. I just see more clearly now some of the limits of his understanding, and some edges where his insight fades into foggy speculation.

Anyway, the idea of "relevant experience" has always remained with me. In particular for us as queer people, whose experience with gender and sexuality transcends average heterosexual understanding, this quote points out to me the difficulty of sharing our understanding with the world. How can they have the relevant experience? I myself hated gay people...until I discovered that I was one of them. Then I hated myself for a long time, and finally I learned to love me...and my brothers and sisters.

Relevant experience taught me something so simple that, in various forms, it is the moral of most children's stories: "Step into the shoes of someone different than you, and you will learn to truly love them."

Lewis, in particular couldn't understand homosexuality which was "blank to his imagination." He was not really unkind about the issue, and was bothered by the intensity of Christian focus on it. Sex was to him one of the least important sins. He made a point of saying very little about this subject which he didn't really understand, for which I am grateful. Far too many Christians make bold proclamations in their ignorance, which only serve to obscure the simple truth.

[Daniel]

"There is no there there" Gertrude Stein

Stein was referring to her visit to California and her search for her childhood home, which it seems, she could not find. This quote is usually used as a sly comment by East Coasters when referring to LA, but I have always liked it for something else entirely. To me, it describes- abet in a personally crypic fashion- the Buddhist concept of Emptiness. Rather than seeing this as something negative, that is, a Nothingness, Emptiness has to do with the simple recognition that the more 'space' we can give our thoughts and feelings, the more they take on a spaciousness that is full of Presence (though, strictly speaking, Buddhists have no concept of an ultimate Deity) which many call love or compassion.

It comes into use when my beloved has annoyed me- or so I think- and I find myself caught up in a whirlwind of my own making.

Really Daniel. The dishes can really stay in the sink till morning. The world will not come to an end. Let go and love.

[BruceChris]

"Change is inevitable...Growth is optional."

"The Meaning of Life is Sex, Motorcycles, and CHOCOLATE!" -- Moi, when I was Much Younger. -- (I had a custom bumper sticker made with this on it)

9/3/06

-- BC

[marutidas]

" I must have earned very great merit, dear Hanuman, that I have been blessed with the sight of Sri Rama's own messenger. In one scale of the balance, dear son, put together the delights of heaven and the bliss of final beatitude; but they will all be outweighed by a moment's joy derived from communion with the saints.
From the Sunderkand, a chapter of the Ramayana.
Lakini to Hanuman, at the gates to Lanka

Is a quote is the beginning of a movement , the formation of wisdom given flesh? Does it matter where the wisdom came from? I believe it matters just that you were blessed such knowledge and the wisdom to temper it.

Truely, there is much wisdom collected here, passed down by word-of-mouth through the ages, and I have glimpst many a philsopher strung on this thread. And all coming to this place has taught me much I am blessed to have so many teachers wise beyond their years.

My I always be the Eternal Student, Never ceasing in my persuite of knowledge and more importantly, the wisdom to use it.

[Lydia]

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library -
Jorge Luis Borges