On Quotes
I thought about compiling my favorite quotes. It was one of those thoughts that hits you in the side of the head like a foul ball into the nacho line. The pool of quotes is infinite. Every second, more quotes are born than anyone could ever sort through. This spectacular idea got very overwhelming. As quickly as it arrived, I was over it.
“That’s a stupid fucking idea” -myself to myself.
What was I going to do, make a booklet and keep it under my pillow? Read myself sweet, inspiring little nuggets before bed each night? Maybe I’d scribble them in my pathetic penmanship and pin them into a cork-board. A glorious wall of motivating quotes. I could fold them before I pinned them up. That way I could unravel them like prophetic Asian cookies without the calories or MSG. It could be a morning ritual. Bukowski, Hunter S. Thompson, Martin Luther King Jr., Bob Marley, A.C. Slater. No limit to this project. I would be the subjective judge jury and Post-It calligrapher. Deciding which quotes are worthy and which are not.
It wouldn’t work. It couldn’t work. My mind doesn’t work in a linear fashion. It’s attention deficit and pinball and aggravation. All I have to do is look back at quotes I posted in the past. The content varies wildly. Each line subjective and stained with the stink of whatever mood I happened to be in at the time. No theme. No obvious value structure. If I was broken hearted, the quotes were gloomy and pathetic. There were angry song lyrics. Intellectual tidbits that I always almost understood.
The biggest pitfall of my brilliant idea was the fact that a quote might be life altering on Monday. It might be so insightful and in tune with the current state of the world. And on Tuesday — that same quote might be a grammatically incorrect rambling from a mediocre Bon Jovi song.
There are plenty of powerful quotes. So powerful that girls have them tattooed onto their ribcage. Boys prefer more public real estate, chest and forearms. There might be more to that. Maybe the placement of a quote tattoo is directly related to the content of the quote. Someone needs to do a study on this. Bible quote tattoos are done primarily on the back. That way you aren’t constantly confronted with them, but can constantly be preaching to the person behind you. Love quotes go on the ribcage, close to the heart. Angry quotes on the knuckles, knees, shins. Simple, standard quotes of five or less syllables on the outside of the wrist or around the ankle. Neck tattoos aren’t generally quotes, but I’m sure that region has a genre as well.
The same way your tattooed skin will eventually sag and wrinkle, perspectives, mindsets, beliefs — it all changes. That’s why quotes are used like emojis. How do I feel now? Empowered, rebellious…go with something by Rosa Parks or Che Guevara. Sad? Use song lyrics. Just know that tomorrow that sentence might be greatly depreciated. It won’t lose all of its punch, but it won’t be as precise and powerful as it was last year, when you found it at sunset, scratched into the back of a public bus seat.
Don’t get me wrong. I like quotes as much as the next guy. (None with enough confidence to brand myself with.) Some quotes obviously transcend time and mood. They work in any weather. They can be translated into dozens of languages and still hold their voltage. They can shift the course of peoples lives.
Imagine that. Writing some series of words, in a journal, in a book, in a bathroom stall, and having those words jolt someone into action. Or even inaction. Maybe it only created a minor spark, an idea. It made some doofus consider, briefly, building a collection of quotes.