Quote Me

I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized
wiser than oneself.

Marlene Dietrich
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Hello Lily
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Anyone who is a regular reader of my blog, Vagabond Journeys, knows that the short bottle cap version of my philosophy of life is :NEVER GIVE UP. One year in New York City when I was suffering from my hip and leg problem I bought a wooden cane to help me get around. I took it to a master carpenter and had him inscribe that three work phrase down the front of the cane. When I was sitting down where people could read it, on the bus or subway, I got a lot of interesting comments about it, most of them very positive.

At another time I wore a button I found someplace which read: REAL LIFE ISN'T LIKE THIS. That button generated more inane remarks than you can imagine. I still have it. Although the Yogi Berra style philosophy of the words is undeniable, I don't wear it any more.

I have 112 pages of quotations, gathered from my voracious reading, which I use as openers for my journal entries, such as the one from Marlene Dietrich above. Each one usually starts my head spinning right away with similar complementary thoughts, so I start writing and several paragraphs later I have a journal entry for your entertainment and mine.

The sad part is I can never say everything I want to say about any topic in one journal edition or it would be so long and cumbersome it would bore both of us and never get read. And so I also keep a paper journal, books filled with random, rambling thoughts about this and that. I've been writing those for years. Some of them have gotten lost, purple prose never to be read. Alas.

But Marlene is correct. If I come up with something I think is a good idea I can usually find some sage or wit who has expressed it better. And when I do I will use it, with proper credit of course, to generate my own thoughts. And I guess I have done some original thinking on my watch. I am the one who invented the saying, "They can steal my fish but they can't steal my ocean" and don't let anyone tell you differently. If you want a look at some of my orignals check out Vagabond Jottings
http://vagabondjottings.blogspot.com/

And speaking of fishnapping, I have even had some of my own thoughts come back to me in disguise, labeled "an old saying," just to keep me humble. But no matter where it comes from of who said it first, inscribed on a cane, written on a button or from the world's great literature, if it rings your bell write it down and use it.

Dana Bate - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up
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