Tuesday Tidbits: “I’ll take Quotable Quotes for 500 Alex.”

Do you like quotes? I’m not talking about the punctuation marks— although they are adorable—or the sarcastic remarks we make out loud accompanied by air bunnies, but the little soundbites usually taken out of context to inspire, motivate, or confound. Many “quotes” (see what I did there?) get changed because, like a game of Telephone, the words get misheard.

Quotes make great posters—especially if there is a kitten on it—or coffee mugs. One second…scratch that. Let’s start again: Quotes look good on posters and on coffee mugs (that’s better).

Type in “famous quotes” into your favorite search engine (I can guess what it is with 90% certainty) and you will find many sites to choose from. Most quotes do come from famous people only because their words are most often recorded.

Now some quotes may seem quite insightful on first reading, but upon closer inspection, really don’t make sense. Quotes can make you seem smart for a few moments: “I am so smart. SMRT.” Quotes can remove all responsibility—“Don’t quote me on this, but…”. Some people have quotes that they like to live by. Whenever someone asks me what my favorite quote is, I tell them this:

“Commitment is doing what you said you would do, long after the mood you said it in has gone.”*

I wouldn’t consider it a tenet I live by because most of the time I forget about it, but I think it makes a great serving suggestion.

Sometimes, I think that I have written an original quote only to find out it is not. I will end off today with a quote that I know I wrote (you may have seen it at the bottom of my website):

“You may think that I am bitter, but I’m not. I’m tangy” – Leon Stevens

Do you have a favorite quote?

-Leon

^{*Five points if you can credit this quote.}

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/