“My taste for quotation, which I have always kept—why reproach me for it? People, in life, quote what pleases them. Therefore, in our work, we have the right to quote what pleases us.”
– David Shields, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto
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“’Cause everybody wants some hope (oh, baby)
Something they can barely know (oh, baby)
And though my heart will break, there’s more than I could take
I can never let it go
It’s in the photograph
It’s in the photograph
It’s in the photograph of love.”
– Weezer, Photograph
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Reading second hand quotes is like looking at other people’s holiday photos.
It’s nice to read a nugget of wisdom. But it’s second hand knowledge. We weren’t there.
Reading a book is travelling for ourselves. We experience all the linking events that get us to the snapshots: the atmosphere, the full sensations.
The quotes we select from our reading are the quotes of our own memories.
A quote shared to us might invite us to travel to the destination mentioned. I will pick up the book if I want to see the view myself firsthand.
I don’t want anyone else to describe it for me. Just tell me what it was like. If it’s good enough to share, let me know and I might buy a ticket and travel there myself.
However, a single quote can provide us with hope – a destination that we might reach in the future. An instant recognition of something that could change our life.
In one quote, a snapshot, that creates an image with a thousand words, all telling us to explore for ourselves!
