A little more optimism coming up, hold on to your hats.
Now I’m all for quotations, anyone who knows me well will know this already but even I know where to draw the line. I use quotations as a way of saying things that I feel but in a better way, or as a way of deriving inspiration from what others have said. I very rarely use them as a form of empowerment. I use quotations such as “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years” as said by Abraham Lincoln which is clearly the words of a genius and I find that quote heavily inspiring. But what I try to avoid is silly little expressions like “Follow your heart” or “Follow your dreams”. They just annoy me, possibly because they’re over used and don’t actually provide me with any real advice . Kind of a problem for me because if I’m going to use or even appreciate a quote, it has to mean something.
As I said before I like to use quotes as a way of getting inspiration, I find that they help find a way of saying things that I couldn’t even dream of saying as poetically. So I would like to take this opportunity to share some of my favourite quotations and why they mean so much to me. Trust me this is just a few I thought of tonight, there are many more I could have used happily.
1. “It is a capital mistake to theorise before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.” -Sherlock Holmes – I think this applies quite well to today’s society because we do judge things before we know them fully, and it does lead to our opinions possibly being altered for the worse. It goes quit nicely with how I view an argument; you have to have evidence to back it up otherwise it is meaningless and weak.
2. “Is everything a joke to you?”
“Only the things that matter” -V for Vendetta – I love this quotes, purely for the fact that it is exactly how I view things on a daily basis. If you take things too seriously it makes life boring, sometimes you just need a little bit of fun. Also because I’ve seen people who take certain things too seriously and trust me, it does not look appealing in the slightest.
3. “You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world” – Fight Club – pretty much one of the greatest lines from a film I have ever heard. It just shows so well how we buy things to impress people despite the fact that our material possessions do not add to our personalities in any way. It just goes to show that what we do, is more important that what we have.
4. “I see the worst in people. I don’t need to look past seeing them to get all I need. I’ve built my hatreds up over the years, little by little” – Daniel Plainview, There will be Blood – Now this one means quite a lot to me because people always seem to think that I’m just a straight forward negative person, when I’m not. And if I am negative about something then it is for a good reason. And it’s quotes such as this that really show how we don’t have to like everything, if there’s something we don’t like then we shouldn’t have to pretend to like it.
5. “I am a perfectionist, who else is a perfectionist give us a cheer?” *massive cheer from audience* “yeah a fair few of you, the rest of you are annoying because you go around, you make mistakes and you drop things and you laugh about it because you think it’s part of life’s rich tapestry. It isn’t. You should be trying harder” – Jon Richardson – yes it’s pretty negative but I still like it because it shows how some people’s outlook on life causes problems for them. It shows how to have a happy life, you do need to put some form of effort in.
6. “Some Animals like Bats, Dolphins and Dogs can hear within the ultrasonic frequency, but no human can. No one can truly know what anyone thinks or feels. We’re all travelling under the radar. Undetected. And no one can do a thing about it” – Oliver Tate, Submarine – If I had to choose a quote that best described being a human being, this would be it. Both beautiful and thought provoking, it is a quote I hold very close to me.
And last but my no means least, one of my favourite quotations of all time. I’m afraid it does have a swear word in it, but I’ve blanked it out as best as possible so apologies in advance.
“You’re not a bad person. You’re a terrific person. You’re my favourite person, but every once in a while, you can be a real ****” – Bill, Kill Bill vol.2 – I love this for many reasons, but it is mainly for the sole reason that it sums up so many people I know. Because nobody is perfect that was always obvious, but to me I can tell if someone is a good person if they can admit they’re flaws. If somebody knows they’re not perfect and knows when they’re being an idiot, then I have a lot of respect for them.
I hope this hasn’t been too boring for anybody, I just thought it would be something different for me to try. I tried to be as positive as I can but I realise there was an element of pessimism in some of the quotes I used. Feel free to leave comments with some of your favourite quotes, I’ll be interested to see what you have to say, but above all I hope you have enjoyed reading this.
So until the next time; Au revoir.
Adam Lester. 