The power of a quotation I feel comes less from the concise intelligent message that it conveys as much as it does from the authority of the author. Imagine your reaction when you read “ it’s a miracle that curiosity survives education”. “ Really? And I always thought education makes you think” would be a normal thought to cross your mind. Then your eyes find Albert Einstein signed beneath. Can you still disagree with him and that too about education? The bloke who knew so much must be knowing when he said that. You are left with no choice but to agree with the gentleman, wondering how mankind lost the opportunity of getting to know so many more theories just by educating this one man. A complete colossal loss.
The weight of the name does matter, I say so because I remember a particularly non-technical introductory class I took in which after a few planned gimmicks to make the subject and the teacher appear cool everyone introduced themselves, essentially a fun class doing nothing. The next day, since I have the habit of writing a recap of the previous class , I wrote “There is never enough time to do all the nothings you want” . Not even a buzz. I went on to write “Bill Watterson” under those words and that was plain magic. The Calvin in everyone was let loose and the whole class beat the life out of the wooden desks in appreciation.
The other day trying to make a point with a group of colleagues about a grave injustice that was being done, I was stumped when someone responded with two dohas by Kabir. Before I could deal with the fact that Kabir was on the other side, the perpetrator of what I perceived as grave injustice quoted Gandhi. I gasped for breath, my memory failed me, I just couldn’t think of a quotation that could take on Mahatma. Someone in my support pointed out to me “don’t argue with fools, they will bring you down to their level and beat you with the experience”. Another friend said “even the devil can quote the scriptures for his own purpose”. But with no big names and only two ‘anonymous’ on our side we stood absolutely no chance. My argument and I were completely lost in quotations.
1 comment:
Quotations are self-serving at the best. I have used the same ones in completely different contexts and they still make perfect sense to me and served my purpose. I generally find irreverence to be the best way to deal with (perceived) jerks and their ilk. This way I find some entertainment in many life's trying situations.
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