Quotes Corner?

[Katie-Ellen]

Francis Bacon, 1561-1626:

I was thinking this morning about book titles that come from famous quotes. How about a quotes corner here?

I don't mean inspirational life quotes. I'm suggesting observational quotes, maybe used as titles or found in books.

For instance; Richard 111 has been highly topical in recent months, passionately so with people supporting the petition that he be interred as York Minster.

This morning I decided to re-read The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey.


This is an unusual novel, a whodunnit, a murder mystery. The question it asks is, did Richard 111 murder his nephews, or did someone else, Henry v11 for instance? I can't remember the exact detail which leads the detective character to conclude it wasn't Richard because it couldn't have been. I want to to see if that still holds up in light of any information discovered or re-discovered subsequently.

The title of the book is a truncation of ...

'Truth is rightfully named the daughter of Time, and not authority-' Francis Bacon, Statesman, Philisopher, Scientific Thinker, 'Father of Empirical Thinking.'


A related blog link, not mine : http://dibianchigirari.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/is-truth-daughter-of-time-of-white-boar.html

 

[AgentPete]

There are so many great historical sources to draw on for inspiration. When writers are stuck for titles, one of my first suggestion is to consult the Old Testament, esp psalms. Intense, powerful, archetypal language.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Writing is really a way of thinking -- not just feeling but thinking about things that are disparate, unresolved, mysterious, problematic or just sweet.
- Toni Morrison (1931)...
American novelist

 

[Steven McC]

I love a good quote - though most of the ones I seem to remember are political rather than literary.

'Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice...socialism without freedom is brutality and oppression'

Bakunin said that in the 19th century and (for me) sums up the politics of the century that followed.

 

[Steven McC]

There's tonnes of good quotes about writing as well:

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
- E. L. Doctorow

There’s no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money either.
- Robert Graves
​

 

[Steven McC]

And Alasdair Gray (with his tongue firmly in cheek):

'Art is the only work open to people who can't get along with others and still want to be special.'

 

[Jennifer Stone]

Alcohol won't solve your problems, but then again, neither will milk!

 

[Marc Joan]

There is a pleasure sure in being mad, which none but madmen know (Dryden). So my autobiography would be called 'The Pleasure Sure'.

 

[Marc Joan]

Another source of great quotations is one of my favourite pomes, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, as translated by Fitzgerald. Pretty much every line contains a gem. 'Awake, for Morning in the Bowl of Night/ Hath flung the Stone that puts the Stars to flight/ and Lo! the Hunter of the East hath caught/ The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light', etc, etc

 

[Marc Joan]

Oo, just remembered this one: 'A chicken is just a mechanism by which an egg produces another egg'--attributed to Max in 'The Discovery of Heaven', by Harry Mulisch.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Max, I hope, has a lesson coming to him.

 

[James Marinero]

A writer should never write about the extraordinary. That is for the journalist. - James Joyce.

I think that is the writer's equivalent of an artist painting a bowl of fruit.

 

[Karen Gray]

“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” - Winston Churchill

That one is my favorite for obvious reasons... but Because I love the man's work and he has inspired me to write the kind of thing I write... here are some of my fav George Orwell quotes...

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”

“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”

“- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
– Never use a long word where a short one will do.
– If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
– Never use the passive where you can use the active.
– Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
– Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.”

- GEORGE ORWELL

“He was conscious of nothing except the blankness of the page in front of him, the itching of the skin above his ankle, the blaring of the music, and a slight booziness caused by the gin.” - GEORGE ORWELL - 1984

 

[Karen Gray]

At the risk of looking pretentious, which is not my intention, I'm sharing a meaningful quote of my own. It means a lot to me because it speaks of the relationship between my husband and I through my main characters of my first novel. Anyway I am sharing it because of it's meaning.


‘Let me tell you something Evelynn once told me.’ She walked over to an old oak tree and bent one of the branches until it began to split, ‘You seem to think,’ she said, ‘that because something has been damaged, that it’s useless or cannot be trusted. Like this branch.’

‘You snapped it. I’m not really seeing your point.’

‘That’s because this is you,’ she said gesturing to the branch, ‘and I haven’t snapped it. It has begun to split. It isn’t broken.’

Mòrag found a nearby sapling. She striped long ribbons of its soft bark and brought them back to the damaged branch. ‘Tell me,’ she said as she wrapped the sapling ribbons around the wound, and then interlocked the end of the branch with the end of a higher limb, ‘what am I doing?’

‘You are supporting the branch… until it heals.’

‘I am the sapling,’ she said pointing to the young plant.

‘But you stripped it bare to fix the tree branch. It has no protection now.’

‘The tree overshadows and protects the sapling from the elements. Its bark will grow back, and until that time, it’s supporting the tree branch, which in turn is protecting it.’ She placed a hand on his shoulder and held his gaze, ‘Understand, and move forward.’

- Karen Gray - For King and Country

 

[Jennifer Stone]

At the risk of looking pretentious, which is not my intention, I'm sharing a meaningful quote of my own. It means a lot to me because it speaks of the relationship between my husband and I through my main characters of my first novel. Anyway I am sharing it because of it's meaning.


‘Let me tell you something Evelynn once told me.’ She walked over to an old oak tree and bent one of the branches until it began to split, ‘You seem to think,’ she said, ‘that because something has been damaged, that it’s useless or cannot be trusted. Like this branch.’

‘You snapped it. I’m not really seeing your point.’

‘That’s because this is you,’ she said gesturing to the branch, ‘and I haven’t snapped it. It has begun to split. It isn’t broken.’


Mòrag found a nearby sapling. She striped long ribbons of its soft bark and brought them back to the damaged branch. ‘Tell me,’ she said as she wrapped the sapling ribbons around the wound, and then interlocked the end of the branch with the end of a higher limb, ‘what am I doing?’

‘You are supporting the branch… until it heals.’

‘I am the sapling,’ she said pointing to the young plant.

‘But you stripped it bare to fix the tree branch. It has no protection now.’

‘The tree overshadows and protects the sapling from the elements. Its bark will grow back, and until that time, it’s supporting the tree branch, which in turn is protecting it.’ She placed a hand on his shoulder and held his gaze, ‘Understand, and move forward.’

- Karen Gray - For King and Country

Lovely sentiment and i like your writing style, i would love to read your work

 

[Karen Gray]

Lovely sentiment and i like your writing style, i would love to read your work

Thanks @Jennifer Stone. That means a lot to me.

The 12 weeks for agent replies is over around the start of March. The Word of Mouth Prize results are posted on the 14th April so after that point I will be self publishing this book and have review copies available for Litopians

45 days and counting

 

[Cynde Route]

“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.”
― P.G. Wodehouse

 

[Jennifer Stone]

'Bring me two pina colada/ one for each hand
Let's set sail with Captain Morgan/ though we'll never leave dry land'
Can't remember who said this but I like the cut of his jib(?)

 

[Karen Gray]

I love this. It's so true

 

[Alistair Roberts]

Very true indeed!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

It's OK to share this link BTW; musicians are promoting sharing on FB.

'From Fife, great king. Where Norweyen banners flout the sky and fan our people cold.'

Norway.



Some of us know the original tune, from Miami Vice.

 

[Emurelda]

Some gems here. Truly.