The Power of Quotes
Ever since I can remember, I’ve kept a tab on my notes tab gathering quotes.
I have quotes from authors, podcasters, philosophers, friends, and teachers.
I never realized until recently that I was especially attracted to the power of a quote.
I’ve begun posting some of my favorites on BitClout to share with the community there, but I wanted to write a bit more about what it is about quotes that has captured me so completely throughout my life.
There surely isn’t an answer, and I’m not so vain as to think I’m the only one to obsess over quotes in this way, but I do have some thoughts on the power of a quote, and why they resonate so strongly with so many people.
The first thing that comes to mind for me is the element of distillation a succinct quote can offer. Within the quotation marks of a single sentence of phrase can so often encapsulate an entire worldview presented by its author in a powerfully small package.
“It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a sick society”
Jiddu Krishnamurti
I come back to this mighty phrase seemingly hourly. During the pandemic, when people spoke about things getting back to normal, this became a particularly inescapable thought for me.
This has also framed the way I think about the mental health crisis going on in the U.S. (and around the world). The individuals may be sick, but it is society that is to blame in many cases, not some faulty brain juices.
Saul Bellow once described a writer as “a reader who is moved to emulation.”
This drives me in so much of my work as a lifelong reader. Something about the elegance with which Bellow connects these actions creates a bit of an ‘A-ha’ moment for me. When I feel myself bursting with ideas and identify the familiar burning need in my soul to write, I can always trace my steps back to a piece of literature, or often simply a quote, that ignited my passion in that moment.
“A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.”
Hunter S. Thompson
To me, this is the ultimate self-help quote, though I cringe at the categorization. The freedom to know that choices are better made (and even made incorrectly) than not made at all, is a liberating feeling that animates my life.
