On borrowing words

I remember that my roommate freshman year said something once about not believing in having favorite quotes because it’s taking other people’s words, identities, and trying to make them your own. While I understand that, and I see that defining yourself in another person’s words may be half-assing the way you tell the world who you are, I also think that when we resonate with what someone says, it pulls something out of us that might lie buried deep.

Sure, identifying your favorite quotes may be a lazy way to put yourself into words because the words aren’t even your own. But at the same time, a quotation we attach ourselves to, align ourselves with—it can say a whole lot about the way we see life, the standards we hold ourselves to, and the aspirations and ideals we strive to reach or become or emulate.

And maybe it’s true—maybe as good ol’ John Green says, our favorite quotes say more about US than they do about the narratives and people we’re quoting. It also makes us realize that while there are things that set us apart as individuals, there are also things that ring true for everyone. Things that perhaps we thought we were alone on cease to be because we find that someone else in this world of convolution and uncertainty has our same thought, our same dream, our same outlook. The universality of the human condition is brought to light, which is truly a beautiful thing in and of itself.

So now I’ll share with you one of my own favorite quotes—words written from the pen of a certain Jack Kerouac.

“I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted… I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I want to fish as deep down as possible into my own subconscious in the belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they are the same that far down.”

Yes, we’re all different. But really, there are a lot of things that make us fundamentally the same at our core.