My boss said to me today "stop quoting song lyrics to me" while we were having a debate about life, but I can't help myself. I have always loved quotes and always found value in them. I know why. Want to know? Keep reading. If not, sorry I lost you.
Once upon a time, I said something profound that I believed was an original thought. I was proud of it as it ended the debate and I had won...I thought. The truth is the debate changed gears to my unattributed quote I had heard, but forgot I heard and thought was original. All my credibility was shot at that moment and I lost the debate. If I was wrong about the source, I could very easily be wrong about everything else I said. It sucked. I felt shamed. I began a quest, or rather resumed a quest started in childhood.
I always had an ear for lyrics. Yes, I didn't always get them right ( "We are the Champions" is NOT "we are the trappers), but I always focused on them. And, speaking of shameful moments, "we are the trappers" is a big one and another factor to my quote obsession. Hang on for a tangent.
I forget the year, but "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions" was a huge hit and constantly on the radio. I think I was 7 or maybe 6 and was living in Snapper Creek with my mom and her new husband who became my dad years later. His son had just moved in with us or was visiting, but I clearly remember being in the downstairs bathroom and singing "we are the trappers" as my brother walked by.
"It is 'We are the Champions, Brad" he said. Stupidly, I argued. I insisted. I fought. I failed. I was wrong. And he holds that over my head to this day and rightly so. If I had a Trump Card that good to use on him to end every debate, I would use it in a heartbeat and laminate it so it never wore out.
Anyway, quotes are now an obsession and have been. Breakfast Club and Heathers were movies I memorized start to finish. I tried learning Monty Python movies, but they keep changing the scripts on me. I swear I learn it down to the adverb, and then suddenly it is something different. Screw you, Monty Python!
So I love quotes and use them all the time. Even my cancer support group has noticed and called me out for always sourcing things I say, but it all goes back to that being called out. I realized everything I could say has already been said and probably far better than I could say it; certainly said with more authority than I could give it. I mean, what weighs more: Kanrei said or Ghandi said? If you said Kanrei, thank you.
So I find myself when I write or blog looking up quote sites, typing in what I want to say, and finding someone who said it better and learn their quote. And as annoying as it is when talking to me, I must always source my quote out of fear of reliving an embarrassing moment.
Sorry. As Steve Martin said in "Grand Canyon": That's part of your problem: you haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies.
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