The Right Words in the Right Order
Why quotes are amazing
[I’ll be scattering quotes throughout this post, none of which relate to the essay, but which are all — I believe — the right words in the right order. They are pulled from a collage of quotes on the wall above my desk.]
Time is just that factor we don’t want to hear about until it elbows us in the face. — Seymour Krim
I am a hoarder of good sentences.
Whenever I open a book there’s a pen in my hand. I’m prepared to dogear every page if necessary. I want to extract the sentences that stop me in my tracks. I want to collect these sentences, display them, study them, and admire them. It’s hard to find something more beautiful than the right words in the right order.
The serpent hisses where the sweet bird sings - Thomas Hardy
Not every book gets marked up, and it’s not a sign of success or failure if I close the book and there are 50 underlined sections or just two. Some authors step outside the narrative to make statements and express ideas; in stories like these, where the quotes that can be cleanly extracted while retaining their meaning, the underlines are more plentiful. The quantity of quotes extracted does not correlate cleanly with the book's quality.
Anyway, when I finish a book I take those underlined quotes, go to my desk, and get out my notecards. There’s a whole system, which includes specific labeling, quote sandwiches, and theme categories – but I won’t get into that now. In the end, I have a box by the side of my desk with an ever-growing set of notecards filled with great sentences.
What reinforcement we may gain from hope. If not, what resolution from despair. — John Milton
Why? There’s several answers I could go with, all equally true. An awe at the craftsmanship of the writers, a desire to learn to write something worthy of underlining one day, and a pure, nerdy devotion to the written word. But, the true reason is that we are predictable, foolish, forgetful people that need to learn the same old lessons over and over again.
These quotes don’t usually reveal something completely new (though I will touch on the times they do in a second). These quotes often restate a truth or make an observation that we’ve heard before in a different form. The true benefit of the quote is not that it presents something new, but that it shows you something old in a different way. If the truth is an object being photographed, the object itself doesn’t change, but the authors – and the specific words they choose – adjust the lighting and angle. This is the quote’s power. The truth is just the truth, the authors show us all the nooks and crannies.
You’re lucky if you get time to sneeze in this goddam phenomenal word. - J.D. Salinger
These quotes serve as a reminder. Whether it's advice about how to live a good life or a truth about the universe, these quotes pull ideas to the front of my mind. It’s like when you put a sticky-note reminder on your bathroom mirror, thinking it will help you remember some vital morning affirmation, but eventually it blends into the background. It becomes integrated with the scene and you stop seeing it at all. The same happens with ideas, until one day you’re reading a book and are suddenly knocked over by that same old idea framed in a new way. It’s like walking into the bathroom to discover the sticky note has been replaced by a flashing neon sign.
Other times, and this happens to me most often of all, as I go about my reading journey, bumping into ideas, I stumble upon a quote that makes something clear to me that, before then, has always been shrouded in mystery. For whatever reason, the way some particular idea has been explained has never fully clicked, and yet when I read a story and a main character – who I’ve followed for hundreds of pages – has an epiphany about that idea… Bam! I get it too. I’m right there with the character, overwhelmed by sudden clarity. It’s not the surprise of learning something new, but the satisfaction of finally grasping something that’s been slipping through my fingers until that quote came along.
Few get enough, — enough is one;
To that ethereal throng
have not each of us the right
to stealthily belong?
-Emily Dickinson
The rarest instance, and rarer the more you read, is the completely new thought, the idea you’ve never even considered. This will also happen with forgotten ideas that, when remembered, feel completely new, and that is its own special joy, but what I’m talking about here are ideas genuinely new to you. When this happens, it’s pure magic. It’s in those moments that you can’t help but put the book in your lap, stare into space, pick it up again, reread, reread again, stare into space, and repeat for half an hour.
Give me health and a day and I will make the pomp of Emperors ridiculous. — Ralph Waldo Emerson
To close out, a small soap box:
One of the things that boils my blood the most is when people mock the discovery of ideas. Here is a list of words and phrases that I hate (in regards to personal discovery. Some of these have their place in criticism):
Trite
Obvious
Cringe
Fake deep
“Hits blunt once”
“Freshman year philosophy class”
Nothing angers me more than the mockery of earnest excitement. The most interesting questions in life are the ones we’ve been wrestling with since the beginning. The fact that they are so well-trod is proof of their power. So what if the idea someone is excited about is one we’ve talked about ad nauseam – they all are! So what if someone’s understanding isn’t expert-level complex – you have to start somewhere! So what if the ideas are obvious – that is never, and will never, be a valid reason to dampen someone’s enthusiasm.
I will step down from the soap box now.
Wherever there’s hope there’s a trial. — Haruki Murakami
I love words. I love seeing them used expertly. I love collecting them. I love getting excited about the same old ideas in new and interesting lighting. I hope some of the quotes scattered through this essay made you feel a bit of that joy.
A final quote, one that does relate (to my soapbox at least), and one that says what I wanted to say, but better and with fewer words. I don’t remember where I read it; I found it scribbled in an old notebook, but I think it’s wonderful.
It is better to be authentic than original.
