Classic Comments on the Quote

[LLapp]

"A man is only a leader when a follower stands beside him." — Mark Brouwer

montyb
March 10, 2012, 4:00 pm
If he's beside you, is he really a follower?

kb83
December 17, 2015, 10:53 am
I thought that too, montyb. But maybe you want to know whether your followers are still following?

LLapp
November 17, 2016, 7:06 am
I think he means when the followers and their roles are seen as having dignity equal to the leader and the leader's role.

kahvecowgirl
July 6, 2020, 6:12 pm
I just think Mark lived in a world where everyone walked sideways.

[Eureka]

"Ah, beer, my one weakness. My Achilles heel, if you will." — Homer Simpson

beerfan95
November 25, 2012, 1:02 am
It is sad that it took me so long to solve this.

montyb
December 27, 2012, 10:05 pm
I got more of a chuckle from beerfan's comment. Thanks, beerfan95!

puzzleme
March 2, 2017, 4:40 pm
beerfan, you rock! And, yes, it is a little sad.

hrossa
August 1, 2021, 6:45 pm
Beerfan was thinking outside the box, er, can.

[Eureka]

(Speaking of long conversations, here is a 15 year conversation that is quite charming.)

"Marriage is one long conversation, checkered by disputes. " — Robert Louis Stevenson

maradnu
May 23, 2009, 9:21 pm
Nothing like a British spelling to throw a slight curve.

opallady
July 15, 2009, 10:55 pm
Why not throw in a kerb or tyre while we're at it?

Highpoint
November 28, 2014, 11:15 am
What are the British spellings? "Marriage is one long conversation, checkered by disputes." is all American spelling.

abra
December 30, 2014, 2:57 pm
I wonder too. I'm thinking maybe "checkered" was spelled with a Q, and it's been edited.

SwampySox
August 30, 2016, 8:53 am
I'll check on this.

SippyGurl
November 29, 2016, 8:08 am
thinking the same, abra

kb83
July 19, 2017, 3:38 am
If you split up, then your disputes are exchequered.

abra
January 22, 2018, 5:25 pm
I see so many couples in restaurants now that spend their evening looking at their phones. They may only have the disputes and not the conversation.

mmfs83
June 23, 2018, 9:30 am
My fingers kept hitting the wrong letters.

LLapp
November 21, 2018, 12:14 pm
This quote is wonderfully accurate.

318WOZ
March 25, 2019, 10:56 am
When my wife and I get to go on a date, we usually don't use our phones for much at all, but if I ever pull mine out I actually feel weird.

jbb33054
October 27, 2019, 8:20 am
102

abra
May 20, 2020, 10:32 pm
Good for you, 318WOZ. Trying to figure out what to call you for short ) . 318 or WOZ.

318WOZ
July 2, 2020, 7:05 am
I don't know. It's one of those monikers that I didn't originally expect to use much--I just needed some user name. It goes back to an extremely simple experience I had in junior high school once. Either abbreviation is fine by me.

abra
July 11, 2020, 5:50 pm
I think I saw someone else call you WOZ, so I'll go with that.

xlr8r
August 22, 2020, 11:39 am
Looks like abra gets this quote a lot and I think this is the second time I've seen it this month. I'm surprised abra is not on the leader board, WOZ is.

Wordigo
August 26, 2020, 3:55 pm
The worst alternative is for celibacy to be one long conversation checkered by marriages.

abra
November 18, 2020, 1:37 am
abra's slow.

lesliecomelastly
December 24, 2020, 6:11 am
I'd say, 'A bad marriage is one long conversation etc... ' I guess Robert had a bad view of marriage. And that's sorta too bad.

mohamm1
June 23, 2021, 7:16 pm
Some marriages are one long dispute... ALL marriages are an opportunity to get feedback about areas in which one needs to heal, or grow (mature), or gain control over automatic emotional reactions.

Wordigo
August 5, 2022, 3:57 pm
A relationship with no disagreement would be very boring.

318WOZ
May 1, 2024, 9:17 pm
Oh, Abra, I would love to converse with you more--perhaps in several decades, after I've crossed that threshold also. For the record, I feel like I do not have a great screen name. In a junior high school French class, a girl who sat in front of me turned around once and wrote the title of a Cranberries song on my desk: ZOMBIE. Because she was turned around and wrote it right-side-up for her, it was upside down for me, so all I saw was 318WOZ, and I had no idea what it meant. Then she explained. I think it's a good song. I suppose if someone doesn't like me, they can call me a "zombie", which probably isn't flattering in any way, but on the bright side I've never seen anyone else use it as an identifier.

Synonymous
May 12, 2024, 10:40 am
^Nice! Both the tribute to abra and the story.

[LLapp]

"Ideally a book would have no order to it, and the reader would have to discover his own." — Raoul Vaneigem

badbob
March 16, 2018, 12:06 pm
maybe this guy invented Mad-Libs

Roxanne
July 16, 2018, 1:50 am
If he did, the quote would be "Ideally a porpoise would have no tutu to it, and the dentist would have to synchronize his frisky."

[Synonymous]

That is precious!! LOL!

[LLapp]

"When you leave a beautiful place, you carry it with you wherever you go." — Alexandra Stoddard

tpittman44
October 28, 2018, 12:02 am
I guess she is talking about the towels we put in our suitcases upon departure.

[LLapp]

"I want you to be everything that's you, deep at the center of your being." — Confucius

defeaterdefeater
October 23, 2013, 4:35 pm
This sounds a little more like Wayne Dyer than Confucius.

universalmom
January 27, 2014, 9:20 am
Or Tony Robbins.

abra
October 4, 2015, 2:12 pm
Even a "Confucius say", wouldn't make this sound like Confucius.

Quickly
April 21, 2016, 12:52 pm
yeah, this ain't Confucius. too individualistic.

DonnaIrene
May 7, 2018, 12:00 am
It's from a 1980 commencement address by Alan Alda, who probably finds it hilarious that it's now ascribed to Confucius.

darkyr
June 20, 2018, 5:33 am
Maybe, deep at the center of Alan Alda's being, Confucius rents a room.

Eureka
April 1, 2023, 10:11 pm
LOL darkyr

kb83
August 28, 2023, 6:06 pm
This was from a commencement speech by Confucius to the graduating class of "Great Wall University" in 500 BCE. (Sorry, Just made that up.)

[LLapp]

Thank you, rasbury!


"Art arises when the secret vision of the artist and the manifestation of nature agree to find new shapes." — Khalil Gibran

LLapp
January 4, 2017, 4:36 pm
Even for Gibran, this seems more abstract than necessary. I wonder how he talked to his dry cleaner.

rasbury
December 2, 2021, 1:12 pm
"Please get your secret vision as a alchemical professional to agree with the manifestation of the natural qualities of the wool and the chemical properties of the miraculous human inventions of machinery and transformative processes on my humble coat. And if you don't get those stains out, I'm not paying you."

[LLapp]

"History is one war after another with a bunch of murders and natural disasters in between." — Sarah Vowell

fredsevent
May 18, 2012, 6:15 am
If she were on Wheel of Fortune, it might seem inappropriate for another contestant to ask - "I'd like to buy a vowel, Pat".

kb83
September 12, 2017, 2:04 am
Yes, it would not be consonant with the rules of the show.

[LLapp]

"There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat." — Tay Hohoff

kb83
September 17, 2014, 5:36 pm
A cat welcoming you is special just because a cat doesn't dispense affection lightly.

marnita
September 27, 2015, 12:46 pm
Cats are more subtle than dogs with their welcoming, but it is no less genuine.

Roxanne
February 29, 2016, 11:56 pm
Good evening, folks, welcome, would you like to curl up for a nap before you order, or shall I call over the waiter? Hello, everyone, hope you're enjoying the upholstery. I'm Mittens, I'll be your server tonight. Our specials of the day are Mariner's Catch, Sea Captain's Choice, Sailor's Desire, and Admiral's Prerogative...

Andy451
December 16, 2022, 9:19 pm
"Roxanne! You don't have to put on the red light!" -- Shhting

Fudi
September 27, 2023, 3:14 pm
And a miss! (Finishing Andy451's thoughts.)

nelnose
April 10, 2024, 4:47 pm
When my cats come in they look me in the eye and meow to me. I have it down to two reasons why they do that. They’re either saying thank you or they’re announcing their entrance and want me to say thank you.

[Eureka]

"He who must die, must die in the dark, even though he sells candles." — Colombian Proverb

LLapp
April 23, 2017, 11:08 am
Losing entry in the Yankee Candle company motto contest.

[Eureka]

(14 years of being witty)

"The next best thing to being witty is to be able to quote another's wit." — Christian Nestell Bovee

BuschMan
June 23, 2009, 3:31 am
"The next best thing to being witty is to be able to quote another's wit." -BuschMan

joed
March 7, 2013, 2:13 pm
I think it was BuschMan who once said, "The next best thing to being witty is to be able to quote another's wit."

montyb
March 16, 2013, 6:25 pm
I may be paraphrasing here, but hasn't it often been said that to quote another's wit is almost like being witty yourself? I think I read that somewhere.

puffybob
September 15, 2013, 12:34 pm
"The next best thing to being witty is to be able to quote BuschMan." -- Puffybob

chopstix
October 30, 2013, 9:37 am
bovee may have been quoting buschman - whoever that is.

abra
June 28, 2015, 7:50 am
Who is BuschMan, and where has he gone. He was really witty, or was he good at quoting other people's wit?

kb83
November 9, 2015, 5:49 am
Har-har!

Maui
August 13, 2020, 10:29 pm
What if someone else got there before BuschMan? He'd be just another obsolete quoter.

joed
August 9, 2023, 10:50 pm
I think it may have been montyb who said something along the lines of, "to quote another's wit is almost like being witty yourself."

[Eureka]

(I confess I have put this comment thread here so I can come back to it for book suggestions.)

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." — Paul Sweeney

Lily H
September 7, 2012, 10:55 pm
So true. That's why I prefer a series of books written by the same author with the same main characters.

montyb
July 15, 2013, 6:48 pm
I agree, Lily. But I have finished my Rumpole and Inspector Morse series and have only 3 more books in the Cadfael series.

opallady
November 29, 2014, 6:39 am
Montyb, if you haven't already, give Tony Hillerman a try.

larry149
January 20, 2015, 6:46 am
and Kerry Greenwood

letfreedomring
August 5, 2015, 7:31 am
Preston and Child - the Agent Pendergast series. Excellent!

Persephone59
April 4, 2017, 7:05 pm
The strangest experience I ever had with a book was Hermann Hesse's 'Magister Ludi', for which he won the Nobel Prize. I was halfway through the book, reading on the bus, when something unexpectedly quite tragic happened, and I started crying... on the bus. Hey, don't mess with my head!

KittyKatMeow
June 12, 2020, 7:42 am
The Bear and the Nightingale trilogy is wonderful. It has a "Russian fairy tale" vibe. I have read the trilogy twice now, and probably will again and again.If anyone else has read it, what are your thoughts?

bigdave
August 17, 2020, 5:50 pm
Having just finished Patrick O'Brien's 19+ book Aubrey/Maturin series, I feel as if I've lost a world of friends.( + because the last was unfinished. ) Beautifully written historical fiction.

318WOZ
October 13, 2020, 8:12 pm
Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles.

oddcouple
January 10, 2021, 1:01 am
Sue Grafton's Alphabet series.

montyb
September 22, 2022, 7:43 am
Finished Cadfael! Now my wife and I are into Ann Cleeves’ Vera Stanhope and the Shetland series after seeing them on Britbox. The TV adaptations are different enough from the novels to make it interesting to read.

[Eureka]

(Since it is so close to Christmas, these comments seemed particularly relevant.)

"The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do." — John Holt

LLapp
November 6, 2014, 12:17 pm
There are lots of variations on this. Like Maya Angelou's comment about knowing a person by how s/he handles tangled Christmas tree lights.

LLapp
February 23, 2015, 6:17 pm
John Holt (1923-1985) - educator, Yale graduate, famously wrote "How Children Fail" and "How Children Learn," strongly advocated homeschooling and "unschooling" children. I am a huge fan of his ideas.

marnita
May 29, 2016, 1:52 pm
I flunked that Christmas tree light test.

abra
July 9, 2016, 6:10 pm
Hubby's really good about putting the lights away, so they're not usually tangled. If they were tangled, we'd both fail the test.

marnita
February 26, 2018, 8:29 am
After my meltdown, my husband has also taken on the task of making sure they don't get tangled.

MadDoctor
April 29, 2018, 2:54 pm
Xmas tree lights - easy solution. Sit down in front of the TV. It keeps your fingers busy. Remember, the TV is more important than the lights, so don't stress out.

maradnu
December 26, 2018, 3:50 pm
I read his books many years ago, along with A.S. Neill's Summerhill and other books on education. Few parents have the time or knowledge to properly home school their children.

NotTooOld
August 5, 2024, 8:22 pm
I homeschooled my son and taught him how to handle the Christmas tree lights.

[LLapp]

The cat factor....

"It's easier to be wise for others than for ourselves." — Francois de la Rochefoucauld

LLapp
September 27, 2016, 2:19 pm
8 seconds!!! You're safe for now, Lurker.

Lurker
July 17, 2017, 6:41 am
Thanks, LLapp. Nanrich had it for a while, but I just squeaked out my 2nd 5-second solve ever. Yay me! Yay fast internet connection!

LLapp
October 7, 2017, 1:01 pm
Yow, 5 seconds! How many here have ever done that? I haven't....yet.

Altoid701
December 13, 2018, 10:39 am
I've done 5 seconds a few times, but usually it's not a record because it's tying somebody else who had done it before. Never done 4, I don't think.

imsoeasy
January 13, 2019, 5:12 pm
I'm so slow, no one need know.

badbob
June 13, 2019, 11:50 am
staring at the quote takes me 5 seconds. brushing crumbs off my shirt another five. pushing the cat away five more i'm dealing with a lot of issues

whatthe
September 28, 2019, 1:33 am
45 sec.

darkyr
December 9, 2019, 11:53 pm
whatthe has several cats.

blueladyblue
June 22, 2020, 4:23 pm
Love it, badbob! Based on my score I must have a thousand cats. Even more crumbs.

hrossa
May 20, 2023, 10:08 am
No cats, and 20 sec is pretty good for me. Once I had a 7 sec solve, but there were many faster ones. No cats, no crumbs that day.

Bulldog1967
March 6, 2024, 1:46 am
My cat passed away, no improvement in my times. Ebenezer used to sit on my lap and help me solve.