I'll quote you on that

As always, it's been a while since my last post. Today just wanted to share some thoughts on quotes/quotations. Talking about this reminds me of one of my high school English teachers who was fairly particular about the distinct uses of "quote" and "quotation". I can still hear her voice in my head, "A quotation is a noun; to quote something is a verb. Don't call a quotation a quote." As one is wont to do for someone one's not particularly fond of, her QUOTATION reverberates in my head in a nasally tone, of course. Anyway, this post is about me quoting quotations. :) 

When I read random things or even encounter provocative song lyrics, sometimes the words really strike a chord with me (unsure whether there's an unintended pun in there to forgive or not). So I've made it a bit of a habit to note down these quotations when I can, wherever I can. Today I came across one of these many notebooks lying around. Wanted to share some on here.

LOVE

"There's the intelligent sort of love that makes an intelligent choice. That's the kind you're supposed to get married on. Then there's the kind that's anything but intelligent, that's like a possession. And that's the one, that's the one, everybody really values. That's the one nobody wants to have missed out on."

"Love always comes back to self-love. The idiocy. You don't want them, you want what you can get from them. Obsession and self-delusion." 

AMBITION 

"There are your true philosophers...they survive in this particular world better than other people. In a time when people tear themselves to pieces with ambition and nervousness and covetousness, they are relaxed. All of our so-called successful men are sick men, with bad stomachs, and bad souls, but Mack and the boys are healthy and curiously clean. They can do what they want. They can satisfy their appetites without calling them something else." 

"The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding, and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism, and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second." 

"The sale of souls to gain the whole world is completely voluntary and almost unanimous--but not quite."

MORALITY

"I don't suppose God laughs at the people who think He doesn't exist. He's above jokes. But the Devil isn't. That's one of his most endearing qualities." 

"Is the Devil, then, sin? No, though sin is very useful to him; anything we may reasonably call sin involves some personal choice. It is flattering to be asked to make important choices. The Devil loves the time of indecision." 

"Both God and the Devil wish to intervene in the world, and the Devil chooses his moments shrewdly." 

"Boredom and stupidity and patriotism, especially when combined, are three of the greatest evils of the world we live in." 

Don't get me wrong; I don't consider myself a deep thinker. I just really do love words, and have a profound respect for those with a talent for their deft manipulation.