Fun With Quotes

So how, exactly does one have fun with quotes?

Glad you asked! If you’re like me, and you enjoy both quotes and research, you start by exchanging quotes on a daily basis with your best bud. But not just any quotes, writing quotes, to give each other inspiration. And you also like researching stuff. So you pick the two best quotes of the week, research a little about the person being quoted, and then share them with the rest of the world. At least you do if you’re me. :-D

I don’t know about my friend Jamie, but I have two document files for quotes. One is marked To Be Used, and the other is marked Used. So to pick my top quote for the week I just have to go to the Used file. I forgot I was doing this and haven’t been saving the quotes that Jamie sent me this week, but I do have one of my favourites from her written down, so that’s the one I’m going with this week. But first, my quote:

When you're socially awkward, you're isolated more than usual, and when you're isolated more than usual, your creativity is less compromised by what has already been said and done. All your hope in life starts to depend on your craft, so you try to perfect it. One reason I stay isolated more than the average person is to keep my creativity as fierce as possible. Being the odd one out may have its temporary disadvantages, but more importantly, it has its permanent advantages.
~ Criss Jami

I think every writer can relate to this quote. We do tend to isolate ourselves and for the most part we are a socially awkward bunch. I’m not sure if we need to do this for our creativity to remain fierce, but I know for myself when I’m struggling it helps to avoid outside stimuli.

Like most of the author quotes we’ve been using, I have to admit that I’ve never heard of Criss Jami before this. But after doing some research on him, I have to admit I’m intrigued. For someone so young (born in 1987) he’s very widely quoted. He’s the author of several books, Healology, Killosophy, Venus in Arms, and Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile, to name a few. He’s a poet, essayist, and philosopher, renowned for his unusual writing style and perception. Of himself he says: I am a dedicated songwriter, poet, essayist, existentialist philosopher, and designer. I studied philosophy at George Mason University.

If you’d like to learn more about Criss Jami, you can visit his BLOG

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The quote from Jamie I have tacked to my cork board is:
I want to be the apostle of self destruction. I want my book to affect man's reason, his emotions, his nerves, his whole animal nature. I should like my book to make people turn pale with horror as they read it, to affect them like a drug, like a terrifying dream, to drive them mad, to make them curse and hate me but still to read me.
~ Leonid Andreyev, diary, August 1, 1891

I’m not sure what it is about this quote, but it speaks to me. Perhaps I don’t want people to “turn pale with horror” when they read my books, but I think every author would like their work to touch their readers in some way.

Leonid Andreyev was born in 1871 in Russia, a depressing era in its history so it’s no great surprise that his work was somewhat depressing and pessimistic. Well educated, he was a man of great intellect. He actually started out studying to be a lawyer and while pursuing this tried his hand as a police court reporter and found that more to his liking.

His first story was written in 1898; he achieved fame with his stories early on, perhaps because his works were often compared to Tolstoy. During his career he produced two novels, five novellas, and a number of short stories and plays. Project Gutenberg has his work available on-line for free, stories such as, Anathema: A Tragedy in Seven Scenes, The Crushed Flower and Other Stories, and The Seven Who Were Hanged. You should really check it out. I know I will be.