It’s Read a Line, Leave a Line Day!
It’s Wednesday (in most places), which means that you are either at, on, approaching or gliding down that big old hump of your week. To me, it’s like the first death-drop of a massive you-better-have-life-insurance-and-a-clean-pair-of-underwear-handy roller coaster ride. When I’m stressed or have too many things going on, I immediately get sleepy (counteractive, yes?). So, by Wednesday…well, my eyes are being propped open solely by copious amounts of Diet Cherry Coke.
Since I’m forced to be strapped in for the duration of the week without losing my mind (or my dignity), I thought I would go a-hunting for some mind resuscitation — some morsels of thought to feed a tired brain. And, what better place to turn to for some fabulous one-liners than my favorite books.
The following are a smattering of lines that I like to throw around during various inappropriate occasions:
“Death makes me hungry.” ~ Ofglen from The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
“What good is my humility when I am stuck in this obscurity?” David Budbill from the poem “Dilemma”
“You know what they say about maybe’s, Laura? ‘May Bees don’t fly in September.’” ~Caroline Ingalls from Little Town on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
“Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.” ~Mrs. Whatsit from A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)
“Evil exists, I know that, and its name is Boredom…” ~Galinda from Wicked (Gregory Maguire)
“Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!” ~Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (J.K. Rowling)
And, our household’s personal favorite…
“Eat it, or wear it!” Warren Hatcher from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Judy Blume)
So, let’s help each other get over the hump — share a line that’s stuck with you; whether it’s inspirational, thought-provoking, laugh-out-loud ridiculous, intriguing, or just plain odd. Remember, these are not famous quotations — just those phrases or sentences you’ve committed to memory by virtue of their ability to delight. They can be from novels, short-stories, poetry or your own Work-in-Progress (Come on NanoWriMo-er’s…wow us!). It will be like our own Literary-type Woodstock, sans nakedness and rampant illegal drug use. Okay, maybe a little nakedness.
We can’t get off this ride, so we might as well enjoy it.
Happy Wednesday!
*Picture via Microsoft Clip Art
*Find me on Twitter @amandahoving
I'm a freelancer and MG/YA writer who loves to read, discuss, and laugh. I blog when I'm not busy with writing projects, or hanging with my four kids. Thank you for visiting -- you're among friends! 
I have so many.
I am a muttering idiot.
Seriously.
A muttering one line idiot.
Maybe that’ll be my line.
That’s a good one
One of the best metaphors I’ve ever read came from Tom Robbins’ “Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates”: “The clouds were lined up like limos at a mobster’s funeral.” That one always sticks with me for some reason…perhaps it’s because black clouds seem to follow me around?
Wendy
I like it, Wendy — definitely gives a clear visual.
“Eat it or wear it” – Yup, I’m stealing that for my household.
Here are a few of my favorites:
“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?” (Anne of Green Gables)
“It’s not time to worry yet.” ( To Kill A Mockingbird)
“”To the tiger in the zoo, Madeline just said Pooh, Pooh!” (Madeleine)
That was fun! Thanks.
Ah yes…I love me some Anne of Green Gables!
Also from Madeline, “In two straight lines they broke their bread and brushed their teeth and went to bed.
Thanks for sharing~
Love this idea, and the quotes. Let’s see, what do I remember….
‘Goodness had nothing to do with it.’ The title of Mae West’s autobiography.
‘What do you want for nothing? A rrrrrrrubber biscuit?’ from the song of the same name, preferably the Blues Brothers version. And actually, any line from The Blues Brothers.
‘I see the better path and approve it, but always take the worse.’ One of Ovid’s best, though I can’t remember which poem it’s from….the story of my life.
Good luck with NaNoWriMo! Totally pulling for you!
Thanks, WoPro! I’m a little under the halfway mark, but still going.
Thanks for the quotes…love Ovid’s!
One of my very favorites is from Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face. It was, I believe, written across 2 bathroom stall doors: “Be here. Now.”
I had a line I really liked from my NaNoWriMo novel in progress. “Cordelia never raised her voice, just her eyebrows.” Well, at least I thought it was cute.
I have a ton, but I’d have to look them up to properly quote them. I like your list. Very fun.
I like your Nano line! Makes me think of one of mine, “I think, my dear, that it’s the perfect time to introduce yourself to a pair of tweezers.”
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” That’s one my mother used to say. It probably didn’t originate with her, but I never heard anyone else quote it. Ha! She had a point, but it took years for me to get it. I’d say I wish this or that, and she’d quote that little motto. I understood only that it meant I wasn’t going to get my wish in those childhood days.
Nice post, Amanda. Wednesday is surely a reminder that the week’s end is upon us.
Blessings…
Thanks Carol Ann. That seems to be a favorite quote of many
“If I agree with you, then both of us will be wrong.”
Love it!
My fave:
I can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte The whole paragraph this belongs in was committed to my memory long, long ago.
Excellent choice! Thanks, Lisas~
As hard as dragon scales, and as light as a feather. Made by the Elves, you know.” ~~ Bilbo Baggins to Frodo Baggins
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.” Walter Scott
“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride” English proverb
And one I use almost every day, “You can get use to hanging if you hang long enough.” My grandmother..if someone else said it first I have no idea who it was.
Ha…a wise grandma. I like to quote the “tangled web” quote, as well.
You know those people who see a movie once and can recite the entire dialogue verbatim? Yeah, well, that’s not me. I can vaguely remember the plot of the movie (sometimes).
The point of this is, I read lots of stuff in books that I love, but darned if I could actually remember them
Here’s a line from my first novel (not because I think it’s that great, but because I could easily look it up):
“She watched the lump of pizza slide down his throat, like a rattlesnake swallowing a live field mouse.”
This post was lots of fun….I like the way you think!
Vivid description, Janna…thanks for sharing~
I really love this idea!
The lines that I have been using lately are:
“The right to hold an opinion carries with it the responsibility to defend it”
“We are entitled to our own opinions; we’re not entitled to our own facts.” (Al Franken)
Here is one that fortifies me at times:
“I have the intellectual confidence to appear stupid sometimes.”
As for quotes from literary works… *ashamed* I know there are many that I wish I had jotted down… But I can’t think of any presently. I do have one by a literary figure:
“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.” e.e.cummings.
Thank you for visiting, subWOW. I may remember book lines (sometimes), but not inspirational quotes. Thanks for sharing yours~
I forgot that quote by Albus Dumbledore. That’s funny. I have to re-read the whole series from the beginning then. I can’t wait for 7, I’m going on Sunday! Yipee!
We’ve been re-reading the books here, too, and hope to get to the movie today. I can’t wait either!
I’m late to the rodeo, but I came across this quote just yesterday:
What is reading, but silent conversation.
~ Charles Lamb
And also:
A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
~ Mark Twain
Happy Weekend. Hope NaNoWriMo is going well. Now that my laptop is functioning again, I owe you an e-mail!!!
Thanks, Maura! Love both of your quotes~
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. -Robert Frost
It sounds like your family quotes literary lines like mine quotes movie lines. What does that say about me and mine?
A Robert Frost gem!
Oh, and I probably quote movies more often here, too. And, they’re from movies like “The Wedding Singer,” “Airplane,” and “Dirty Dancing”…you know — the cinematic classics
Absolutely. Some of our favorites are “While You Were Sleeping,” “The Princess Bride,” and “Master of Disguise.” There are some great lines in there.:)
Great idea!
I don’t anticipate this is a line I’ll use at the dinner table often (or ever), but I just read this one in ‘A Girl Named Skippy’ by Haven Kimmel, and loved it: For a while Mooreland had an actual doctor, and we could buy drugs from him, but the police eventually came and took him away.
Allison, you just made me laugh out loud. Thanks so much, I needed that.
I agree! Thanks for stopping by, Allison.
Allright. This has been “bugging” me for days, since several lines from lots of books would try to choke thier way to the top to receive the high spot of being put down here.
but…this one is the winner, for sure, the one I say over and over and over.
Gus McCrae, in the book “Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry speaking to Lori (Lorena) on amidst the cattle drive. Lori, a whore, just wants to go to San Francisco, thinking that all her troubles will be gone if she can just live there.
Gus, an older, crotchety, funny, wise and tender man says,
“Life in San Francisco is still just life.”
this one has stuck to me like glue for over 20 years.
blessings
jane
This is just too ridiculous to share – but share it, I will.
I’m a fairy.
My name’s Nuff
Fairy Nuff.
Get it? Fair enough? Yep, I warned you it was ridiculous.
Why am I not surprised, fellow bad poet? LOLOLOL
Oh, & good one BTW
“The best compliments are the ones said behind one’s back.” That’s one of my favorites. Because you know that if they say it to someone else, then it’s sincere. Not one of those “I-like-to-make-you-feel-good-so-I-can-manipulate-you” compliments. But when you hear that somebody said something nice about you…THEN you can feel good about yourself!!!