Quote Quota

I get serious when it comes to writing. There are just certain minimal standards that I force myself to abide by. I try to make sure that I employ proper grammar and a decent variety of vocabulary. I can't bear to have the same noun or verb appear more than once in close proximity, and I just have to obey the rules of the English language as I understand them. Sometimes I may slip up. Beyond those basics, there are other things I feel are important. One is how I handle the integration of someone else's work. I don't do it much. A top priority has been keeping this blog as a pure repository of my own efforts, and so while I might make reference to something external, there are few occasions where I might quote someone's words verbatim. It sometimes happens, it seems to me. Mainly it happens in the title of my posts, although not this time, as wordplay won the day again.

When I do that, there's just one rule that comes into play. I have to really know the material from which the quote is drawn. I could probably override that and allow people to assume based on my reputation for being knowledgeable that I am familiar with the source of a quote when I'm not, but I don't do that. I do my best to stick to lines which come from something with which I'm intimately familiar. That way, if the impossible ever happens and someone engages me on the subject of something I've quoted, I don't wind up looking like a fool when I am entirely unaware of any contextual information surrounding something which I've intimated that I know well. That feels like a lie to me, so I try not to do it. I don't, therefore, consult Bartlett's Book of Familiar Quotations. I used to enjoy reading it, and now I better enjoy reading the things that are cited in it.

The Peace Gathering

Last night I participated in an event known as a peace gathering. It's a religious gathering based on the principles of the Bahá'í faith which occurs each month and is put on by a friend. Poetry and excerpts from religious texts are read, music is performed, and people offer insights on life. I myself offered a quotation from Aeschylus' Agamemnon.

Not to get sidetracked, but I have misgivings about quoting and reading the work of others. I feel it's my privilege to enjoy it, but I also feel that it's my responsibilty to offer something of my own. That being said, I did quote Aeschylus last night and regularly quote favorite song lyrics and other works regularly on this very blog, so I guess I have to come down on the side of it being all right in moderation.