Quotes

Many have asked about the signature and quote at the end of each post. They want to know where I get these things.

I must have thousands of quotes I�ve collected over the years. My bookcase is full of quote books. I found a program that has 43,000 quotes and it�s free! And of course, there are thousands of places on the Internet that will give you quotes for just about any category you can think of, and beyond.

I�ve collected quotes for years. In 1997 I wrote a TrayQuote program. The program sits in your Window's tray (lower right corner on the Taskbar). At an interval you determine the program will insert a quote to the end of the email. You can select different quote files that come with the program, such as: serious, funny, witty, proverb, etc.

The strange part is, even though the quote is random, often the quote relates to the subject of my email. Go figure.

There are mailing lists you can subscribe to that�ll send you a quote a day. Or you can find some JavaScript or RSS that will put a quote-of-the-day on your web page.

But I don�t collect just any quote. I like short (should be one sentence), pithy, and witty. Bartlett�s Familiar Quotations have wordy and serious quotes. They are often too stiff for me or I just don�t understand them. I guess I�m from the NOW generation. I need my quote in bite-sized pieces that I can down in one gulp.

Here an example that TrayQuote gave me today:

"Am I getting smart with you? How would you know?"

Now that�s a pithy, witty quote if ever I saw one. (It�s true, it�s two sentences, but it's so good I�ll make an exception.)

Trouble is, I have to be careful who the email is addressed to. A quote like that to my boss could be misunderstood.

Here is another favorite:

"After I�m dead I�d rather people ask why I have no monument than why I have one. " - Cato the Elder

In the days before the Internet, collecting quotes was more difficult. I read books, listened to the radio, read the newspaper and wrote down quotes, list of quotes.

Today, they are everywhere. Here are a few quote sites that will spruce up your correspondence:

ThinkExist
NonStopEnglish
DoYouKnow?
QuoteWorld
QuoteLand

Well. you get the idea.

�dave
"Quotes are nothing but inspiration for the uninspired." - Richard Kemph