I, Darin Weiss, am a quote addict. There, I said it. It kind of feels nice to get that off my chest. While many people read books for the purpose of completely submerging themselves into a good story, I have a different take on the concept of reading. I read in order to collect quotes. Sounds dumb, I know, but the words are so important to me and I can never seem to figure out why. I began this whole collecting quotes thing not that long ago, maybe only about a year or so. I decided to go back and read all of the books awarded with the highest literary seal of approval, the classics. Sure, some of them I read in high school or even college, but my purpose was to read the ones not assigned to me.
Through this fun little activity of mine I started reading for a purpose other than getting a good grade. I read through these books and whenever I come upon a line that gets me to think, read it again, or feel like I have found the meaning of life, I write it in my trusty quote book. While I’m sure a ton of the quotes are kind of ridiculous, a majority of them get me to consider more than just the story. I’ll think about what led the author to write the line, why it made me stop, or how it can be applied to my life in the present. All this may sound somewhat silly, but I eventually go back and read through my quote journal. I write the title of the book along with the author's name at the beginning then follow with the quotes and their page numbers. This helps me place the quote in context if need be and it has come in handy for a few papers I’ve had to write along the way.
When I go back and read these quotes, I instantly feel happier in some respect. The act of reading through these lines by authors from all walks of life and eras makes me feel as though we are all connected on some level and that someone, somewhere understands. Now, the whole point of this isn’t to try to get you to read more or even pay more attention to quotes or whatever while you live your life. My point is quite simple: do something that makes you happy. Do something that leaves some kind of reminder behind so when you aren’t having the best day you can remember a better time. This may not seem so important, but the action of going back and seeing something that at one point made you quite happy can make all the difference in the world.
Post Quote: “I’ll hold onto the world tight someday. I’ve got one finger on it now; that’s a beginning.” — "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
P.S. Please continue to check out my posts! I plan to cover a wide range of topics and I like to think I have a good sense of humor!
