"Cup of Wisdom" Edition.  

I have been steeped in words lately. Of course, with my job as an English teacher, that’s kind of all in a day’s work, but we are wrapping up our study of Emerson and Thoreau.  Every year when we read through Walden or Self Reliance, some kid will announce, "Hey, I’ve heard that before."  It does seem like nearly every line brews up some new, supremely quotable, single-shot of wisdom.  I think the students are surprised to see these lines come from some rational, fully realized source, and not just bumper stickers, inspirational posters and yearbook quotes.

I have to disagree with Emerson though-- I love quotations.  There’s just something fun and economical about such great ideas so prettily wrapped in a small package.  Collecting quotations has been a hobby of mine since way back.  As a little kid, I used to keep a notebook of song lyrics and poetry that had grabbed my attention, and I was even known to rifle through my grandmother’s canister of Salada tea bags, just to read the quotes on the tags. So I have a lot of fun whenever I get to teaching the Transcendentalists, and unlike much of the work my students produce, I never complain about grading the assignments from this unit.  I have them jump into the words with both metaphorical feet.  They draw visual images from the quotations, create sensory collages, invent characters based on them, and wrap up with writing their own philosophy statements.  Great words and deep thoughts are so much fun to share and to ponder.

So what are some of your favorite quotations?  Do you find you draw from religious sources, secular sources, or both?  What was printed under your yearbook picture?

And as always, what are you drinking, and what’s for dinner?  This is an open thread.