Quotations are like wells that have given water to tens of generations of thirsty men.... empty.
E. Raamis Ar'Nooh
At the beginning of 6th grade I started to develop a passion for quotations. Almost each aphorism in what was becoming my “collection” of quotation compendiums, seemed to be a story in itself, the fruit of years of experience, all in one sentence...
My passion subsided eventually; however, I had never lost my respect for quotations, or for people who made use of them in actual conversation... until one day, somewhere in the spring of 2005. A colleague of mine started to bombard me – although I am not sure for what reason it was me – with a series of favorite quotations. The next few days that colleague developed a habit of using quotations in actual conversation, and subsequently almost made a good impression on me. On the one hand I found each quotation very fitting, and was impressed by its message, but on the other hand, the overwhelming use of big words was an annoyance. I really wasn't sure what to make of it...
Shortly thereafter, the person in cause unwillingly solved my dilemma by telling me one particular quotation out of the blue. Upon hearing “Wise men talk because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something ..... Plato” uttered from my friends mouth, it dawned upon me. Was this person really not realizing just having spoken because of a need to say something? I looked up, and there it was, the smile of someone who believes to have just made a most intelligent remark....
I cannot say that I learned something of the utmost novelty from this experience, however, it helped me better define the way in which I evaluate culture in general and quoting in particular. Summarizing it can be said that I have become very weary of pseudo-culture thereafter and have gained more insight into the intricacies of quoting.
Quotations are but pieces of a puzzle pulled out of their context; small, unspecific bits of information which can be connected to almost anything. A severe scent of void is inherent in most aphorisms, a void which can easily be filled with the ideas of minds wanting to express themselves in bombastic ways, and then presented to other people as a shell, in which to put their own thoughts.... An ideal tool for the self-proclaimed intellectuality wanting to pass as cultured.
True value is not held by those commenting or mindlessly repeating a quotation, but by those who made it as a result of their own thinking, those who baked the cake on which they put the cherry... in someone else's hands, that cherry is worthless. Should this essay, together with my personal experience, stand under the sign of an empty well, just so I can leave the impression of being backed by the one who dug it? No, and that is precisely why it doesn't. I apologize for my title not being authentic, but (even though my name contains an awful lot of vowels) I believe I've done a good job in making it look as if it were.
However, should you really want to hear it from a figure of authority, here is Diogene's opinion on the issue: “One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings”