"Words, Words, Words" (Or: Quotes, Authors, and Inspiration)

If I'm remembering correctly, I first learned to read when I was four. I'm sure this has something to do with the fact that my mother was an English Major/professor. In any case, for as long as I remember I have loved stories, and words, and worlds, and characters...and that list could go on and on.  I spent much of my formative years with my nose buried in a book. This all seemed to come to a head in third grade when I first read a book called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone*. This isn't to say my reading habits peaked in third grade. On the contrary, my passion for reading only grew, to the point where my third grader-self made a declaration of intent to become an author someday.  While my ideas for "what I want to be when I grow up" have changed in terms of what I want to do to earn money, I have always dreamt of being published, and I have always, in some part, attributed that to my love of Harry Potter, and the ability of one woman to capture my imagination so fully.  This paragraph makes for a decent paraphrasing of my college essay. Needless to say, I'm a bit obsessed with Harry Potter. (Would you believe me if I said it was a healthy obsession? I could be so much worse...)


But, the purpose of this post was not meant to be about (solely) Harry Potter. As the title may suggest, the point of this post is about my relationship to words. Because words are awesome. They can--in the right hands--provide and image or feeling, so evocative that you can't help but be enthralled.  This would be why, when I was stumped when trying to come up with a title for this blog I turned to one of my favorite people to quote (after Oscar Wilde)--John Green.  John Green is a Young Adult author who has never failed to impress me with his handle of words**. He does with imagery and basic human experiences what Wilde did with snark and wit***. I was looking through a page of quotes both from John's writing and from John himself, and came across a quote from his most recent book The Fault In Our Stars (which is a great book, you should read it)

I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.

-Augustus Waters, The Fault in Our Stars

This quote resonates with me for a number of reasons, but first and foremost with my own ideas of religion. I am Agnostic, and while part of me believes that there is some sort of spiritual force in the world, the rest of me believes that after death--and the end of the world, and the end of the universe--there is nothing. And that belief could lead a lot of people to nihilism, but--while I wouldn't necessarily consider myself an existentialist--I would argue that the way you live your life provides its meaning.  I get angry. And I don't mean that I just randomly get angry, I mean that I get angry at bigotry, injustice, violence, stereotypes...and sometimes I just want to yell about it. Maybe my ranting and raving is, ultimately, just a shout into the void, but like Augustus Waters, I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things (no matter what Wilde--and John himself, actually--might have to say about the simplicity of truth).

I've always loved looking through the quotes pages of authors or orators. I love what these people, in particular, do with words.  I love what actors and speakers do with inflection and sound, and what writers do with syntax, metaphor, and imagery.  I love how they can put into words universal experiences that most of us can barely coherently discuss.  I love how they can persuade, I love how they can mock. And sometimes, I just like the way they sound.****

*Although I really prefer Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in terms of titles--though it doesn't have the perk of alliteration. (At least it isn't Harry Potter and the School of Magic, which is the French title)
**John Green Quotes
*** Oscar Wilde Quotes
****This would be the main reason most people enjoy "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carrol

Ten points to anyone who realized "words, words, words" was a quote from Hamlet