Quotable quotes

A friend once asked me why I never lace my columns with quotes from the written works of others. I did not answer him and he did not press the question. That was a long time ago but it was only recently that I realized how an unanswered question can come back to haunt you.

So why, indeed, don't I lace my columns with quotations? Frankly I don't know. In fact I never noticed that I didn't lace my columns with quotations until I remembered the question. And I don't know if forcing myself to answer will convince me more than anyone else.

The question, I must admit, makes me feel a little insecure. Am I less of a writer if I don't quote the sayings of others? Well, maybe, since it does give the impression that I have no quotable quotes to share.

On the other hand, the issue involves my columns, my written work. So why should I lace it with the quotes of others if I can say it better? To each his own hyperbole, so to speak. Let those who have said their piece say it in their own space.

But wait. Don't I feel a little ignorant if I am impervious to the great works of the finest wordsmiths of the world? Don't I project a picture of myself as someone who is a tad less educated?

Okay. For one to be able to summon into fond recall some of the most memorable lines ever produced by human genius, one has to be at least a wide reader, and then to be someone with a memory as sticky as a flypaper.

I used to be a wide reader but I must admit it was less of a passion than it was a compulsion. The voracity of my reading habit was spurred by the times I was in, meaning I developed the yearning when it was hip to be reading.

And that is a big ha ha to the true disciples of reading. Still I have no remorse over what apparently had been my failed attempt at feigned erudition. Besides, I truly believe I have more than amply redeemed myself later on.

I stopped reading not because it was no longer hip to do so. Reading is a worthwhile endeavor and should be encouraged, not curtailed. The thirst for knowledge is limitless. I stopped reading for a personal reason.

I realized the more I knew the more there was to know. The door of knowledge just keeps leading to other doors until you risk running out of time and learn belatedly that there is still so much of the world to see and enjoy beyond the book covers.

The last time I read a book from cover to cover, I was I think 20 something. The next thing I knew I was nearly an old man, and still none the wiser. Books have not been able to provide all the real hardnosed answers to the questions that I felt truly mattered.

And so I gave up. Most books, after all, are just the thoughts of their writers. And these cease to be relevant in face of the ultimate reality of God. I thus find it incongruous, for instance, to take the word of one writer if I have to ultimately take God's word for it.

So it dawned on me that reading does not have to be taken very seriously. It has taken on a new dimension to me, to be something meant for relaxation or entertainment. And if that were so, then I feel I am better off with my music, which is far less complicated.

Music I can "quote" by whistling or humming a tune, anywhere and at anytime I wish -- while driving a car, or sitting on the toilet bowl. As to real quotes by others, again let me say I prefer to use my own words. Makes me feel a little more accomplished, in my own "think."

I must admit, however, that I did use a quote once but only because it was a line from a song by Bob Dylan. I am not promising, though, that I will never use a quote in some future column of mine. And you can quote me on that.