English was my favorite subject all four years of high school; it was the only class where I felt I could really get away from the drama that was high school. English class was my escape through novels, plays, and poems-- I could go anywhere from Hiroshima in 1945 to France and England in 1775 to the Salinas Valley in California in the early 1900's. Junior Year English was special for a handful of reasons. The summer before my junior year, I read three books that I found to be influential, yet freaky: The Once & Future King, Brave New World, and 1984. I also was in the class of the new English teacher that everyone was raving about. The summer following my junior year, I read the autobiography of Malcolm X which is not only one of my favorite books, but a book that changed my life and continues to impact me to this day. However, by far the most important thing that happened that school year was that I started a quote book.
My English teacher had a quote book, it was black and leatherbound. One day he was looking for it in his bag, and when he found it he took it out and read us a quote that pertained to a novel we were reading. He should have made starting a quote book a class assignment, but he didn't. I thought it was such a brilliant idea that I started one of my own the same week that I was introduced to the concept.
A quote book is exactly what it says it is, it's a book that you fill with your favorite quotes. My quote book is a small 3x6 blank book with a picture of Monet's impression sunrise on the front. It's a little bit beaten up from going in and out of my book bag all the years I went to school, high school and college. Now it has a special place in the drawer next to my bed. If I find a quote worthy of going into my quote book, I write it down and then write it in my quote book at my first opportunity. I have an impressive collection of quotes, and it's something I plan to continue doing. I love the idea of having all my favorite quotes in one place. I want to share some of my favorite quotes from my quote book with you, and I urge you to not only share some of your fave quotes with me, but to start your own quote book.
"If you love someone, tell them right then and there, or the time will just pass you by" -- Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding
"The tragic thing about death is that it tranforms life into destiny" -- Malcolm X
"Dream as if you'll live forever, life as if you'll die tomorrow" -- James Dean
"If the mind can conceive it then the man can achieve it" -- LL Cool J
"When I'm away from you for more than an hour, I can't stop thinking about you. I carry you in my spirit, I pray for you more than I pray for myself" -- Shemar Moore in Diary of a Mad Black Woman
"True friends is when two people can travel in opposite directions and yet still are side by side"-- Anonymous
"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right. You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together"-- Marilyn Monroe
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