Quotations

I enjoy quotations, but there is no way to escape the problems of attribution, translation, and context.

Though people may argue about the true source of a quotation, the fact is that no one can ever be certain of a quotation's origin. Even if you were present when someone made a statement, or wrote something down, THEY might have been quoting an earlier source, possibly without even knowing it. So the best we can do is acknowledge the person who is generally given credit for being the quotation's origin -- though sometimes these attributions are widely believed to be in error. There is also the fact that many people may have independently stated almost precisely the same idea. For example, various famous musicians are credited with observing that "There are only two kinds of music -- good and bad."

Then there is the issue of translation. Julius Caesar is given credit for the famous quotation, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Julius Caesar did not speak English. Julius Caesar MAY have used the Latin words, "Veni, vidi, vici" -- which is a compelling quotation, even for someone who does not speak Latin. I do not know who first translated "Veni, vidi, vici" into "I came, I saw, I conquered". They COULD have translated it as "I arrived, I viewed, and I subjugated", but that does not seem nearly as eloquent. My point is that the translator really should share the credit for many quotations, but rarely does.

Finally, there is the matter of context. It is tempting to assume that if someone says or writes something, it is something that they themselves believe to be true. This is often a false assumption. Quotations often come from works of fiction, or a person may even be ridiculing a certain idea. Many famous quotations come from Shakespeare, and many of these are spoken by characters in plays. The fact that a character in a play states, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" does not mean that Shakespeare himself was opposed to borrowing and lending, yet the quotation is attributed to Shakespeare. (I am deliberately ignoring the scholarly questions regarding the true source of Shakespeare's plays.)

Despite the facts that we can never be sure of the original source of any quotation, and many quotations are translations from other languages, and the quotation may not represent the actual belief of the person who made the statement, quotations eloquently present ideas for further contemplation. I do my best to give credit where credit is due, but I claim no certainty.