Haven't had Quote Of The Week for a while, so here's a bumper edition to make up for it:
"It's never too late to be what you might have been." George Eliot
"Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others." Mark Twain
"It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste." Henry Ford.
"Never give up. Die first." www.mr-edit-literary-services.co.uk
And a few more light-hearted contributions from Twitter's GreySkyThinking Gwyn Grey:
"If you keep taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back you'll end up ahead. Unless you're taking a Salsa class. Then you'll end up in the street."
"You may feel like the whole world's against you but remember, a lot of them haven't met you yet."
"The only person who can stop you getting what you want is you. And that store detective."
Then to end with, another rye Twitterer ThisDamnQuote with:
"Parents spend 2 years teaching their child to walk and talk and then spend the next 16 years telling them to sit down and shut up."
There now. That lot will hopefully set us up for the week!
Regarding the quote about the first two years … the line is: “The thing about kids is that you spend the first two years of their lives getting them to walk and talk, and the next 16 getting them to sit down and shut up”. I wrote it as part of a sit-down comedy routine (I don’t consider myself a stand-up), and performed it several times around the era of its writing – 1994. I then included it in a newspaper column, which originally ran in the Ottawa Citizen, then was published by several wire services (all pre-web). I don’t own much – a mangy cat, a crooked farm house, and the twins who inspired the quote, who are now 20. So there you go. You can now add my name to this one. And the guy who wrote all those Captain Underpants books must have picked it up from somewhere – it’s not his. It’s mine. Cheers. Melanie Scott
Thank you for your comment Melanie. I guess one of the downsides of the Internet is that if what you say is interesting or funny, people will pick up on it. You’d always like to hope that you’d be credited, but years down the line it’s probably hard to still be acknowledged as the writer. As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I guess I’d be pleased if I were you, but hope that by adding your comment here, anyone reading will be able to see it. Thank you for taking the time to contact me. Jane