Saturday, October 25, 2008

What's your favorite line.




Satellite view of Robin Shelly's home. Robin’s home was just recently revealed by Suzy Blah Blah.









Robin suggested that she was up for a little Sweetness and Light, and thought that it would be really neat to post some favorite movie quotes. I haven’t been to a lot of movies lately, so I thought that it might be fun to do more than just movie quotes.


I like people, and find them to be interesting, and I am often curious about what makes them tick. What I am interested in more than anything is what quotes might resonate with who you are. Give your favorite quote or your favorite poem, being hokey counts as a real plus. Deep drama is an “A”. Sadness is a “C”. Humor is an “A+”. There is no failing grade. Just be honest and talk about what you like, or what moves you.


Okay, I’ll start. This isn’t necessarily deep, or moving, but I particularly liked the lines from True Grit. Where John Wayne stared as Rooster Cogburn.


[Rooster confronts the four outlaws across the field]

Ned Pepper: (One of the outlaws) "What's your intention? Do you think one on four is a dogfall?"

Rooster Cogburn: (Good guy)"I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which'll it be?"

Ned Pepper: I call that mighty bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.

Rooster Cogburn: Fill your hands, you son of a bitch. (As he sticks the reins in his mouth, slaps his horse, and gallops across the field toward the outlaws with guns blazing.

One of my favorite lines from a song is from Bobby Magee by Chris Christopherson.
“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose”

And of course my favorite author is Shakespeare, and my favorite lines are from King Henry the Fifth, and the Battle of St. Crispens day speech. Either you know it already, or you don’t, but with some study as to what he said in those lines, you will find it to be greatly inspiring! Fair warning, It’s not easy to understand, so take it one line at a time until you know what Shakespeare said. Most dedicated Shakespeare fans can quote the whole speech. I'm not that good at remembering lines, so I just read and enjoy them.
In the play, the speech was made as the british King Henry the Fifth was going into battle in France. The kings men were greatly out-numbered, and they were weary from crossing the English Channel in a ship. They yearned for more men to help them, but Henry gave this most inspiring speech before leading his men into battle.

Enter the KING
WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day!
KING. What's he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day.
Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot,
Salisbury and Gloucester-
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Okay, What’s your favorite lines? Robin?

17 comments:

Kym said...

Favorite line from a tv show--Jayne in Firefly "I'll be in my bunk." And no I'm not going to explain the connotations.

Favorite line from a movie--I'm going to cheat here and repeat The St Crispin's day speech as done by Kenneth Brannaugh. Brings tears to my eyes every time.

Favorite line from a song (but I've ruined it for my kids in fact they now hate the Rolling Stones)-- You can't always get what you want. You can try some time but you might find, you get what you need. Yah yah.

Favorite piece of poetry to quote is----

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Anonymous said...

If they are on the battle field and they are shooting at you, they are guilty.

Oregon

Ernie Branscomb said...

Kym, the poem “Daffodils” is by William Wordsworth.

I usually don’t think of myself as being that much into poetry, it’s not manly man. Reading poetry is like eating quiche, it’s real good, but real men are careful not to be caught eating it, or if they get caught, they claim it was a strange set of circumstances that led up to it, and it was surely an accident. So, I read a little poetry by “accident” sometimes.

“Daffodils“ has long been one of my favorite poems. It reminds me of my Gramma Ruby, who fed half of the Laytonville valley out of her garden and orchard. When grandma ruby would thin her Daffodils she would always save the best bulbs and give them to the kids in the family. She would tell them to just plant them wherever they wanted to, as long as in was in soft dirt and in the sun. She knew full well that they would bloom, because she had already raised and fed them, and as you know the bloom is in the bulb.

Daffodils that have been raised right will even bloom as an indoor plant. I saw many Daffodils blooming through the snow in Laytonville. When I was a kid my sister and I would pick daffodils for my mother, then we would get out the food coloring and set each flower in different colored water, then watch them change to all the colors of the rainbow. The lighter colored ones are best for dyeing.

Now that I think about it, that is what a poem is for; to stir a memory or a feeling. I still like the manly man poems the best, but a person has to read through the girly poems also just to get to the good ones. Like the ones that “The wind is like a whetted knife”.

This is for my cousin “Oregon” who probably wishes he was back living on his boat again, instead of paying rent.

"Sea-Fever"

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

By John Masefield (1878-1967).
(English Poet Laureate, 1930-1967.)

Anonymous said...

"Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?"

Anonymous said...

that is what a poem is for; to stir a memory or a feeling.

omg this is a way cool thread... daffodils and gay poets and blown spume and pensive moods and inward eyes and vagrant gypsies and daffodils and everything else wow!

OK hear r some quotes that arent my favorite because i cant remember my favorite quote right now... LOL , but these are pretty cewl though and more importantly -- i have them handy because i memorized them way back before i lost the key to my memory bank LOL -- and that makes it sooo much easier.. gawd knows its hard enough, this life, without haveing to try to scoop up my favorite quotes out of my lost memory files or where-ever, but then maybe my memory just needs more stirring? ... but anyway for now these will have to do as substitutes --

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will finally know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
T. S. Eliot,

A majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).
Ayn Rand

a rose is a rose is a ... uh i forgot the rest of that one but its by Gertrude Stien whose girlfreind Alice B Tokelass had her autobiography written by Gertrude and also had given us her infamous recipe for brownies ...

speaking of faverote movie quotes did yuo see that documentry movie about the beat poets? it was called "Go!" or something like that. i think its on netflix but and they intervwied all these poets (mostly dudes) and beatnik like peeps from back then and ...billy saw it a couple a times but i only got to see the beginning of it where that poet is blabbing on and on -- the one who wears a beret and everything and is so cool and talks really really fast and everything but then i fell asleep LOL but anyway Suzy luv movies but billys basically the one watching them mostly these days not eye ...

in fact ahem Suzy hasnt seen many movies at all lately cuz ive been soooo busy cuz a little while back Billy fell a tree and it hit the greenhouse jeeeez-leweese and anyway -- good that the crop was in --whew! but anyway .. so I tooke the chainsaw and cut up what was left of the the shattered fir pole frame into kindling wood while Billy sat depressed on the cuoch watching dvds hes already seen a hundred times...

so becuz he quit cutting firewood and was being so glum and everytheing and the firewood he was cutting ... which was green anyway ... and besides maybe it was a good thing he quit cuz who knows where the next treee mihgt fall with Billy at the controls soooooo .... Suzy went and gotta day job trimming ... working day after day from dawn to late at night fwas tedious as Hell and now my back is soooo totally aching but Suzy made enough money to buy four cords of dry firewood --dilivered== and i got Billy to help me cover it with the old plastic skin from the greenhouse to keep it dry and efverything sooo... but anyway its .. its a HUGE pile of wood ... its bueatiful .. its like poetry ... Billy says its monolythic, whatever that means i guess some shit he learned watching movies... but so anyway it looks like totlally THERE --knowwhatimsayin? -- and i made the tarp and kindling out of the old greenhuose junk... and now i'll uh ...consume it (is that what yuo do with poetry?) LOL! no i know what ill do ill appreciate it! thats what suzy will be doing this winter when its cold and rainy and the storm is blowing (...it was a dark and stormy night LOL) and Suzy ... shell be apriciating ... bringing wood into house and shaking rain driplets from her hair as she throws a log onto the fire -ssss- LOL uh ... where was i? o yeah --quotes -- hey i just remembered my favorite line --sometheing mustve stirred it up -- LOL

the taste of rain
why kneel?

jAck Kerouac

huggles,
S

Ernie Branscomb said...

That would be another of my favorite lines;( "huggles S" )

Suzy always writes original poetry.

Ernie Branscomb said...

suzy

I do
haiku to
but not as good

Here's one by the master;

old pond
a frog jumps
the sound of water
by Matsuo Bashō

Anonymous said...

I don't mind eels
Except as meals
and the way they feels.

Ogden Nash

Oregon

Rose said...

Logan's run - Jessica 6 upon first entering the real world, and feeling cold, says, "I hate outside! I hate it! I hate it!" Right before they meet the man with the cats.

Anonymous said...

"Ahhhhhh! I'm melting, I'm melting. Look what you have done to my beautiful wickedness! Ahhhhh...

Ernie Branscomb said...

Been gone
back now
Estelle is as good as elected

Kristabel said...

"I am at this moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip."

— John Kennedy Toole (A Confederacy of Dunces)


I've read this book too many times to count and still laugh all the way through it.

Anonymous said...

If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or Fight Like Hell.
Lance Armstrong

Robin Shelley said...

Whoa! Nothin' like waking up & finding yourself on the front page! My house looks pretty good from outer space, don't you think? It's small but we like it.
You surprised me with this, Ernie. I'll be back!

Ernie Branscomb said...

Good morning Robin. Your relatives are starting to show up on the golf course in front of my house. I've only seen one or two so far but they seem to be catching worms to eat.

They say that Robins show up in the spring, but we see more in the winter here.

Now that you have put yourself on the spot, it is not the time to go looking for a favorite quote. Just give us the first one that you think of, it’s probably going to be more “telling” anyway.

Anonymous said...

"Buzzards gotta eat same as the worms."
Josey Wales

Robin Shelley said...

I wrecked "The Reception" for my kid, too, Kym... my daughter says it is my mantra.

Daffodils & daisies are my favorite flowers, Ernie, & what I wanted for my wedding bouquet when my husband & I got married in mid-August all those years ago. I remember the florist telling me that I could probably get daffodils in Australia that time of year but not in California. LOL.