(This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. I am writing this month on activities that keep me refreshed during these depressing days. It's Day 17 today.)
In these times, words of inspiration can be very powerful in combating the negativity and the consequent uncertainty about our future.
I like reading them. At one level, they provide a new perspective to different complex situations and at another level, they reinforce our convictions. I have my favourites, but I don't want to put out a list.
There is no dearth of resources to find them -- from popular websites to social media timelines and forwards.
Therein lies a new problem. We are living in an age of misinformation and disinformation. There are many quotes that are wrongly attributed to famous persons. So much so that when I see a quotation I am a bit circumspect, regardless of how inspirational it is.
SHAKESPEARE
Some very popular quotations are actually paraphrased versions of the original. One of the most well-known is "A rose by any other name smells just as sweet", attributed to Shakespeare. However, the correct words are: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet;" from Romeo and Juliet.
MAHATMA GANDHI
Mahatma Gandhi is supposed to have said: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Apparently, there is no documentary evidence to substantiate this, and it's widely believed that he never said it.
According to The New York Times, the closest verifiable remark they have from Gandhi is: "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him ...We need not wait to see what others do."
NEIL ARMSTRONG
But the quotation that became a major talking point and set off a sort of major research was the one by Neil Armstrong when he set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
According to Armstrong himself, if the quotation had to make any sense, there should have been an indefinite article before 'man'. It should have been "a man", and he insists that he did say with an 'a'.
To find out the missing 'a', a detailed analysis of the audiotape was launched, and according to Los Angeles Times, even a study into the way people in Ohio said "for" and "for a". Apparently, many speakers have a tendency to merge the two words!
I like reading them. At one level, they provide a new perspective to different complex situations and at another level, they reinforce our convictions. I have my favourites, but I don't want to put out a list.
There is no dearth of resources to find them -- from popular websites to social media timelines and forwards.
Therein lies a new problem. We are living in an age of misinformation and disinformation. There are many quotes that are wrongly attributed to famous persons. So much so that when I see a quotation I am a bit circumspect, regardless of how inspirational it is.
SHAKESPEARE
Some very popular quotations are actually paraphrased versions of the original. One of the most well-known is "A rose by any other name smells just as sweet", attributed to Shakespeare. However, the correct words are: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet;" from Romeo and Juliet.
MAHATMA GANDHI
Mahatma Gandhi is supposed to have said: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Apparently, there is no documentary evidence to substantiate this, and it's widely believed that he never said it.
According to The New York Times, the closest verifiable remark they have from Gandhi is: "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him ...We need not wait to see what others do."
NEIL ARMSTRONG
But the quotation that became a major talking point and set off a sort of major research was the one by Neil Armstrong when he set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969. "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
According to Armstrong himself, if the quotation had to make any sense, there should have been an indefinite article before 'man'. It should have been "a man", and he insists that he did say with an 'a'.
To find out the missing 'a', a detailed analysis of the audiotape was launched, and according to Los Angeles Times, even a study into the way people in Ohio said "for" and "for a". Apparently, many speakers have a tendency to merge the two words!