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Wisdom and Wit About the Wonderful and Often Wacky World of Words
Published by Bob Kelly
Resident Wordsmith and Quotemeister
WordCrafters, Inc.
www.wordcrafters.info
Providing the Right Word for Speakers, Writers, Ministry Leaders, Business Executives and Just Plain Folks — since 1979!
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Volume 6 — Number 6 June 2008
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Welcome to Issue 66 of The KellyGram!
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For a quote lover such as I, these past few weeks have produced a bountiful harvest of materials. It began when Dr. Mardy Grothe, my friend and fellow quote lover, sent me a great book titled Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists. Compiled by best-selling author James Geary, it features several hundred aphorisms from more than 350 authors, along with brief biographies of each.
Shortly thereafter, I saw a newspaper article about a bookstore that was closing its doors, and was offering bargain prices on its large collection of used volumes. Of course, I hurried on over, and soon had a few more quote books to add to my collection.
Then, longtime Colorado friends, Leo and Carol Chiolero, forwarded to me a batch of delightful aphorisms via email. (We'll talk about aphorisms, epigrams, maxims and other members of the quotation family in next month's issue..)
Finally, two more happenings added exclamation points to a serendipitous month for this quote maven. The first was the discovery of a great company named Simple Truths, LLC, and second was the release of my newest book, Kids Are Tremendous, which I did in collaboration with Charlie "Tremendous" Jones. For more information about both topics, read on.
With all these new goodies, it struck me that an appropriate theme for this issue of The KellyGram would be "quotations." As always, we hope you'll find these selections informative and entertaining.
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In This Issue:
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FUN WITH WORDS
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With Father's Day being celebrated this month, we challenge you to identify the following where his name appears:
__ __ __ __ __ D A D |
Birthplace of Calypso music |
You'll find the correct answers elsewhere in this issue.
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THE QUOTE CORNER (Quotations)
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A quotation in a speech, article, or book is like a rifle in the hands of an infantryman. It speaks with authority.
Brendan Francis Behan
Quoting (n): the act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
Ambrose Bierce
We consider a well-placed quotation…to be one of the signs of an erudite and educated person. It lends weight to one’s own opinions by somehow invoking a greater—or at least more well-known—authority.
James Charlton
People will accept your ideas much more rapidly if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first.
David Comins
I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.
Marlene Dietrich
The wisdom of the wise, and the experience of ages, are perpetuated by quotations.
Benjamin Disraeli
If you can't find the exact quote you want, make it up.
Robert Fulghum
Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language.
Samuel Johnson
Quotations have always been supremely effective rhetorical devices, instruments of one-upmanship, ways of supporting any position under the sun with borrowed or stolen authority.
Justin Kaplan
Authors frequently begin a chapter with a quote. Often that singular quotation has more substance than the entire text that follows it.
Charles Robert Lightfoot
I quote others only the better to express myself.
Michel de Montaigne
A book that furnishes no quotations is no book—it is a plaything
Thomas Love Peacock
He who resolves never to ransack any mind but his own will be soon reduced from mere barrenness to the poorest of all imitations: he will be obliged to imitate himself.
Sir Joshua Reynolds
The genius of quotation is abroad. Public speakers, preachers, pleaders, and teachers are wont to enrich their addresses with the bright utterances of brilliant men.
Charles S. Robinson
A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.
Joseph Roux
I always have a quotation for everything – it saves original thinking.
Dorothy L. Sayers
I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.
George Bernard Shaw
Early in my ministry…I discovered that as windows admit light to a house, quotations and illustrations can shed clarity on a lesson, sermon or speech.
George Sweeting
I have never found a better way to enhance the communications process than by reinforcing the points or concepts I wish to make with timely, memorable quotations.
Carolyn Warner
(Note: These quotations are taken from our collection of more than 400 published volumes of quotations and 1.5 million entries. If you're looking for some quotes on virtually any subject, send us an email at bob@kellygram.com, or call us at 480-895-7617. Or, if you have a quote topic you'd like us to feature in an upcoming issue, email it to us and we'll get it on the schedule.)
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SIMPLE TRUTHS: A GREAT RESOURCE FOR WORD LOVERS
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As a long-time collector of quotations, I'm always delighted to learn of someone else who shares my passion for them. Just recently, I discovered a company which presents quotations in the most beautiful and creative ways I've ever seen. The man behind this venture is Mac Anderson, the founder and principal in an Illinois-based company named Simple Truths, LLC.
A highly successful entrepreneur, Mac launched Simple Truths in 2005, a year after selling another company, Successories, which he'd founded many years earlier. Here's how he describes his vision for his new company: "There is one thing in life that took me a long time to learn, and that's... less is almost always more. This "simple truth" is the foundation on which our company was built. I wanted to create beautiful gift books that anyone can read in less than thirty minutes."
Creating beautiful gift books is exactly what Mac has done – but he hasn't stopped there. His company has also created a series of mini inspirational movies (about three minutes each) based on many of the gift books.
I've already added some of these beautiful books to my collection. Among my favorites so far is Great Quotes from Great Leaders. Compiled by Mac's wife, Peggy, it's a beautiful coffee table edition, with 75 photographs and more than 400 great quotations by leaders from all walks of life.
For a preview, check out this short, three-minute movie of Great Quotes from Great Leaders, by clicking on the following link:
http://www.simpletruths.com/a.aspx?af=1082&mo=GQGL. It's well worth it.
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QUOTING OTHERS: THE COPYRIGHT CONUNDRUM!
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"Do I have to get permission to use third-party quotations in my new book?" That's a question I continue to get asked periodically, but there's no simple answer. It would be nice if copyright law stipulated that it's okay to use quotes of 25 or 50 or 500 words without permission from the copyright holder. But there's no such stipulation. Instead, there are several important considerations. For example: Are the quotes you want to use in the "public domain"? Does the quoted material constitute "fair use"?
I began collecting quotations many years ago. Today, I own more than 400 volumes of them, which include about one-and-a-half million quotes. In recent years, five volumes of quotations I compiled have been published, so I've done a lot of research on their use.
Please understand that the following information is based on my personal experience, and it's certainly not intended as legal advice.
Based on my research and discussions with intellectual property attorneys and publishers, there appears to be nothing in the law that specifically and directly addresses "stand alone" quotations. The consensus: as long as you avoid a lot of quotations from a single source, forgo long selections, provide attribution where known, and operate in good faith, you're probably safe.
In his book, How to Write a Book Proposal, literary agent Michael Larsen writes: "Quotes of fewer than 250 words from a book are usually considered 'fair use,' that is, they may be used without permission of the copyright holder."
The Chicago Manual of Style, used by nearly all book publishers, states that permissions must be obtained: "if an author quotes at length, or uses many short passages, from a copyrighted work."
Please be aware that neither of these books is citing the law. So, if you're concerned about using quotations in your materials, talk with an intellectual property attorney. And, if you want to do an Internet search yourself, you’ll find lots of information on copyright, fair use, public domain, etc. by entering those words on Google or another search engine.
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OUR NEW ARRIVAL
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In 2000, I had the honor and privilege of collaborating with world-famous motivational speaker Charlie "Tremendous" Jones on a book titled The Tremendous Power of Prayer. A year later, our book won a Silver Angel Award from Hollywood-based Excellence in Media.
This year, Charlie and I joined forces again to produce Kids Are Tremendous, which has been published by Charlie's company, Executive Books, and is now available on our web site. It features several hundred observations about children and childhood by some of history's most famous personalities.
But Kids Are Tremendous is more than simply a collection of quotations. In raising six kids of their own, Charlie and his wife Gloria learned a lot about equipping them for the future. An avid reader himself, Charlie developed a unique and effective method for instilling in his children a love and appreciation for good literature.
In Kids Are Tremendous, he offers sound advice on how you can turn the young people in your life into lifelong readers. We've even included a sample "contract" form you can use to get them moving in the right direction.
During his career, Charlie has given away millions of books, firmly convinced that: "You are the same today as you'll be in five years, except for two things, the people you meet and the books you read."
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SMILE AWHILE
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Given the theme of this month's KellyGram, we've selected a few quotations we hope will bring a smile or two to your face.
I like long walks, especially when they’re taken by people who annoy me.
Fred Allen
I’ve exercised with women so thin that buzzards followed them to their cars.
Erma Bombeck
According to statistics, it’s a lot easier to get hit by lightning than to win a Lotto jackpot. The good side: you don’t hear from your relatives.
Johnny Carson
One of the advantages bowling has over golf is that you seldom lose a bowling ball.
Don Carter
Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman giving birth to a child. She must be found and stopped.
Sam Levenson
I’ve had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me and the second one didn’t.
Patrick Murray
My grandmother was a very tough woman. She buried three husbands and two of them were just napping.
Rita Rudner
The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served us nothing but leftovers. The original meal had never been found.
Calvin Trillin
Don’t marry a man to reform him – that’s what reform schools are for.
Mae West
When I die, I want to die like my grandmother who died peacefully in her sleep – not screaming like all the passengers in her car.
Anonymous
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ODDS AND ENDS
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Back Issues:
All previous issues of The KellyGram, dating back to January 2003, are available on our website: http://www.wordcrafters.info/back_issues.html.
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Your privacy is very important to us. We assure you that under no circumstances will we share, distribute, publish, give away or sell our mailing lists or other information about you to any other party.
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As always, I welcome your support. If you've found The KellyGram to be a helpful resource, I'd be grateful if you'd send this issue along to your friends, family members and colleagues. If they'd like to subscribe – it's FREE – all they have to do is send an email to bob@kellygram.com or use the form at http://www.wordcrafters.info/newsletters.html. Thanks so much!
Comments/Questions:
Your comments and questions are always welcome. Please contact us at bob@kellygram.com, or call Bob Kelly at (480) 895-7617.
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Answer to Fun with Words:
Here are the answers to this month's puzzle:
TRINIDAD
SKEDADDLE
DOODAD
BAGHDAD
DADE
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THE LAST WORD
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There are five billion people on Earth, and I should guess that at any given moment one or two billion of us are speaking. And I should further guess that virtually nothing anyone says is memorable.... There are times, however, when someone turns a phrase that seems so clever or so apt or so enlightening or so true, that the statement flies from person to person and gives pleasure at each passage. The statement becomes a "quotation."
(Isaac Asimov)
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© 2008 by Bob Kelly. All rights reserved.
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