The editor of the New York Times Book Review asks "do others have favorite signature passages in books they love — a sentence or two that seem to convey the essence of a complex, beautiful work?" after giving his own example from To The Finland Station. Hundreds respond, often with some wonderful passages (as well as some not so wonderful ones). Any examples from the hive mind?
posted by blahblahblah on Mar 9, 2008 - 159 comments

Kwout, Use it to grab a quick quotation or other screen shot from a web site and embed it into a blog or other website (one click to Flickr and Tumblr).. [via/via] [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Dec 26, 2007 - 20 comments

You affect the world by what you browse! It's another quote site, named metaphilter.
posted by persia on Sep 24, 2005 - 23 comments

Why is everybody mad about the cups?

Last month there were those who were mad about “made-in-Israel-paper cups” at the King Khaled National Guard Hospital in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Now it’s a quote from novelist Armistead Maupin inscribed on Starbucks coffee cups at Baylor University that have made others mad!

Concerned Women for America charged that Starbucks is promoting a homosexual agenda with some paper cups containing Maupin’s quote:

"My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short."

CWA demanded that the cups containing the quote be removed from campus. Baylor Dining Services complied with the request.

(What exactly is the “homosexual agenda”?)
posted by ericb on Sep 21, 2005 - 95 comments

Donald Rumsfeld has won the 2003 Foot in Mouth award. The award is given by the Plain English Campaign for the most baffling quote by a public figure, but they don't seem to realize that Rumsfeld was actually creating poetry. I wonder who will present the award.
posted by homunculus on Dec 1, 2003 - 23 comments

Mark Twain on evolution: It now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one...the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals. And, on war: Statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception. Alphabetized Mark Twain quotes.
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly on Jul 24, 2003 - 16 comments

"I want a boy, just like the boy that married dear old Mom..."
posted by darren on Mar 2, 2001 - 10 comments

First Quote of the Century Here's the first quotable quote of the century. Monica Lewinsky on CNN's Larry King Live discussing her miraculous Jenny Craig weight-loss: "I've learned not to put things in my mouth that are bad for me."
posted by Jeremy on Feb 1, 2000 - 2 comments