1,000,001 Things I Wish I Had Said First
October 10th, 2008
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When I was in college, I noticed that people said a lot of interesting things. They also put quotes from famous people in their email signatures. One day, I started a quote list to keep track of them all.
At first it was just on my computer. Shortly thereafter, I discovered the internet, and put the quote list online, calling it “1,000,001 Things I Wish I Had Said First.” I’m not sure if I ever actually reached that number, but it’s close enough.
I lost my website when I graduated, and forgot about it for 11 years. Then the other day I remembered that I still had it, so I thought I might as well put it up again.
Other than some changes on the main page and the addition of AdSense, it’s essentially the same as it was back then. Yes, web pages looked like that in 1993.
I’ll continue to add new quotes here and there, and maybe someday I’ll split it up into separate categories to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. For now, it’s all alphabetical.
Let me show you some samples.
We’ve got life quotes like this one from Robert Heinlein:
“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
(This is one I cite all the time in specialization vs. generalization debates.)
We’ve got random quotes like this one from an Oklahoma State Legislature bill:
“Any cook of either sex, white or black, of any and all nationalities and religious affiliations, hereafter shall make and bake biscuits of a size not less than six inches in circumference, to weigh not more than one ounce when done, always to be served hot.”
(Yeah, that’s an important bill. Oklahoma sure is lucky that their elected officials faced that crisis head on.)
And my favorite ones are the funny quotes like this one from a Japanese medical form:
“Are you haunted by horribles?
Do you ever run after your nose?
Does your nose choke?
Does your head or face or shoulder ever limp?
Has any part of your body suddenly grown uncontrollable?
Do you have heart thrills?
Do you have hot fit?
Do you feel as if there were two when there is only one?
Are more than half your teeth off?
Do you readily become orderless unless you are strained?”
(Akemi, you did a better job when you worked as a translator, right?)
Enjoy!
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Just over a week to go until Michael Martine’s blog traffic seminar. About an hour ago, I was watching Michael’s live video on Ustream, and I thought it was a really cool format. I was multitasking at the time, but I think he said he was thinking about using live video during his blog traffic seminar. Feel free to leave him a comment demanding live video!
October 10th, 2008 at 6:52 am
“Well, butter my biscuits!” I am sure race and gender are extremely important when baking biscuits. (she says with a very confused look on her face)
Urban Panther´s last blog post..Creative collaboration
October 10th, 2008 at 8:07 am
“Do you ever run after your nose” – too funny. I’m glad you posted these quotes Hunter – now I have another great source for finding quotes to put in my WWSGD plug-in.
By the way – you really are siting on a goldmine. Some of these quotes sites get heaps of traffic. And if you monetise it well with Adsense you could create yourself a nice little income stream
Cath Lawson´s last blog post..Be A Business Success Story, No Matter What Your Age
October 10th, 2008 at 8:29 am
I was just checking in to see how you’re doing — looks like you’re doing fine. I used to have a quotes list back when I had my BBS (a dial-up website). I lost it somewhere alone the line, but since I combed through it carefully for only things that reflected my slant on life, I probably wouldn’t use it now, because I’ve changed.
That Japanese translation is hilarious!
Dot´s last blog post..Haiku Friday
October 10th, 2008 at 10:08 am
I like this quote from your web page: “A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.” — Robert Frost
I keep a notebook where I write down anything that catches my attention and it’s filled with great quotes. I love quote collections.
Marelisa´s last blog post..Five Amazing Stress-Busting Methods on YouTube
October 10th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Hunter,
I second Cath. Seriously, I think you’ve got a goldmine. It’s a great list of quotations, and lots of people like quotations. Just make it a bit more user friendly, and you are ready to go!
The translation — I can’t figure out what the original Japanese were. It just reminds me of the movie Lost in Translation. If you haven’t watched it, go rent it out. It’s the funniest movie I know. (I’m one of the few viewers who understands both languages, but lots of Americans love it too)
October 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
@ Pather, well, that’s why Oklahoma enjoys its reputation of biscuit equality!
@ Cath, I like your WWSGD plugin–it’s like an appetizer before the main course. I’m curious to see how these pages do with AdSense. The big quote sites have tons and tons of quotes, so I’m not sure how much traffic I can get with what I have now.
@ Dot, I’ve changed too, and it was interesting to see some of the quotes I collected back then. Yeah, that Japanese thing was crazy!
@ Marelisa, I like that one too. I’ve never really understood the concept of borrowing money. It’s like you can only borrow money if you don’t need it. I’m sure your notebook is full of interesting things!
@ Akemi, I haven’t seen that movie before, but I’ve heard good things about it. I’ll definitely check it out!
October 10th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Hi Hunter. Yayyy a quotes list! Thanks. I’ve just started one but it’s not near as large as yours. I scanned through the O section and found this one I like; “One disadvantage of having nothing to do is you can’t stop and rest.” So that is a relief — having too many blogs to visit and not enough hours in the day… at least we have the privilege of taking a break.
Davina´s last blog post..Thanks, It Means The World To Me
October 10th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Let’s party like it’s 1993. Wow, black and yellow, no pics. Pre Netscape days..
Beautifull
Jim Gaudet´s last blog post..I am a different person when it’s cold.
October 11th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
@ Davina, I too have that problem of too many blogs, too little time. It’s better than too few blogs, too much time, right? And yes, we sure need our breaks!
@ Jim, yup, pre-Netscape. I used Mosaic, and then Netscape later. But did you notice…no animated gifs!
October 11th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Yeah nice, you know I just read somewhere that the best reading color scheme is black on a yellow background.
Jim Gaudet´s last blog post..The Secret – Do you believe?
October 12th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Definitely a goldmine! You may want to consider tagging keywords and putting in a search bar. It’s not quite easy to find quotes that I am looking for.
Evelyn Lim´s last blog post..Heroes Of Healing: Neale Donald Walsch
October 12th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
@ Jim, I guess it could be true, but depending on the shade of yellow, it could get pretty ugly, don’t you think?
@ Evelyn, I don’t think it’s going to be getting any fancy features, and in fact I would have no idea how to put in a search bar. But if you tell me what quote you want, I’ll go find it!
October 12th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
I don’t like the idea of the Yellow with Black writing, I just read it somewhere.
Hey, are you using PHP for your website? Because I can put a search engine on your list for you if you wanted..
Jim Gaudet´s last blog post..The Secret – Do you believe?
October 14th, 2008 at 12:26 am
@ Jim, nope, it’s just HTML. Thanks for the offer though.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Well, I can get one to work in plain old html…if you are interested.
Jim Gaudet´s last blog post..The Secret – Do you believe?
October 14th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
@ Jim, if you can do it really easily, I’d like to check it out. But please don’t spend any significant time on it. I’m not even sure I’d want to use it, as the goal is to get AdSense clicks. I want people to arrive from a search engine and think “My God, this is ugly! What can I click on to get me away from here? How about this ad?” Usability might hurt ad performance!
October 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Well, there is a ton of free search engines you can install on your web server, but I do not know your hosting info, so I could just point you in the right direction.
I use Linux servers. If you do too, I can point to the easiest one. I would need to look around for a Windows (ISS) version.
Good luck on the ads! PS, I have been clicking on them, I needed to get away!
Jim Gaudet´s last blog post..The Secret – Do you believe?
October 14th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
@ Jim, yeah, it’s Linux. What’s the easiest one?