Hey, that quote idea was cool, so I took it.

First thought: does anyone else ever think about something stupid they said during the day and get frustrated about it? Not just stupid as in "wow, that was a really mean thing to say, I shouldn't have said it" but as in "that was just socially awkward"? Or is it just me?

Second, much longer thought: I'm going to try what Joey did and list a selection of my favorite quotes. I'll keep it to just song lyrics, because honestly I don't remember most great literary quotes, and I've got a lot of favorites.

"With downcast eyes, there's more to living than being alive"--"Alexithymia", Anberlin

I could quote almost every song this band's written. But this one is particularly notable. It's such a powerful reminder, and so true. I've looped it many times when my life has taken a turn for the worse.


"I wanna break every clock
The hands of time could never move again
We could stay in this moment (stay in this moment)
For the rest of our lives
Is it over now? Hey, is it over now?
I wanna be your last, first kiss
That you'll ever have"
--"Inevitable", Anberlin

I'm still looking for that kind of romance.


"Hands, like secrets, are the hardest thing to keep from you
Lines and phrases, like knives, your words can cut me through
Dismantle me down (repair)
You dismantle me, you dismantle me. "
--"Dismantle.Repair.", Anberlin

But usually my romantic efforts seem to end up more like this.

Tommy, you left behind
something that will mean everything right before you die.
What if you gained the whole world?
You've already lost four little souls from your life.
Widows and orphans aren't hard to find.
They're home missing daddy who's saving the world tonight.
Wish your drinking would hurry and kill you.
Sympathy's better than having to tell you the truth.

That you are the patron saint of lost causes.
All you are to them is now a lost cause.
All you are to them is now causes...

Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
--"*(Fin)", Anberlin

The first stanza, I think, is one of the most powerful, chilling and honest verses ever written. And sometimes I feel like the aforementioned saint--not because I'm any more holy than anyone (by any means!), but because I seem to care more deeply about the lost and hopeless than anyone else...until I become one of them.

There's something moving in the shadows
There is that rumor of hope
When the spirit starts roaring
For so long we have but no longer will we cope
Love is personified
I'd rather die in love than stay alive numb
I'll still call it home
I'm still longing home

Where the sun never dies
Shine away my shadow
Where it's bright when I shut my eyes
I'll drink until I'm not thirsty
The sun never dies
Shine away my shadow
It's just waiting to rise
--"Where the Sun Never Dies", blindside

I fell in love with this band just when I started getting into rock (about fourth grade, maybe?), and this song only gets better with time. And that line in bold...wow.

I was brought up through the ashes
Like a phoenix birthing wings
And I will fight for my disasters
I will take the flight of kings
And if your life is ever torched
Or if you know the pain I sing
Then will you sing with me this chorus
And we will cut through people's hearts and free them
--"Flight of Kings", The Classic Crime

One of my personal anthems, right there.

"Oh, all the memories we had
Framed in our minds like photographs
Take a second, take a second
And make this last
Here where the future meets the past
I can never fall in love again"
--"All the Memories", The Classic Crime

I long for the day when I can say this honestly.

And I will wait for you to come again.
And I can't pretent like I'm confident.
And I can't pretend like it makes much sense when it doesn't.

I have heard that winter's cold will give way to summer's warmth
Oh no! Like salt in the snow,
I'm melted and left all alone on the side of the road.
--"Salt in the Snow", The Classic Crime

As often as people tell me that God is with me in my pain (and I do believe it), sometimes life just sucks, and I have no idea what's going on.

Love is a terrible art, it’s a hook in the heart
That can drag you on broken glass
And as you protest the shards in your flesh
The hook tears out your chest until you’re just a broken mess

Love is a beautiful thing, she can make your heart sing
When you’re walking on broken glass
She will open your eyes, make your heart feel alive
Point you toward the sunrise
Help you leave all this broken mess behind

--"Broken Mess", The Classic Crime

So true.

"Go on, believe, if it turns you on.
Take what you need ‘til your body’s numb.
Prostitution is revolution.
You can hate me after you pay me.
My submission is your addiction.
So just get out while you can."
--"Prostitution is the World's Oldest Profession (And I, Dear Madame, Am a Professional)", Cobra Starship

Oh come on. IT'S FUNNY.

In this sinless city, we wear callouses on our hands.
From empty, vain hand-shaking, we see the guilt has left again.
And all will fall, with or without our good will.
So we fool them all, who pray for those who never will.
And we both let go.

Never been much for pity. Never been much for wishing them well.
But I can’t help but sever the ties they tied so tight, so well.
And on one side they’re holding on to what we were.
And here we are, holding the hands that we severed.
And we both let go.

The fire burns like cancer. The scarring lasts forever.
We all play tricks on fools that see us as their sinless answer.
--"Sinless City", Dead Poetic

Thought-provoking, no?

http://www.lyricsmania.com/vices_lyrics_dead_poetic.html

The whole song is a lyrical masterpiece. I'm not taking the space to quote ALL of it.

Everyone's saying that they've got the answers, but hope is deceiving and spreads like a cancer.
--"Miss Behavin'", Emery

A bleak but true thought.


"Stand up
We shall not be moved
Except by a child with no socks and shoes
If you've got more to give then you've got to prove
Put your hands up and I'll copy you
Stand up we shall not be moved
Except by a woman dying from the loss of food
If you've got more to give then you've got to prove
Put your hands up and I'll copy you"
--"Stand Up", Flobots

Self-explanatory.

"Don't let apathy police the populace
We will march across
Those stereotypes that were marked for us
The answer's obvious
We switch the consonants and
Change the sword to words and lift continents"
Also self-explanatory. And awesome. And totally necessary in today's world.

Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumping
F*ck that, I wanna see some fists pumping
List something, take back what's yours
Say something that you know they might attack you for
'Cause I'm sick of being treated like I had before
Like it's stupid standing for what I'm standing for
Like this war's really just a different brand of war
Like it doesn't cater to rich and abandon poor
--"Hands Held High", Linkin Park

I'm a teenager; I'm obligated by law to quote Linkin Park at least once. No, seriously. This is one of the best anti-war songs I've heard.

on a cold December, just after dusk
as the sun bids its cordial goodbyes,
we’ll be split to pieces like an apple seed husk
to reveal the tree that’s been hidden inside
which sapling called in a tattered sarong
as the seeds from the Shepherd’s Purse fell,
broke the news to Mom,
we found a better Mom we call ‘God,’
which she took quite well
singing, what a beautiful God there must be!
--"Timothy Hay", mewithoutYou

I could analyze this band's lyrics for hours. But, long story short, as far as songs that are explicitly about worshiping God go, this is brilliant.

"I like songs about drifters - books about the same.
They both seem to make me feel a little less insane.
Walked on off to another spot.
I still haven't gotten anywhere that I want.
Did I want love? Did I need to know?
Why does it always feel like I'm caught in an undertow?"
--"The World at Large", Modest Mouse

Oh, Modest Mouse, why must you be so cynical? And why must I spend so much of my life agreeing with this song?

"I backed my car into a cop car the other day
Well he just drove off sometimes life's ok
I ran my mouth off a bit too much oh what did I say?
Well you just laughed it off it was all ok

And we'll all float on okay
And we'll all float on okay
And we'll all float on okay
And we'll all float on any way well"
--"Float On", Modest Mouse

Is it weird that I also spend a lot of my life agreeing with this song?

"Now so many wonder why it is
So much has gone awry in all of this
And being makes you sigh that you exist
But you can't escape this
Seemingly undeserved is your lot
But generations past and you forgot
We chose to eat our fill and fell to naught
This pain is here reminding us to turn and leave
To come back home"
--"Sad Machines", Project 86

Also known as, my answer to the classic problem of pain.

"If you can amputate my heart
Then I will learn to smile and then
You can replace me with yourself
And I'll become the model citizen
And I will tell them all
That I had this breakthrough surgery
They give you a pill
They remove your heart
And replace it with a battery"
--"Soma", Project 86

Hey look, a Brave New World reference! Also, isn't that what society wants of us sometimes?


"I'm just a stranger here, despite your everything
I'm not attached to your world of disease
Like father always said, and I can only agree
Son they will hate you because they always hated me
And even though I feel alone
I know that I could never be

If it's a choice between this veil of ecstasy
And all the lonely suffering of seeing this so clearly
If I've said it once I'll say it twice I'll say it for all eternity
I'll find all the comfort that I need inside this bleeding
And even though I feel alone
You know that I could never be...

Together we are so, so ugly with rejection
But to our, our eyes we, we're the ones shimmering
I've unplugged the wires from your spine
At first you'll be afraid
But we will be so content
And we will live again."
--"Safe Haven", Project 86

Another brilliant, bold statement of faith...and that last stanza is so powerful.

"So forever now we'll find
Our peace inside this
We'll find our solace in your silence
And though I once desired your twisted sense of fame
I know, I know that in myself I'm nothing
Nothing, nothing, nothing but the words of the "meaningless"...
--"Solace", Project 86

Ever wonder where I got the name of this blog from? There you go.

"Son, I'm sorry for this world,
And all the awful things she'll do to you.
If you only knew what you'd endure before you were born,
I haven't got a single doubt,
You would have not come out,
And I would have known it was for the better.
You'll be raped of any evidence
Of ever owning any innocence.
This culture's a vulture,
And you're prime candidate for prey.
I've learned that I will lose all that I've ever loved one day,
But I never thought I'd ever have to watch it all go,
Or wish it all away.

I know you'll grow,
But I wish I knew you'd stay small if I said so.
Please just don't grow (2x)
Just stay small, stay small."
--"Stay Small", The Receiving End of Sirens

I've never understood why these lyrics resonate so powerfully with me. By the way, GO GET THIS BAND'S MUSIC. "Underrated" doesn't begin to describe it.

"I don't ask for much
Truth be told I'd settle
for a life less frightening, a life less frightening"
--"Life Less Frightening", Rise Against

I must confess I feel this way too often.

and I can't tell if you're laughing
between each smile there's a tear in your eye
there's a train leaving town in an hour
it's not waiting for you, and neither am I
--"Paper Wings", Rise Against

And this way, too.

"So tell me now
If this ain't love then how do we get out?
Because I don't know
That's when she said I don't hate you boy
I just want to save you while there's still something left to save
That's when I told her I love you girl
But I'm not the answer for the questions that you still have"
--"Savior", Rise Against

Oh, I can relate.

"I see the parts but not the whole
I study saints and scholars both
No perfect plan unfurls
Do I trust my heart or just my mind
Why is truth so hard to find in this world
Yeah in this world

'Cause I am due for a miracle
I'm waiting for a sign
I'll stare straight into the sun
And I won't close my eyes
Till I understand or go blind

I know that there's a point I've missed
A shrine or stone I haven't kissed
A scar that never graced my wrist
A mirror that hasn't met my fist..."
--"Stare at the Sun", Thrice

Another song I'd loop on bad days.

"We set sail with no fixed star in sight
We drive by Braille and candle light

We're building towers with no foundation.
We're stacking stone on stone, whatever it takes
Mix our mortar with bones.
True progress means matching the world to
The vision in our heads
We always change the vision instead."
--"Circles", Thrice

I've quoted this before, and it's still full of deep thoughts.

And that should do it. I imagine this will get a lot of "tl;dr"'s, but hey, that's life.