There And Back Again

Quotes

“By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks to dozens of viewings of Singin’ in the Rain, North & South, White Christmas, Pride & Prejudice, Our Mutual Friend, The Sound of Music (among many other movies), my family has created its own little quotation vernacular. When brainstorming a “creative” way to title my blog posts, I had the idea to begin each post with a quote of some sort, and to extract a few words from that quote to form the title. Is this creative? Probably not. But I’m sticking to it.

For any who wondered at the origins of a quote, I give you the Master List of Quotes:

• Let’s start at the very beginning (“Do Re Mi,” The Sound of Music)

 

• No matter what I try I’m flying full speed ahead (“Moving Too Fast,” The Last Five Years)

 

• That clinking, clanking sound can make the world go ’round (“Money,” Cabaret)

 

• I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. (Blanche, A Streetcar Named Desire, scene 11)

 

• The world keeps spinning round and round (“You Can’t Stop the Beat,” Hairspray)

 

• If only you were an English teacher (“An English Teacher”, Bye, Bye Birdie)

 

• The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things (Lewis Carroll, “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There)

 

• Though this be madness, yet there is method in it (Polonius, Hamlet Act 2, scene 2)

 

• I can hear the bells (“I Can Hear the Bells,” Hairspray)

 

• …when she warned me what people say: live your life until love is found (Mika, “Lollipop,” Life in Cartoon Motion)

 

• Cause forward motion is harder than it sounds (Relient K, “Forward Motion,” Two Lefts Don’t Make a Right But Three Do)

 

• Why is a raven like a writing desk? (Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)

 

• Trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for (“Ya Got Trouble,” The Music Man)

 

• Left my troubles all behind me, the moment that I climbed on board (“On My Way,” Violet)

 

• Time is tickin’ away, tick tick tickin’ away (dcTalk, “Time Is,” Free at Last)

 

• “Curiouser and curiouser,” cried Alice (she was so much surprised that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English)…(Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)

 

• There’s no business like show business, like no business I know (“There’s No Business Like Show Business,” Annie Get Your Gun)

 

• No more a smart little girl with no heart, I have found me a wonderful guy (“A Wonderful Guy,” South Pacific)

 

• Bring him peace, bring him joy. He is young; he is only a boy. You can take, you can give; let him be (“Bring Him Home,” Les Miserables)

 

• Forever God is faithful, forever God is strong, forever God is with us, forever (Chris Tomlin, “Forever”)

 

• I’ve got to admit it’s getting better (better), a little better all the time (The Beatles, “Getting Better,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band)

 

• I’d do anything for love, but I won’t do that, I won’t do that (Meatloaf, “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell)

 

• Life’s like a road that you travel on when there’s one day here and the next day gone (Rascal Flatts, “Life is a Highway,” Me and My Gang)

 

• Another aeroplane, another sunny place, I’m lucky I know, but I wanna go home (Michael Bublé, “Home,” It’s Time)

 

• Time may change me, but I can’t trace time (David Bowie, “Changes,” Hunky Dory)

 

• Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters (“Sisters,” White Christmas)

 

• I’m very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany. (Ron Burgundy, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)

 

• A touch of paint, a magic nail, can turn a kitchen chair into a Chippendale; even make a lamp appear like a crystal chandelier (“A Woman’s Touch,” Calamity Jane)

 

• School’s out for summer, school’s out forever, school’s been blown to pieces (Alice Cooper, “School’s out,” School’s Out)

 

• I’m always thinking one step ahead, like a…carpenter…that makes stairs. (Andy Bernard, “The Merger,” The Office)

 

• Oh, there goes Mr. Humbug, there goes Mr. Grim. If they gave a prize for being mean the winner would be him. (“Scrooge,” The Muppets Christmas Carol)

 

• What is Christmas with no snow? No white Christmas with no snow (“Snow,” White Christmas)

 

• You’re not the boss of me now, you’re not the boss of me now, you’re not the boss of me now and you’re not so big (They Might Be Giants, “Boss of Me,” Malcolm in the Middle theme)

 

• …or an icicle has snapped off his roof and impaled his brain. He has this terrible habit of standing directly underneath them. And staring up at them. And I always say, “Michael, take two steps back and stare at the icicle from the side.” And he’s like, “no, I like the way they look from standing directly underneath them.” It was only a matter of time. (Dwight Schrute, “Stress Relief,” The Office)

 

• In some ways, you’re far superior to my cocker spaniel. (Phil Davis, White Christmas)

 

• Then gosh-o-mighty, all at once the cabin that we knew becomes a shiny castle built for two. (“A Woman’s Touch,” Calamity Jane)

 

• You get up every morning from your alarm clock’s warning, take the 8:15 into the city. (Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “Takin’ Care of Business,” Bachman-Turner Overdrive II)

 

• Oh, you mean my pilot’s license? That’s out back in the Cessna. Or perhaps you’re referring to my license to kill. Revoked. Trouble at the Kazakhstan border. I could give you the details but then I’d have to kill you, which I can’t do because my license to kill has been revoked. (Shawn Spencer, “Poker? I Barely Know Her,” Psych)

 

• Let me ‘splain…No, there is too much. Let me sum up. (Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride)

 

• Oh, I’m clever! Oh, the cleverness of me! Conceited? Not me. It’s just that I am what I am, and I’m me. (“I’ve Gotta Crow,” Peter Pan)

 

• …well, I’m miffed–’cause I’m the greatest star–I am by far, but no one knows it! (“I’m the Greatest Star, Funny Girl)

 

• Everybody wants to be a cat, because the cat’s the only cat who knows where it’s at… (“Everybody Wants to be a Cat,” The Aristocats)

 

• Oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’ Clementine (“Oh my darling, Clemetine,” American Folk Ballad)

 

• What’s the story, morning glory? What’s the tale, nightingale? (“Telephone Hour,” Bye Bye Birdie)

 

• TMI? Too Much Information. It’s just easier to say ‘TMI.’ I used to say “don’t go there,” but that’s lame. (Michael Scott, “The Dundies,” The Office)

(The only quotes I did not include on this list are the ones that already have a reference attached: quotes from the About or Writing sections of this blog, quotes from Film posts, or quotes already sourced within posts.)