# What should I use for my senior quote? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420 "2002-12-09T03:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/61 "2002-12-11T22:58:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > \*\*I hate escapes like this… \*\* I hate having an exit like that… It ruins the whole day. And **Shirley** , I love “Whenever you are on the side of the majority it is time to reform. (Mark Twain)” ---
**Author:** ![Tenebras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@Tenebras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenebras)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/62 "2002-12-11T23:51:30Z")
Umm… Why did Caligula say his last words in French? > [@](#): > > Je vit encore! (I’m still alive!) Caligula’s last words. ---
**Author:** ![mandielise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@mandielise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandielise)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/63 "2002-12-12T01:01:08Z")
Well, seeing as French wasn’t around yet when Caligula died, I’m guessing he DIDN’T say his last words in French. However, Lorenzo might have gotten the quote from a French source. Just like you always hear Descartes’ “I think therefore I am.” He wrote it in Latin (cogito ergo sum) and in French (je pense donc je suis) - but never in English. ---
**Author:** ![Vengeant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@Vengeant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vengeant)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/64 "2002-12-12T08:30:33Z")
Good quotes, all and sundry. 🙂 I feel that I should mention that in my senior yearbook, a bunch of my friends got the idea to put in secret messages. Tehy strung words toegether so that the first letter of each word spelled out the message. Of course, the first message like that was “smoke pot”. 🙂 And if you’re feeling subversive, go for a Tyler Durden quote from “Fight Club,” although they’ll proibably require some editing, cutting out the cuswords and all. One that springs to mind are: “You are not your fucking khakis” Vengeant ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/65 "2002-12-12T13:07:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by js\_africanus \* > \*\*Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh… I just about fell out of my chair. That is a _fantastic_ quote. You deserve a medal for bringing it up. You are super-duper. You are the best. You are a scholar and a gentle-person. Kudos. \*\* Aw, shucks. Thanks! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2002, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/66 "2002-12-12T16:14:20Z")
You can have mine: “Morituri te salutamus” (we who are about to die salute you–what gladiators said to the emperor). I couldn’t decide between that and “you may be a lover but you ain’t no dancer”. (P. McCartney) **ftg** ’s suggestion reminds me of Bilbo’s birthday speech–the one about “I know half of you half as well as I should like, and like less than half of you half as well as you deserve” (or something like that)–which would also make a cool quote. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/67 "2002-12-16T18:46:19Z")
So long, and thanks for all the fish ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/68 "2002-12-16T19:12:44Z")
Do not be fooled by the calm serenity of the butterfly. If it had the chance, it would kill you and everyone you know. * * * R: Do you think death could possibly be a boat? G: No, no, no…Death is . . .not. Death isn’t. You take my meaning. Death is the ultimate negative. Not being. You can’t not-be on a boat. R: I’ve frequently not been on boats. G: No, no, no. What you’ve been is not on boats. -From Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, by Tom Stoppard From same: The Player: The old man thinks he’s in love with his daughter. Rosencrantz: Good God. We’re out of our depths here. The Player: No, no, no! He hasn’t got a daughter! The old man thinks he’s in love with his daughter. Rosencrantz: The old man is? The Player: Hamlet… in love… with the old man’s daughter… the old man… thinks. Rosencrantz: Ah. And one more: Roz: To sum up: your father, whom you love, dies, you are his heir, you come back to find that hardly was the corpse cold before his young brother popped onto his throne and into his sheets, thereby offending both legal and natural practice. Now, why exactly are you behaving in this extraordinary manner? ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/69 "2002-12-16T20:41:58Z")
founder member of C.O.C.O.A., Campaign Opposing Contrived Outrageous Acronyms. ---
**Author:** ![SUPERKARLENE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@SUPERKARLENE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SUPERKARLENE)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/70 "2002-12-16T21:37:32Z")
Found in my father’s yearbook: “Have a great life, and I hope that all your ups and downs are in bed!” ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/71 "2002-12-17T02:54:48Z")
My quote was: “Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and **educate yourself** if you’ve got any guts. Some of you like **pep rallies** and plastic robots who tell you what to read. Forget I mentioned it… Rise for the flag salute.” It’s been six months, and I don’t regret it a bit. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/72 "2002-12-17T23:57:03Z")
Here’s a serious one. I’ve posted this before. The sentence in bold is what I’m thinking of, but the whole thing is really good, so I had to post it: Babylon 5, by J. Michael Straczynski. Episode “Z’ha’dum” G’kar’s speech at the end. > [@](#): > > It was the end of the earth year 2260, and the war had paused, suddenly and unexpectedly. All around us, it was as if the universe were holding its breath, waiting… > > All of life can be broken down into moments of transition or moments of revelation. This had the feeling of both. > > G’Quon wrote, “There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities. It is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of dreams. Against this peril we can never surrender. **The future is all around us, waiting in moments of transition to be born in moments of revelation.** No one knows the shape of the future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.” ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/73 "2002-12-18T00:01:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Already in Use \* > \*\*My quote was: > > “Drop out of school before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Forget about the Senior Prom and go to the library and **educate yourself** if you’ve got any guts. Some of you like **pep rallies** and plastic robots who tell you what to read. Forget I mentioned it… Rise for the flag salute.” > > It’s been six months, and I don’t regret it a bit. \*\* I think I know that one. It’s from the Frank Zappa and the MOI album “Freak Out”, right? ---
**Author:** ![TVGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TVGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/74 "2002-12-18T01:30:06Z")
_The harshest tyranny is that which acts under the protection of legality and the banner of justice._ - Charles de Secondat, Baron de la Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755) This one is especially relevant nowadays… ---
**Author:** ![montag01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@montag01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/montag01)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/75 "2002-12-18T04:26:13Z")
No man is an island; some manage to be peninsulas. ---
**Author:** ![Flowerchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/858c86/32.png) [@Flowerchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flowerchild)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/76 "2002-12-18T04:38:31Z")
Rowrrbazzle, I think that has to be one of the coolest quotes ever. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/77 "2002-12-18T05:28:49Z")
I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: All right, I’ll go to Hell–and tore it up. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![meeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@meeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meeker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420/78 "2002-12-18T22:23:55Z")
“Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.” blue skies… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-use-for-my-senior-quote/141420.md?page=3)