I find the value of a quote to be highly dependent on the identity of its originator.
This allows me to quickly filter out all kinds of nonsense by known idiots—for example by using killfiles.
Surely you guys are not claiming that there is no correlation between author and value! That would seem like “everyone’s equal” political correctness taken to extremes!
I agree, if we’re talking about books. Further, I agree that some people are way better at making good quotes than others.
But even a broken clock is right twice a day—and if someone has taken the trouble to excerpt a quote from an author (i.e., they have pre-filtered it for me), it does not take me significantly more time to read the quote than it does to verify that I like the originator. (Unless I know I’m unlikely to agree with the aesthetics of the person who made the excerpt, but that’s a different story entirely!)
I find the value of a quote to be highly dependent on the identity of its originator.
This allows me to quickly filter out all kinds of nonsense by known idiots—for example by using killfiles.
Surely you guys are not claiming that there is no correlation between author and value! That would seem like “everyone’s equal” political correctness taken to extremes!
I agree, if we’re talking about books. Further, I agree that some people are way better at making good quotes than others.
But even a broken clock is right twice a day—and if someone has taken the trouble to excerpt a quote from an author (i.e., they have pre-filtered it for me), it does not take me significantly more time to read the quote than it does to verify that I like the originator. (Unless I know I’m unlikely to agree with the aesthetics of the person who made the excerpt, but that’s a different story entirely!)