by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: August 10, 2009   Last Updated: August 15, 2011

Sources of inspiration for writing are all around.  When we become aware of them, writing them down is the best thing to do. In that way, we will never - theoretically at least - be without something to write about. Often, later while writing, we are no longer as enthusiastic or inspired.  But simply putting words down on on paper or on the computer, inspire us. Although Inspiration is common, it amounts to nothing if we don't use it properly. Most of us find we cannot read a page in book without wanting to add something, or take something away, from what we are reading.

This however, is seldom the case with quotations. They are everywhere and nowhere is inspiration more easily acquired than leading off an article with a quote. This quote can take on many different meaning when seen with a different purpose in mind. Many find the bible an ample supplier of inspiration and seek out a bit of scripture to prove a point. Others, while writing may be reminded of something from the bible and use this as a backup for a statement they have made.

Some times, in reading the bible as an example,  we come across attitudes that puzzle us. We stop and think through this before going on to the next sentence. As an example, this random selection I am lifting from Ecclesiastics 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because when the face is sad the heart is wiser. That stops us in our tracks. What does it  mean? We can view that one thought in many ways. Whatever, if we so desire, we could build a whole article, a whole book around those words. Our article could deal with self education and how we know what we know when we know it; the source of our knowing which of course is the Creator when we are at our wits end and need His guidance; or we could hook those words onto the idea of finding something good about everything, even sorrow.

To do any of these things with the words of other is to carry their message to some rightful conclusion. We will explain that laughter is also good and has its place, and the quote has nothing to do about keeping us from making joyful noises unto the lord, even when it is innocent laughter. It is more like preparing us for the times when we will not be laughing but will be sorrowful and inward looking. Although that quote will definitely have lots to say about wiping that smirk off our face if we have come to poke fun, and not to rejoice, and to learn.

Smirks and their interpretations we can find in the writing of Shakespeare when our inspirational needs direct us to his works. His wit knows no bounds and he knocked out his opponents so well when he strutted and fretted upon the stage, the world is still playing ball with his gems. All the world is a stage . . . shows where he gets his inspiration for some of his pithy sayings. He gets them from himself and his occupation with playwriting and performing. We could write an article about this choice of quotation and take it into various area of thought.

For Vanity Fair we could lead into an article about the fashion runways, for baseball fans we could, if we so choose, write about the attendants at the games and how the whole affair is overrated. We could show how the world is indeed a stage when the next approaching Olympics game is scheduled to open. This quote is so well known we could use it to write book, if we so choose by using it sentence for sentence as chapter headings as we reflect on the stages of life lived from infancy to old age. Inspiration needs only an audience, a reason, and a writer willing to follow wherever it leads.

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