Quotations Weblog » TV

50 Common Misquotations

Laura Moncur — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:47:49 +0000

This episode of Mental Floss was WONDERFUL! The author, John Green, tells us fifty common misquotations.

I enjoyed this video so much!

Pre-Makes from Whoiseyevan

Laura Moncur — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:46:41 +0000

For movies fans, these “Pre-Makes” are trailers from movies that never were. They all answer questions such as these:

What if Indiana Jones had been filmed in 1951 with Charlton Heston as Indy?

What if Forrest Gump had been filmed in 1949 with Jimmy Stewart as Forrest?

What if Ghost Busters had been filmed in 1954 with Bob Hope, Fred McMurray and Dean Martin?

These masterful trailers show the beauty of taking the old, melding it with the not-so-old and creating something entirely new and enjoyable.

Sex And The City Quotes

Laura Moncur — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:00:49 +0000

I never got into Sex And The City when it was showing on HBO. With the movie release this month, I thought that I would give the television series a try. I downloaded the first season of Sex And The City on iTunes and thought that I would give a few episodes a watch.

Two weeks and hours of nearly obsessive watching later, I have decided that this series was one of the most intelligent shows on television. Sure, there are the gratuitous f-bombs and sex scenes that just scream, “We’re on HBO!” If you can wade through the sex talk, there is a gutsy story of four women in New York. Like the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold, Sex And The City has a lot to offer the thinking mind.

Here are my favorite quotes:

No matter how far you travel or how much you run from it, can you ever really escape your past?

Becky Hartman Edwards and Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City, Escape from New York, 2000

It’s very strange when the life you never had flashes before your eyes.

Terri Minsky, Sex and the City, The Baby Shower, 1998

Maybe coming clean is the ultimate selfish act. A way to absolve yourself by hurting someone who doesn’t deserve to be hurt.

Cindy Chupack, Sex and the City, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, 2000

I always like a good math solution to any love problem.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City, Take Me Out To The Ballgame, 1999

When real people fall down in life, they get right back up and keep on walking.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City, The Real Me, 2001

The universe may not always play fair, but at least it’s got a hell of a sense of humor.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City

That’s the thing about needs. Sometimes, when you get them met, you don’t need them anymore.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City, The Good Fight, 2002

I admit it’s tempting to wish for the perfect boss, or the perfect parent, or the perfect outfit, but maybe the best any of us can do is not quit. Play the hand we’ve been given and accessorize the outfit we’ve got.

Allan Heinberg, Sex and the City, A ‘Vogue’ Idea, 2002

Maybe our mistakes are what make our fate. Without them, what would shape our lives? Perhaps, if we never veered off course, we wouldn’t fall in love or have babies or be who we are.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City, I Heart NY, 2002

Seasons change, so do cities. People come into your life and people go, but it’s comforting to know: the ones you love are always in your heart and if you’re very lucky, a plane ride away.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City, I Heart NY, 2002

That’s the key to having it all: stop expecting it to look like what you thought it was going to look like.

Cindy Chupack, Sex and the City, Plus One Is The Loneliest Number, 2002

There’s some things that people don’t admit because they don’t like the way it sounds.

Cindy Chupack, Sex and the City, Plus One Is The Loneliest Number, 2002

The fact is, sometimes it’s hard to walk in a single woman’s shoes. That’s why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun.

Jenny Bicks, Sex and the City, A Woman’s Right To Shoes, 2003

I don’t wear a watch. How do I know my time? I find that someone will always tell me.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City, One, 2003

Nothing else exists when art does.

Michael Patrick King, Sex and the City, An American Girl in Paris: Part Deux, 2004

You can’t surprise a man with a dog.

Cindy Chupack, Sex and the City, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, 2000

From the pre-9-11 shots of New York and the World Trade Center to the picturesque image of Paris, this series is so enjoyable that I think I will have to go back and watch it again at a much slower rate. If you thought that Sex And The City wasn’t for you because it was all about sex, then give this show a try. EVERY time you start feeling like the show is going over the edge, there is a character who complains about it going over the edge and voicing your outrage. It’s witty and it never takes itself too seriously. Enjoy!

Criminal Minds, Episode 2.12

Michael Moncur — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:54:20 +0000

Every week I bring you the quotations used in the CBS series Criminal Minds. This week’s episode featured a recent quotation by Cory Doctorow:

All secrets are deep. All secrets become dark. That’s in the nature of secrets.

Cory Doctorow, Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town, 2005

Note to the producers of this show: I’m sure you’re getting at least some of the quotations you use from our site, and I’m flattered. But please drop me a line and I’ll see if I can verify the ones you plan to use. It will avoid embarrassment in the future….

While this was the only quotation used in the narration, there was also a quote mentioned by Dr. Reed halfway through the episode, from Sherlock Holmes:

I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four, A Scandal in Bohemia

This one is probably paraphrased from either “The Sign of Four” or “A Scandal in Bohemia”—I haven’t verified it yet.

Criminal Minds airs Wednesday evenings on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes, and check our TV category for our previous posts about the show.

Criminal Minds, Episode 2.11

Michael Moncur — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:00:21 +0000

I’ve been a bit behind on posting the quotations used in CBS’s Criminal Minds. To catch up, here’s a brief look at the quotes in the episode that aired last week. This time we have two parallel quotations from T. S. Eliot:

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow

T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow

T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

While the quotations in this program aren’t always accurate, this episode is a pleasant exception. Both are excerpts from the poem The Hollow Men. They also partially quoted the last lines of the poem, which may be familiar:

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

Criminal Minds airs Wednesday nights on CBS. See our TV category for previous Criminal Minds quotations.

Criminal Minds, Episode 2.10

Michael Moncur — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 11:00:53 +0000

Here are the quotations featured in last week’s episode of the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds. I was out of town last week so I just watched this episode. Another episode aired this week and will be covered on Monday.

Some of the best lessons we ever learn are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.

Dale E. Turner

He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m not sure if either of these is accurate, especially the first one. The Emerson quotation appears frequently online, although they phrased it a bit differently in the show.

See our TV category for previous Criminal Minds quotations.

Criminal Minds, Episode 2.9

Michael Moncur — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:19:11 +0000

Once again, here are the quotations featured in last week’s episode of the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds.

If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate.

Elbert Hubbard

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.

Mahatma Gandhi

I’m not sure about the authenticity of either of these, but we did have both in our database before the show. The Gandhi quotation was worded slightly differently on the show, but they do tend to edit them for length, so this version is likely more accurate.

See our TV category for previous Criminal Minds quotations.

Criminal Minds, episode 2.8

Michael Moncur — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:00:16 +0000

Every week, we bring you the quotations used in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds. Here’s the one from the beginning of this week’s episode:

Coincidences are a true paradox… on the one hand they seem to be the source of our greatest irrationalities–seeing causal connections when science tells us they aren’t there. On the other hand, some of our greatest feats of scientific discovery depend on coincidences.

Josh Tenenbaum, quoted in Psychology Today, July 2004

The show used the word “prize” rather than “throne,” which I’m assuming was an attempt to make it sound more applicable to modern situations, but made me think more of game shows. I’m not sure which word is correct, or if the quotation is authentic—it does appear all over the web, but I haven’t been able to verify it.

There was no quotation at the end of the episode this time, but midway through the show, one of the characters made an offhand remark about what “a cognitive scientist at MIT” said about coincidences. That turns out to be an authentic quotation:

Josh Tenenbaum, quoted in Psychology Today, “The Power of Coincidence,” July 2004

It doesn’t surprise me to learn that the writers of this show read Psychology Today. You can read the entire article here: The Power of Coincidence

Criminal Minds airs Wednesday evenings on CBS. For our previous writings about this show, see the TV category.

Criminal Minds, Episode 2.7

Michael Moncur — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 11:00:33 +0000

Once again, here are the quotations from the most recent episode of Criminal Minds. I normally post these on Friday, but I’m running late this time.

It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

John Wooden

That man can destroy life is just as miraculous a feat as that he can create it, for life is the miracle, the inexplicable. In the act of destruction, man sets himself above life; he transcends himself as a creature. Thus, the ultimate choice for a man, inasmuch as he is driven to transcend himself, is to create or to destroy, to love or to hate.

Erich Fromm, The Sane Society

They actually used only the ending of the Fromm quotation (“…the ultimate choice for a man”) but I thought you might enjoy the whole thing.

Stay tuned next week for quotations from the next episode. Criminal Minds airs Wednesday nights on CBS—check your local listings. See our TV Category for previous episodes.

Criminal Minds, episode 2.6

Michael Moncur — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:00:55 +0000

Once again, here are the quotations used in this week’s episode of Criminal Minds. Once again, there was only one quotation, since this was essentially the second half of last week’s episode.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

Plato

As with many of the quotations in this show, this one is difficult to authenticate, although it’s all over the web. However, I did find the following interesting treatise on light and dark in The Republic:

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind’s eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter light, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light.

Plato, The Republic

Stay tuned next week for the quotations from next week’s episode of Criminal Minds. The show airs at 8PM or 9PM, depending on your time zone, on CBS.