Chasing Bartlett

QUOTATION, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

It's been a while since I pulled out Mr. Bierce for a quotation. The Hives' Dead Quote Olympics made me think of the one above:

This time you've really got something it's such a clever idea
But it doesn't mean it's good 'cause you found it at the library
Yes they were smart but they are dead
And you're repeating all that they said
You know it don't make you clever like you thought it would
THE DEAD QUOTE OLYMPICS

OK, guys. Yes, they're dead. But there's still some pretty good stuff out there. What I like about quotes is how there's always someone out there who was at some point in time thinking about what you're thinking about right now, and he thought enough of it to put it down on paper and now it's become very deep and poignant because it's old. Isn't it the goal of all quasi-intellectuals to someday say something that gets collected in a book that is one day used to start a chapter in a 7th-grade term paper?
I know it's mine.

But, as I always say:

Never has so great a task been set as to have once and always be forever molded in our hearts.

I'm still tweaking it... just a little. I may change "molded" to "smelted". Or "smelten". I think it's got a shot at immortality, though.