I once wrote that in my next life, I wanted to be a columnist.  I didn’t have to wait quite that long, and now I have another wish: to become a syndicated columnist. I own the book, Successful Syndication, by Michael Sedge, but have I read it?  No. Studied it? No.
        I would be satisfied to become a submitter of modern quotes—the kind that Celebrity Ciphers and cryptoquotes use.
        If or when I get an assignment to begin sending such passages, these will be the first I’ll submit:
        “She put the word away.” – Ellen Gilchrist The Annunciation.
        “Arkansas, she thought…what a place to make my stand.” – Ibid.
       “John Quincy Adams was an antique in his own time.” – Editorial, Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
        “I was going to watch football from can to can’t.” – the late John Robert Starr, ADG.
        “Brown was black.”— Meredith Oakley, ADG.
        “It has been said that, for every new book you read, you should read an old one.” –Paul Greenberg, ADG.
        “[E]tiquette is a patchwork of folk customs rather than a sensible approach to life.” – Miss Manners, Judith Martin.
        “No flowers, please.” – from an obit.
        “Restrict your group involvements to a few people today whether you’re negotiating or entertaining…Too many people will confuse the issue.” –Cancer’s horoscope, Joyce Jillson.
        “ [A]nd as has always been the case, children will only do what they have to do.” –John Rosemond, family psychologist/ columnist.
        “Where you’re from is who you are.” – J. Peacock.
        “Sooner or later every Southerner goes home, if only in a pine box.” –Truman Capote.
        “I resist it. For us old-church types, …we are no more comfortable holding out our upturned palm than participating in a ‘down by the river’ total-immersion baptism” –Chris Matthews, Daily Siftings Herald, Arkadelphia, AR
        “Money is always the first thing we talk about. The readers are always the last thing…” –Leo Wolinsky, a managing editor at Los Angeles Times.
         “Nobody who has white silk dining chairs

and a white carpet is going to have peace and joy at Christmas.” – Judith Martin.
        “[I]t’s not death itself that’s hard; it’s giving up life that’s the tough part.” –Cathy Hainer, from her diary on cancer. She died at 38.
        “There were 14 men in the room, and me.” –Madeleine Albright, cited by Joe Klein, The New Yorker.
        “For the first time in history, many middle-aged couples have more parents than offspring.” –James Atlas, The New Yorker.
        “Say as little as possible—at length if necessary.”—Paul Greenberg
        “It is not a betrayal of soldiers to oppose an unwise war.” –Charles Robinson.
         “In your journey that is life, you’re only lost when you stop moving.” –Joe L. Riddle, ADG.
        “Wal-Mart has become irreplaceable.  It needs to be irresistible.” –Kevin Roberts, CEO of an ad agency.
        “When you stop giving and offering something to the rest of the world, it’s time to turn out the lights.” – George Burns. 
        “It is best if you fail at an early age---say fourteen!” Lorrie Moore, “How to Become a Writer,” from Robert Olmstead’s ELEMENTS OF THE WRITING CRAFT. (I took this sentence out of context because Billy [my grandson/ward] was 14. when I read it.)
        “That letter [was] stronger than Nelly’s breath, but strictly to the point.” – Charles Robinson. 
        “Because she was anemic, she spent much of her youth living with her grandparents on their farm…” – obit.
        “People who have been the center of the universe for so long must find it disconcerting when they are suddenly of less interest to the world.” – Mike Hlas, Cedar Rapids Gazette, on Coach Bobby Knight.
        “The media are who determine what is and is not a scandal.” – Thomas Sowell.
        “Ego is the greatest enemy of success.” – H. Lee Scott, CEO, Wal-Mart.
        “And night fell.” – Paul Greenberg.
        Any one of these quotes could be the beginning of a new story, essay or poem. Then, after your piece is done, throw away or paraphrase the quote. Or use it as an epigram How about it, writers?