The timeless nature of a good quote

I have always liked a good quotation. It's not so much that it provides some new insight as it is that it captures an idea that has been wandering around in the periphery of my mind and states it with clarity. There is a certain serendipitous quality to a good quote. It suddenly brings into focus what you have wanted to express. It elicits a strong Yes from beneath the surface of life. There is a certain timelessness about a good quote whether it is Patrick Henry's famous, "Give me liberty or give me death" or Woody Allen's farcical, " I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens!” They make their point, there's no question about that.
       Earlier, when I was writing on inspiration, I mentioned that O'Reilly had said that he had felt inspired to write Killing Jesus. I acknowledged that on a certain occasion, sitting at the piano and looking out over a gorgeous western sunset, I sensed that the de­scriptive phrases I wrote (now copyrighted) were not specifically mine. So when I happened to read Andre Gide's observation that "Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better,” I resonated with his observation. Obviously there is a contextual element in our evaluation of a quotation. What strikes us as brilliant in one situation may appear as slightly drab in another.
       So, "Long live the good quote!" It brings focus to our think­ing and often with charm. Quotations don't demand long periods of critical study before venturing a solution. One might say they are brash. But one thing is for certain, if they do not square with life as we experience it, they are quickly discarded. It was some 2,500 years ago that Heraclitus said, "Character is destiny" and not only do we remember this profound observation, but it has been repeated and applied in a myriad of ways from then forward. It is interesting that those issues that are central to the human spe­cies show up in the literature of every age. Technologically we have raced so far ahead that the ancient world is exactly that – ancient. But when we begin to consider such issues as love, hate, ambition, compassion, jealousy, anxiety, or desire, we find ourselves one with our predecessors. There's been little or no progress in that which is of ultimate importance. And that may be where the quotation comes in. A good quote is timeless because where we now are is where we have always been.