On being quotable

I spend a lot of my time as a teacher and a coach trying to get kids to remember something I say; consequently, I spend a lot of time planning clever (and hopefully memorable) witticisms that also strike deep.

In a recent comment to a post on Slick's blog, I wrote that "Hard work beats talent when talent won't work hard." I know I'm probably not the first person to say it even though I made it up myself (like "heavy lifting for a hefty living"). Anyway, like Marconi is often given credit for the radio (even though he invented/discovered it at the same time as someone else), I'd like to be given credit for this saying. Unfortunately for my desperately hungry but frail ego, such a thing is unlikely. I mean, I can't even figure out how to post an article on Wikipedia, and I don't yet have a son who is willing to be a historical revisionist and make me into a better man on paper than I was in person (think Todd Lincoln, plus I'd have to get gunned down in a theatre). And I'm not that much of an egomaniac that I would rewrite my autobiography just to make myself more popular (think Davy Crockett or Michael Moore or see Fat Matt's post on the current speaker of the house).

Well, most coaches' quotes are misquoted anyway. Lombardi said that his famous quotation about winning being the only thing was not something he ever said. Or at least that's what somebody says he said about not saying what everyone says that he said.