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“I will not give away my hard-earned skills to a machine. It’s a bit like robbery with violence, for (machines are) not only intended to diminish my bank balance, but also to steal my power.”
– John Brown (1932 , )
Last night I was reading the latest issue of one of my new favorite magazines, The Art of Eating, when I came across a letter from a reader that was so eloquent I must have read the piece three times.
And that got me to thinking.
All of the editors here collect the quotations that appear in the pages of Woodworking Magazine, and we have a bank of them located on our server for us to select from as we are trying to piece together an issue, an article or even a Friday afternoon. We have plenty of quotes to choose from for the next issue (yes, there will be a next issue , more on that in two weeks).
But I’d like to open up the process a bit here and ask you for some of your favorite quotes that relate to woodworking or craft work. If we use your quote in print, we’ll send you one of our Woodworking Magazine T-shirts that is emblazoned with (obviously) one of my favorite quotes.
“The things I make may be for others, but how I make them is for me.”
This quote fell into my lap while reading the British magazine Good Woodworking back in the 1990s. It hit me like a baseball bat that day, and so I insisted that we use it on our T-shirt. Heck, I’d print it on the cover of every issue if they’d let me.
If you have a favorite quotation that makes the reader laugh or think, please send it to me directly via e-mail, along with your name. If we use your quote, we’ll ask you for your mailing address and T-shirt size. The quote can be from anywhere , printed or spoken , and spoken by anyone, famous, infamous or ordinary.
One last note: I probably won’t be posting next week as I’ll be teaching a class on hand-tool fundamentals at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. When I return, I’ll fill you in on the next issue of Woodworking Magazine. Promise.
– Christopher Schwarz
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
Kold lim og dykker, det går aldrig i stykker.
(A Danish saying: cold glue and brads never break, it rhymes in Danish.)
Another favourite is:
Det er de små unøjagtigheder der kendetegner det gode håndværk.
(Translation: It is the small inaccuracies that characterize the good trade)
Another Project – Another Tool
All good ones above. My current favorite is:
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is." Yogi Berra
Have a great holiday
Jeff
I have a few favorites myself:
1. "Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there." Will Rogers
2. "Always and in everything strive to attain at the same time what is useful for others and what is pleasant for oneself." Gurdjieff
3. "Preach the old truths with new insight, but do not preach them too near the precipices of public opinion." Calvin Miller
4. "Try? Try NOT! DO! Or do NOT! There is no ‘try’." Yoda, Jedi Master
Dennis
When I tell people I enjoy woodworking the generally ask what I specialize in, crafts, furnature, etc. My response is from my grandfather anytime I asked what he was doing, "making big pieces into little pieces." My personal addition is, "the pieces are never the right sizes, usually aren’t square, but I can always make it a little bit smaller"
Cody
I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know.
… all the modern inconveniences …
I respect a man who knows how to spell a word more than one
way.
Don’t let school interfere with your education
Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all.
Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.
These are all quotes from Mark Twain
While these are not specific to woodworking they can be useful nonetheless.
Mike
One of my favorite quotes:
"Think left and think rightand think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!"
By Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
My favourite quote is from James Krenov, I think from ‘the practical cabinetmaker’ if my memory serves correctly this one time. Mr Krenov says "Work cautiousy, in relation to the result you desire, not time, or money, or someone else’s opinion of what your work should be."
I work in a frantic IT world and keep that quote around to remind me to slow down. Looking forward to seeing what other quotes arise here.
"More on that in two weeks"? What’re you – taking marketing lessons from canadian manufacturers? We’re americans, darnit, and we need information now, and in short, easily digested chunks. Pap for the mind, if you will.
Seriously – glad to hear there will be more. Here’s hoping there’ll be subscriptions from here on out as well…