“What a quote! Don’t deny the reality of your situation, deny the finality of your situation” I read out loudly as Lulu came in from the window of my study and perched on my shoulder.

“Good thought. Good insight, actually. And you need it,” he said as he laughed.

“Oh, shut up, Lulu.”

“What book is that?”

“It is interestingly titled ‘Kaizen ‘K’uotes For A kaizen ‘C’ulture’. This is a collection of quotes.”

“You too have a habit of collecting good thoughts or quotes. And publishing them as a tweet when you have nothing to tweet.”

“Ha,ha! You should not let my secrets out in public. Good thoughts put crisply make me think and inspire me. And I liberally use them in my writing.”

“Yes, yes! Your favourite author Somerset Maugham said, ‘The ability to quote is a serviceable substitute for wit!’”

“He is right. Men with poor grey matter find it useful”

“Oh, tut, tut! I did not mean to offend you. I have a question. Why do people collect quotable quotes?”

“So that they can ‘parrot’ them at the right time! Ha, ha!! But on a serious note, many quotes encapsulate wisdom. They set you thinking.”

“I have seen many people randomly opening a page from Bhagawadgita. They believe that it carries the Divine message on how to carry themselves during the day. Or perhaps in life.”

“Some quotes, or gems of wisdom, if you wish to call them so, get so deep rooted in mind that they change our way of thinking and behaving.”

“Like?”

“Like, Einstein’s words – “No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.” When you deal with problems, people problems in particular, this helps you crack some of them.”

“Yup, I see your point.”

“And when a retired person like me looks back and thinks about his life, his work he realizes Michelle Cliff’s words – ‘Our lives are written in disappearing ink’. How true!”

“Yet people have such craving for immortality. Did you not see expression of it everywhere? Your political leaders go to the extent of creating a number plate of their car to read “Dada” or “Bhau”. Phew!”

“Those are cases of seeds falling on stones and not on fertile soil. Ignore them, not quotes, but ‘notes’ will satisfy them.”

“Why do people collect quotable quotes? That’s the question. We need to explore it more.”

“In lighter vein I would like to quote Amanda Cross –  ‘The point of quotations is that one can use another’s words to be insulting’ she says.”

“You are distracting the discussion. Why did, for example, Vinod Grover collate those quotes?”

“Vinod Grover is a great man. He is the Kaizen Champion who has helped several organizations build Kaizen culture.”

“That’s okay, he must be a good man, but why did he make this collection of quotes. You have not answered the question, my dear.”

“I can only guess, hmmmm…. , and I think my guess will be quite accurate. Grover has made Kaizen a way of his life. Kaizen means change for the better, as you know.”

“He is reaching out to others extending his philosophy and hopes to inspire others?”

“I think so. He has classified his collection in 40 groups.”

“That’s really very noble. Changing for the better is a simple way to lead a good life – increasingly better life. But sometimes a change poses difficult questions to us. We have to decide which bridge to cross and which to burn. Quotes help you reflect on life and arm with a guidance, and that is their value to us. A quote of arms, pun intended.” Lulu looked at me, and I nodded in agreement.

Vivek S Patwardhan

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” **** “Aroehan: Creating Dream Villages in Mokhada by 2025: “No Malnutrition Deaths, No Child ‘Out of School’, Reduction in migration by 50%.”