Want to sound erudite? A paragon of refinement? A beacon of academic excellence?

In simpler words, do you want to seem a well-read, well-educated snob?

What better topic than Classic Literature to dazzle your listeners with your interest and knowledge on a topic that is deemed to be the domain of scholars?

Spend some time in reading up about a few noteworthy names like William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Christopher Marlowe, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, John Keats, Lord Tennyson, Alexander Pope and the like, and you can impress the not-so-well-read public with your intellectual superiority!

If you could bring yourself to read the actual works of these esteemed writers, that would be great! However, a simple online search for some trivia regarding the greats, can often give you some interesting material to discuss.

Let’s take Shakespeare, for example. You may have read some of his sonnets and plays in school. If you could remember a couple of lines from them, that would be great. However, you could do some research and get some trivia, as given below.

William Shakespeare – Ah, the greatest playwright in English literature! He is popularly called the “Bard of Avon”, on account of his birthplace being Stratford-upon-Avon, in England. Born in the mid-1500s, do you know, he was educated till school level, but never attended University? 

His wife was Anne Hathaway. In current times, Anne Hathaway is a famous actress, made famous by her roles in movies like The Princess Diaries and The Devil wears Prada. If you were to search for an image of the husband of the actress, you would be surprised at his resemblance with the bard. 

Whattay Coincidence!

Shakespeare wrote 39 plays, including timeless classics such as Hamlet, Othello and Macbeth. Did you know, Vishal Bharadwaj’s movies; Haider, Omkara and Maqbool, are based on the three afore-mentioned plays, respectively?

Shakespeare’s comedy, called “The Comedy of Errors” has inspired many Indian movies like “Choti si Baat”, “Angoor” and “Hera Pheri”, to name a few.

Shakespeare is also famous for Sonnets. He wrote over 150 sonnets. One of the most famous ones is  “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”, where the poet praises the beauty of his beloved and claims immortality for the same, through his poem.

Did you know, phrases such as “Break the ice”, “in a pickle”, “Green-eyed monster”, “Wild-goose chase” and “All that glitters, is not gold”, to name a few, can be traced back to Shakespeare’s works?

In fact, the word swag is often thought to be derived from the word swagger, a word popularized by Shakespeare in several of his works, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Henry IV”.

Have Fun!

Oration is a great skill. Being able to quote great orators, comes a close second.

Well, not exactly. But nevertheless, haven’t you been impressed by some people who seem to be able to quote some great person from the past?

I have a handful of famous lines that I often use as quotable quotes. 

If you can end your quote with the name of the original speaker, it makes you seem all the more, well read and intellectual.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi a.k.a., the Mahatma, has always been a great source of quotable quotes. In fact, as a teacher, I often joke: if you get the feeling that the speaker was an Indian, and if it sounds profound and a bit dated, mark the Mahatma as the answer. In more cases than not, M.K.G. would have been the original speaker.

In fact, so many quotes are attributed to him, that some of the more popular ones are not even his!

Here are some of the popular ones:

• Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
• The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
• An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind. (There are conflicting reports about whether M.K.G. actually ever said this.)
• Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
• Hate the sin, love the sinner.
• Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love
• You don’t know who is important to you until you actually lose them.
• The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
• A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
• Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.
• The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.
• You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind
• Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable.
• In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all.
• A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

The bard of Avon is another crowd pleaser. One of my favourite ways of shoving in a line from W.S., is to say, “… as the bard would put it, <insert quote here>…”

To quote the Bard:

• Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them
• It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.
• All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players
• To be, or not to be: that is the question
• Lord, what fools these mortals be!
• Don’t waste your love on somebody, who doesn’t value it.
• Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
• All that glisters is not gold
• Expectation is the root of all heartache
• Brevity is the soul of wit.
• The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
• What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.

Do a simple online search for quotes from famous poets like Keats, Milton and Tennyson, scientists like Einstein and Newton, writers like Shakespear, A.C. Doyle and Tolkien, eminent statesmen like M.K.G., Lincoln, Churchill, Benjamin Franklin and the likes, a few ancients like Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Homer etc. and you should have a good stock of quotes of liberally use in your conversations and impress the junta.

Here are a few personal favourites to sum up the gyaan:

• Keep Calm and Carry On – Winston Churchill
• That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. – Neil Armstrong
• Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. – Benjamin Franklin
• Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. – John F. Kennedy
• I came, I saw, I conquered. – Julius Caesar (or if you want the original in Latin: Veni, Vidi, Vici)
• I think, therefore I am. – René Descartes (the original in Latin: Cogito Ergo Sum)
• The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. – Lao Tzu
• I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan
• Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish – Steve Jobs
• Good artists copy. Great artists steal. – Pablo Picasso
• Big Brother is watching you. – George Orwell (in his book 1984)
• The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. – Albert Einstein
• Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration. – Thomas A. Edison
• If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right. – Henry Ford
• Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein
• I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. – Bruce Lee

A less often used source for great quotes is the world of entertainment. Here are some good one-liners from famous movies.

• Hasta la Vista, Baby! (Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator)
• “I feel the need, the need for speed.” (Tom Cruise (playing Maverick) in Top Gun)
• Why so serious? (Heath Ledger (playing the Joker) in The Dark Knight)
• “Don’t forget: I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” (Julia Roberts (playing Anna Scott) in Notting Hill)
• “But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” (Liam Neeson (playing Bryan Mills) in Taken)
• Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn. (Clark Gable (playing Rhett Butler) in Gone with the wind)
• I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse. (Marlon Brando (playing Don Vito Corleone) in The Godfather)
• My mama always said, life was like a box a chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. (Tom Hanks (playing Forrest Gump) in Forrest Gump)
• Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club! (Brad Pitt (playing Tyler Durden) in Fight Club)
• Do or do not. There is no try. (Yoda in Star Wards: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back)
• Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary. (Robin Williams (playing John Keating) in Dead Poets Society)
• I’m the king of the world! (Leonardo DiCaprio (playing Jack Dawson) in Titanic)
• May the force be with you. (Harrison Ford (playing Han Solo) in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope)

And, let’s not forget some doozies from television shows.

• Bazinga (The Big Bang Theory)
• That’s what she said (The Office)
• Joey doesn’t share food! (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.)
• How you doin’? (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.)
• Valar Morghulis (Game of Thrones)
• Winter is coming (Game of Thrones)
• Everybody lies (House, MD)
• Live long and prosper (Star Trek)
• The truth is out there (The X Files)
• Yabba dabba doo (The Flintstones)