Don’t Rush a Miracle Man
Note: One of the perils of blogging for ten years is that you forget which movie quotes you’ve already used for post titles. Turns out this was not the first attempt to write a post called “Have Fun Storming the Castle.” Pattie beat me to it by four years. Who knew?
While I’m on the subject of my favorite movies, it’s worth checking out this Entertainment Weekly feature on The Princess Bride. I remember being in the schoolyard in grade school as a couple of my friends started quoting this movie to me. It sounded crazy, so of course I wanted to see it. When I finally did, I was hooked. I’ve been watching and quoting it ever since. Getting my sister to watch it was one of the awesome things about being an older brother. “Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya” is like the secret handshake of a club of cool people who like this cool movie. That movie made me search out William Goldman’s original book – very good, but different in tone – and his nonfiction books on screenwriting. And I’m always careful to note the difference between mostly dead and all dead.
I should have taken Vizzini’s advice, though.
No, not “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” I’ve got that one pretty much down. And I’ve never gone in against a Sicilian when death was on the line.
But I should have paid better attention to: “You’ve heard of Plato? Aristotle? Socrates? . . . Morons.”
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.