Does the context of a quote matter?

[mic0]

Just like the subject line says. What got me thinking about this was the discussion Katya started about the arranged marriages question, as well as the comment that posted today. Also, I remember in high school when my then boyfriend pointed out that Newton's quote about "standing on the shoulders of giants" was originally intended with the opposite meaning of how most people interpret it today.

These kinds of instances make me wonder, does the context of the quote matter? It reminds me of how in linguistics we often look at how a word is used. Sometimes you can go back and say "Well, originally Word meant X, so if you say it meaning Y then you are wrong because that isn't what it originally meant." A professor of mine calls this the etymological fallacy, claiming that the word has changed meaning and so the original meaning, though cool to know and maybe even useful in some contexts, is generally irrelevant. Is there an etymological fallacy when dealing with quotes? Does it matter what the original meant if it can easily be interpreted another way?

(As I was writing this I also realized that in the case of Kimball's quote it might be different since he is an authority figure. How does that or should that play a role in how people interpret quotes?)

[Whistler]

:-/ I feel like the quote's context SHOULD matter, but if I keep holding to this belief I will continue to be disappointed with modern journalism etc

[Katya]

If you're citing someone as an authority figure, and if the context changes the meaning or application of the quote, then context absolutely matters, because it changes whether or not that authority figure is actually supporting what you think they're supporting. (I suppose this also holds true if you're citing anyone as supporting or believing a certain position, when the context makes it clear that they don't. Ex., you may believe that "good fences make good neighbors," but if you use that quote and attribute it to Robert Frost with the implication that he thought that, you're dead wrong.)

I'd argue that the etymology of an individual word is different because we aren't trying to refer back to a specific person when we use a word. I.e., if we use a word that Shakespeare coined, we aren't referring back to Shakespeare every time we use the word or implying that Shakespeare agrees with our definition of the word (and the same goes for anyone else who may have used the word between Shakespeare's time and our own), so the word is free to "float" in its contemporary meaning. (Of course, if you are quoting Shakespeare and a key word in that quotation has changed in meaning, then you do have to go with the original meaning, regardless of any subsequent shift.)

In the middle would be phrases, I suppose, which would probably be more fixed in meaning than individual words, but more free to be reinterpreted than longer quotations.

And what is this other interpretation of the "shoulders of giants"?

[Unit of Energy]

I think that when being used to argue a point, the context of the original quote is very much a part of the quote.
That being said, some of my most treasured quotes are ones that have more meaning to me as a saying out of context.

[Dragon Lady]

I think that if the quote is given weight by the person who said it, then the context matters greatly. If it doesn't matter who said the quote, but you're using the quote because of the words only, and the words as they stand, regardless of context, then it doesn't matter. (Though, if that's the case, please still cite the right person if you cite anyone. I hate quotes that are attributed to 12 different people because no one actually knows.)

[NerdGirl]

I agree that it depends on the authority of the person the quote is from and the way that you're using the quote. In the case of the SWK quote, the context definitely matters because of who he was. If you believe someone is speaking on behalf of God and you're making some life choices based on what they say, you'd better be sure you have the context right so that you don't misinterpret things. But if you're just quoting something from a story or a movie or even something an historical figure said because you think it sounded neat, I think it's fine if you interpret it in a way that's meaningful to you rather than in the way that it was intended to be interpreted.