Entering Gemini

Image of deep sky objects in the astronomical constellation of Gemini from the Hawaiian Astronomical Society, who reports:
"This is a lovely open cluster, one of the best in the sky...very large, quite rich and condensed...."

Astrologically, Gemini is a mutable air sign, ruled by Mercury.

I know a lot of Geminis, including Donna (a bit more on her in post below), and I am a huge fan of them as defenders of the fact that great ideas need great vehicles to carry them.
Hence, they champion the importance of kitchen implements (the right pan for the right tart), liturgical precision (no plastic on the altar, please), library catalogs, and the little black dress.

My sign, Pisces, however, is "square" Gemini.
That is to say, sometimes we intersect like a referee's hands forming the "Time Out" sign, as I expect many of my Gemini acquaintances would be happy to confirm, much as they love me.

(Astrologer friend Laura says astrology is all about the geometry between people.)

Since Gemini and I don't speak the same native language, in honor of this charming sign, I have put together some quotes from famous Gemini themselves to illustrate some key Gemini qualities and traits.
A verbal bunch, they speak quite well for themselves.

(Happy Birthday, you frustrating, fascinating people!)

Style. Big time.

"For me, music and life are all about style."
--Miles Davis

Self-assurance.

"I'm worth every penny."
Naomi Campbell, supermodel

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line."
--Allan Ginsberg, Beat poet

"To be disesteemed by people you don't have much respect for is not the worst fate."
––Mary McCarthy

But not always.

"However, it is important for Gemini individuals to be in touch with those who understand them. If not, then there is a tendency to wilt and undergo an intellectual suffering that few will be able to fully comprehend."
--from Gemini: Inner Self

"Ever since I became a movie star I've been really weird."
--Marilyn Monroe

Wit.

"A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines."
Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect

“I've met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but you're twenty minutes.”
--Billy Wilder

Cole Porter (quote not necessary)

But not jokesters.

"We are not amused."
--Queen Victoria

Articulate.

"Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak, and to speak well, are two things."
--Ben Jonson, English writer

Intellectual.

"I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man's being unable to sit still in a room."
--Blaise Pascal, French philosopher

"Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid."
--John Wayne

Mercurial. (Both/And.)

"Although our intellect always longs for clarity and certainty, our nature often finds uncertainty fascinating."
--Karl Von Clausewitz (author of On War)

"Honestly, I like everything. Boyish girls, girlish boys, the thick, the thin. Which is a problem when I'm walking down the street."
--Angelina Jolie

"Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject."

"This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty - this city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism."

--Thomas Mann (both quotes)

Associated with pearls and lavender.

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light."
Theodore Roethke, poet