Do you like quotations? I’ve always enjoyed them, though i’m very particular. It doesn’t matter to me how famous or well-known the author is, nor how well the quote is known. I look for quotes that impact me somehow. It may be a quote that impresses me with its wisdom, or one that is profound in its application to life. Or it could just be a quote that makes me smile. Sometimes it’s a quote that dings me; you know, it hits home and hurts a bit (or a lot).
I have been collecting quotations for about the last 30 years or so. Right now, my quote database has a little over 2,600 quotes in it. I add a quote or two almost every and then i try very hard to go through my quotes and delete some that over time have lost their impact on me, either because i’ve matured or my life has changed, and therefore something that seemed relevant 10 years ago no longer is. I guess the best way to describe my relationship with quotes is to call it a hobby. Fortunately, it conjoins very nicely with one of my other habits: reading.
You can join in my Quote hobby!
There are three ways you can participate with me in my hobby of collecting quotes:
- You can share a few of your favorite quotations with me by putting them in a comment to this blog post. I am always looking for quotes to add to my database.
- I have added a Goodreads Quote Widget to the sidebar of my blog. If it works like it should, then every time you come to my blog page you should see a new quote displayed. I am in the process of copying all my quotes one at a time from my quote database onto Goodreads so they will all be available to the widget. It’s a slow process, but I am also using this as my opportunity to cull my database and remove quotes that no longer impact me.
- If any of you use Evernote (i’m a huge fan and use it daily) and you would like to have a complete copy of my quote database which get’s automatically updated, i have a shared notebook set up in Evernote and i would be glad to send you a link so you can access it in your own copy of Evernote. Just go to the ‘Contact John’ page from the main menu and send me your email address. I’ll send you a link to my shared Evernote notebook the same day. My quotes are organized (tagged) by author so you can easily access them that way. Also some of them are tagged by topic such as Music or Books, though i confess my topic tagging is a bit haphazard and not thorough. The biggest advantage to keeping my quote database in Evernote is the outstanding search-ability. You can type in a phrase and the quote almost instantly pops up.
If you know anyone who loves quotes, please share this post with them. There are buttons just below here for sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Google + or by Email.
Hi, John, I just found your blog via goodreads, when I was looking for a particular Einstein quote and you had it; then I went to your Quotes page to see what sort of quotes you liked, and I also liked many of them.
I do love quotes and I keep a page of my favorites on my blog, plus I have my goodread quote Likes which I usually can’t find. I used to have an online cross-referenced quote database into which I entered hundreds if not a thousand quotes, but because of a weakness in the app I lost them all. 🙁
I will add your blog to my Reader even though it looks like you haven’t been writing lately. God bless you and give you strength and joy.