Quotes

Quote collections, grouped by whose words they are and what they are about. A note on how these are put together: quotes on the internet are misattributed constantly, so where a line is widely circulated but not verifiably from the person it is credited to, the pages say so rather than repeating it.

How to Use a Quote Collection

Reading fifty quotes produces a pleasant few minutes and very little else. What works better is taking one and staying with it — on a card, as a phone background, written at the top of a page. The mechanism is the same as with affirmations: repetition and visibility, not volume.

Quotes also make good journal prompts. Rather than agreeing with a line, write about whether it is true in your experience, and where it is not. Disagreeing with something well-phrased tends to clarify what you actually think.

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A Word About Attribution

Quotation is the most unreliable genre on the internet. Lines migrate to whoever sounds most plausible — Einstein, Buddha, Mark Twain and Marilyn Monroe collect an enormous quantity of things they never said, largely because a famous name travels better than an unknown one.

Where a line here is widely circulated but not verifiably from the person it is credited to, the pages say so rather than repeating the claim. That occasionally makes a collection less quotable and more accurate, which is the right trade. If you are about to put something on a wall or a card, it is worth thirty seconds of checking.

One Line, Not Fifty

Quote collections are pleasant to read and almost never change anything, for a structural reason: reading fifty inspiring lines produces a brief lift and no repetition. The mechanism that makes a phrase useful is the same one behind affirmations — familiarity and visibility, so that it is available in the moment you actually need it.

So take one. Put it somewhere you will see it without choosing to, and leave it there for a week. A single line you have looked at forty times will do more than a page you read once and enjoyed.

Quotes as Journal Prompts

The most productive use of a good quote is disagreement. Rather than nodding at it, write about whether it is true in your experience — where it holds, where it does not, and what it leaves out.

Aphorisms are compressed to the point of losing their conditions, which is what makes them memorable and also what makes them frequently wrong in a specific case. Arguing with a well-phrased line tends to clarify what you actually think far more efficiently than agreeing with it does.

Related Areas

Affirmations — statements written in your own voice rather than borrowed
Journal prompts — for writing against a quote rather than agreeing with it
Affirmation cards — a good format for a single line
Personal growth — the guides behind the ideas