I love quotations. I love finding those phrases that someone else said which I wish that I would have said myself. I take comfort in the words of other people when I can’t quite say what it is that I want to say. And I enjoy sharing quotes with others who feel this way about writing.
The problem is that I’ve never really been very organized about keeping my quotes written down so that I could return to them. I’ve tried to keep quote journals off and on but I always stop writing in them sooner rather than later. I’ve tried to keep an ongoing Word document filled with my favorite quotes (which is great because I can then search easily through them to find things I’m looking for) but I always stop this too. I’ve also done some wackier things in my lifetime like writing my favorite quotes in Sharpie all over one of my bathrooms and emailing quotes to myself so I’d have them in my inbox.
None of these things really worked. These days, I do a combination of things. I write down quotes that I really like and make collages around them which I keep in a notebook. I blog quotes and post them on my social networking sites so at least they’re online somewhere that I can access them. But it’s still pretty disorganized.
Do you have a good method of organizing your favorite quotes?
How do you Organize your Favorite Quotes? has 1 Comment
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July 15th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Great subject, Kathryn! It made me think about some of the quotes I’ve written down over the years. Most of them are hand-jotted on scraps of paper that were at one time thumb tacked to a bulletin board or taped to a wall and now are stored in a folder. No, this system is not organized at all. But maybe it’s better that way. It sort of leaves open the possibility of “re-discovery” or serendipity — and I like that!
@Melanie – I’ve often thought of getting a bulletin board to pin things to like that but never have gotten around to it. I’m re-doing my home office this year though so maybe I’ll do it yet. Love your thought on “rediscovery”!