Vision Journal Collective: Class 5 ~ Quotes: Collecting & Curating

I almost didn't write this article for you. I figured if you’re anything like me, you already have a fine collection of quotes on the go. Or maybe even two … or more, but I thought it was worth sharing some of my favourite sources for quotes and how (and why) I collect what I do. Inspirational quotes are a tricky thing. Something that inspires a friend might sound trite and cliché to you. And you’d be right. How you perceive a quote is often as much about your life experience as it is about the quote itself.

The ubiquitous “HANG IN THERE” cat poster was everywhere when I was growing up in the 1970’s. I mean, like seriously everywhere. Some of my high school teachers hung it in their classrooms (for us or for them, I now wonder?). Was it meaningful? Yes. To some people, some of the time, but its impact was lost through sheer overexposure.

Quotes that catch my attention these days are more likely to be noticed because they make me think about things in a new way, a way I hadn’t thought about them before. Or they use language in a new way, perhaps by being poetic or just an unusual word order.
I listen to lots of interviews with creative people, even if what they do is outside the range of my interest or abilities. Why? Because they often say something I can recognize in my own life. About my fears about failure (or success). It lets me step outside my own experience and look back at my life in a new way, and isn’t that quotes of all kinds are meant to help us do?

My go to location is the TED talks website. (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design). It’s an annual conference about sharing great ideas. Their website has a great archive of speakers from past events. I'd start with TED's creativity playlists. There you'll find topics such as Where do Ideas Come From?, The Creative Spark and Why Should You Take Time to Play?

I listen to CBC Radio a lot. They’re constantly interviewing interesting people doing things I’d never dream of doing who say interesting things about how they got there, what held them back and what helped them along. I also listen to conversations in public transit. You never know what you might overhear that will give you insight into your life in a new way. Have you ever noticed how much humans have a deep need to tell each other stories and share what we’ve learned? We’re all trying to make sense of the world. We all want to share our insights, we’re making quotes all the time.

The secret is when you hear these things WRITE THEM DOWN in your journal (you have it with, don’t you?). Not all quotes come packaged as quotes ~ some arrive as casual remarks, some even arrive as complaints.

Here are a few of my favourite sources for quotes online:

Quote Garden ~ sorted by topic, searchable and very extensive!
Quotations Page ~ sorted by topic and searchable.
Brainy Quote ~ sorted by topic and author AND cross-linked! Also includes some photos of authors and ready to go photographic memes.
Goodreads Quotes ~ searchable by keyword and author, searchable, extensive, and can also link to your favourite authors if you already have a Goodreads account. Sometimes includes a bio of the author.
If you have a Pinterest account, you can search there for quotes and quote images, too.
And, if all else fails, you can google the quote your looking for, and change the search setting from "All" to "Images" and it will find you some ready-made memes.

After I've collected all those elusive, meaningful quotes, I put them in my journal. But I also have a computer document, too. Some people like to handwrite their quotes into special “quote” journals. I have one of these. But I also hand write them throughout my everyday “working” journals, too. I don’t worry about whether I’ve written it somewhere else already. If it seems timely and pertinent to whatever’s going on in my like at the moment ~ in it goes.

I’m an advocate for hand writing quotes. I think the action of writing them down gives you a quiet moment with each word. Lets it sink in a little deeper than if you’d just read it. I’ve realized over the years the things I actually write out stay with me longer. So if you want that quote to lodge a little deeper in your brain, and have more effect, write it down by hand. Hate your handwriting? Never mind, we’re aiming for purpose, not pretty.

I’m also an advocate for having your favourite quotes in digital form. Why? Because you can curate them, sort them, add to them, and (best of all) search them in a digital document. “Who said that thing that I like so much?” With just a keyword, you can get back to it when you need it. And it does help you keep all the quotes straight.

When putting quotes in my journal, I like to layer them on with the "usual suspects" when it comes to art supplies ~ my favourites being magazine images, washi tape, printed (or handwritten quotes) and added colour. Here are some examples from my "everyday" working journal: