I frequently judge a book by the number of quotes that I save for future reference. I’m currently reading Rework by Jason Fried and David Heiniemeier Hansson and am finding sentences on every page that are destined to wind up in my Quotes to Keep file so it’s getting high marks.

Although I don’t recall when I began writing down bits of wisdom that I came across in books, my childhood had prepared me for being a collector of quotes. 

At my grade school, Trinity Lutheran, we were expected to memorize Bible passages almost daily. The side benefit of this exercise was that it instilled in me the notion that there were important concepts that deserved more than a casual notice.

In fact, I consider a particularly wise quote to be a Seminar in a Sentence. Often, wise words can illuminate, encourage, inspire and delight. 

Here’s a random sampling of a few favorites. I urge you to build your own file of Wise Words and visit it regularly. 

See if there’s one in my collection that belongs in yours too.

People who have stopped reading base their future decisions on what they used to know. If you don’t read much, you really don’t know much. You’re dangerous. ~ Jim Trelease

Consider every path carefully testing it in whichever way you feel necessary, then ask yourself, but only yourself, one question: ‘Does this path have a heart?’ The path that has heart will uplift you, ease your burden and bring you joy. The path with no heart will make you stumble, it will break your spirit, and finally cause you to look upon your life with anger and bitterness. ~ Carlos Castenada

An idea in your head is merely an idle notion. But an idea written down, that’s the beginning of something. ~ Patricia T. O’Conner

You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

Postpone joy, it will diminish. Postpone a problem, it will grow. ~ Paulo Coehlo

We serve the Muse. That’s our job. To locate the gift that is ours and ours alone and then to nurture it, protect it, defend it, take it through all its stages of evolution as best we can—and then give it away. ~ Steven Pressfield

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted. ~ Bill Bryson

We must do what we conceive to be right and not bother our heads or burden our souls  with whether we’ll be successful. Because if we don’t do the right thing, we’ll do the wrong thing and we’ll be part of the disease and not part of the cure. ~ E. F. Schumacher

All sorrow and trouble of this world is caused by unhappy people….The search for contentment is, therefore, not merely a self-preserving and self-benefiting act, but also a generous gift to the world. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert.

We’re not destined to be passive and compliant. We’re designed to be active and engaged. And we know that the richest experiences in our lives aren’t when we’re clamoring for validation from others, but when we’re listening to our own voice—doing something that matters, doing it well, and doing it in the service of a cause larger than ourselves. ~ Daniel Pink

Here’s the truth about telling stories about your life. It’s going to sound like a great idea, and you’re going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you are not going to want to do it. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work that it takes to make it happen. ~ Donald Miller