The Book of Positive Quotations

by John Cook

Book Overview

First published in 1997, The Book of Positive Quotations has sold more than 200,000 combined trade copies. This new edition has been expanded to include 3,000 new quotations (10,000 total) from 1,300... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517202166
• ISBN13: 9780517202166
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Gramercy Books
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 1.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Practical as well as inspirational

My main reason for picking this book up was not for personal inspiration, but rather for more practical reasons associated with my work at a college. I am often called on to develop teaching and learning guides, training materials and various project documents. Quotes are a great tool for drawing people in to a piece, enhancing learning of the content, and providing focal points for discussion. If they can inspire and motivate as well, all the better. For me, where The book of Positive Quotations really excels is in its excellent organization of the highly nuanced categories of quotes it includes, which extends to its very well conceived index. Instead of just a section on quotes related to "goals", for example, you have associated topics of "achievement," "determination", and "hard work." This allows the reader to easily evaluate just which nuance they are looking for. Though there are indeed many quotes which are inspirational, the book really reflects a very broad range of human experience. For this reason, its practical usefulness is similarly broad and would be a useful tool for anyone who writes a lot or makes presentations as part of their job. My only suggestion for improvement would be to include a cross-reference section which lists those quoted alphabetically and provides the occupation and time period of the quoter, and perhaps the context of the quote. All in all, however, this book provides the most substance of any quote book I have seen.

Positively Excellent, Inspiring and Comprehensive

This is the best book on quotations covering positive topics, and since inspiration, motivation and uplifting are so often the goals of lectures and writing, it is an excellent resource.There are hundreds, maybe thousands of quotation books. Some are massive attempts to cover all different subjects. Some cover a single subject, like love, politics or friendship. Others cover specific sports or authors. This one covers the big area of things positive. As a lecturer and writer on Positivity and Positive Psychology and a collector of over 400 quotation books, I find this one a real gem. It is loaded with thousands of great quotes you won't find anywhere else as well as popular quotes that show up in the biggest and best giant quote collections. What's nice about it is the inclusion of spiritual quotes and quotes from eastern approaches, as well as more current psychology and new age texts, authors and speakers. You can pick a topic for a lecture or writing project or just peruse it randomly and you can expect to be uplifted and inspired. I had a pleasant surprise one day. After my 10 year old son was browsing it while sitting on the John browsing the book (he picked it up of his own accord and was reading it. That's great!) -- a he came out and showed me how he'd looked in the index and discovered a quote attributed to me-- one from a cover article I'd written for Writer's Digest in 1983, which had later been included among Reader's Digest's Points to Ponder.

You gotta have this book!

I'm a senior medical student...so I've read a lot. This book helps build relationships, it helps get you through life! Today I didn't do so well on a urology test...I'm not sure if I passed it. (Don't worry, I'm not going into urology! :) ) I went home and cried. Then I picked up this book and read the section on failures. I read and read and slowly began to perk up. Sir Winston Churchill said, "Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." I began to smile. Somehow, I'll be more prepared for the next exam. My husband and I take this book with us when we go out to dinner. We sit over drinks and read to each other and sometimes discuss the quotations. I'm buying 10 copies of this book for Christmas presents.. That's how much I love it. Everyone should own it!

This book is a treasure!

I love a good quote... love to use it at the end of my letters or emails... in newsletters that I write for my church. This book of quotes compiled and arranged by John Cook is thoroughly helpful and useful, and very precious. Cook draws quotes from the Bible and also from the famous and the not-so-famous people. You can find quotes from D.H. Lawrence to an old Zen saying to Ovid to Sean Connery. The quotes can be serious and sometimes down right funny, too. The parts of the book are well-categorized into sections such as "Peace of Mind" and "Living One Day At A Time". These main parts with subdivisions with titles such as "Forgiveness", "Acceptance", "Change", "Hope" and "Prayer". There are well over 60 subcategories (7000 total quotes!) which you can find a POSITIVE quote for just about every feeling and emotion. These are also easy to cross-reference and find by looking up the person quoted in the back of the book. I find myself using this book all the time for several purposes. Sometimes I like to flip through it for encouragement and for inspiration. It's one of my most often used desk references. For any quotation lover, this book is a must. Some of my favorites from "The Book Of Positive Quotations":"Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you get neither." - C.S. Lewis"Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead." - Louisa May Alcott

Two Thumbs Up!

This is a huge, fascinating collection of inspirational and motivational quotes. It's easy to use because it groups quotes not just by their broad headings, but by more specific concepts. The section on "The Past," for example, is divided into eight sub-headings which include quotes on such topics as "Learning from the Past" and "Its Important to Bury the Past, to Let It Go -- To Move On." I keep this book by my bedside so I can browse through a couple of sections before going to sleep.