Widget_logo

 Subscribe to Literary Compass

Google

A book is a literary compass that has the potential to direct our thoughts and actions:

"Everything we read stimulates our mind to think, and what we think determines what we desire, and desires are the seedbed of our actions. Given this iron law of human nature--from reading to thinking, to desiring, to acting--we are shaping our destiny by the ideas we choose to have enter our minds through print." - Fr. John Hardon, S.J., The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan

Welcome to my own personal exploration of life through reading the great books of the world.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Spokane, Washington, United States

"Every soul that uplifts itself uplifts the world." --Elisabeth Leseur

Search Catholic Blogs

Powered by Blogger

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Commonplace Books

The Lyceum: "Commonplacing is the act of selecting important phrases, lines, and/or passages from texts and writing them down; the commonplace book is the notebook in which a reader has collected quotations from works s/he has read. Commonplace books can also include comments and notes from the reader; they are frequently indexed so that the reader can classify important themes and locate quotations related to particular topics or authors."

I've kept a commonplace book for about fifteen years. First I used a special notebook, but now I just keep it on my computer. Here are a couple of lines I've recorded over the years:
It is as possible for a man to know something without having been at school as it is to have been at school and to know nothing! Henry Fielding from Tom Jones

…if everyone in the world were to bring his own problems along to market with the intention of trading with his neighbors, a glimpse of his neighbors' problems would make him glad to take back home the ones he came with. Herodotus from The Histories

Labels: ,

 Subscribe in a reader

posted by Nick Senger at 6:12 AM

Comments on "Commonplace Books"

 

post a comment