Quotations Books

This book makes a wonderful Christmas gift for the adolescent or young adult who is not yet fully comfortable with experiencing Christmas as an opportunity to give and to love.

Christmas Lost & Found is a book of simple, timeless lessons that any child will experience in the process of growing up. The stories are built around Christmas experiences, and help a child go beyond initial conceptions of Christmas as being all about receiving. The gift to us as readers in this heart-warming book is in rediscovering the experiences of learning to give and to appreciate giving when others do it. For older children and young adults, these stories will help them to make those same discoveries for the first time.

The format of the book is simple, yet effective. You begin with something the author lost "I LOST . . . ." Then you move to something the author gained "I FOUND . . . ." On the facing page, the loss and found points are turned into a lesson. These are beautifully written and will evoke many heart-felt memories of past Christmas seasons. The stories progress in age from thinking about Santa Claus as a young child to starting celebrating Christmas with one's new spouse.

Here are a few of my favorites to give you a flavor of the book:

"I LOST countless hours practicing 'The Little Drummer Boy' so I could play it just right for my grandma." "I FOUND that even a poor rendition would bring tears to the eyes of someone who appreciates the effort." "Imperfection aimed to please can be beautiful music to others."

"I LOST my belief in Santa sometime around the second grade." "I FOUND the fun of keeping the mystery alive for those who still wanted him every Christmas Eve." "Making things happen for others reflects the true spirit of Christmas."

"I LOST trust in Santa when I realized that it was the man next door wearing the red suit." "I FOUND that, even though Santa lost some credibility, my neighbor gained a lot." "No matter what clothes we wear, our actions define our character."

"I LOST my lines and had to improvise during the annual Christmas play." "I FOUND that, though they weren't flawlessly delivered, the congregation got the message." "We don't have to be scholars of the gospel to share the word with others."

"I LOST control of my emotions during the singing of 'Silent Night' on Christmas Eve." "I FOUND there are times when it's appropriate to let down my guard." "By being open to the Christmas spirit, we allow it to strike familiar chords any season."

"I LOST respect for the man who didn't share my enthusiasm for the Christmas holidays." "I FOUND that, to some, holidays are full of memories they want to forget." "Try walking in the shoes of a person who has never received a new pair."

If you are like me, these stories and lessons will move you and help you enjoy the Christmas season sooner and more often. You may even want to consider if you have the budget to give this book to yourself as a gift, as well. That might make Christmas shopping a lot more fun for you!

After you have finished thinking about these lessons, you might want to ask yourself what you have learned about the Christmas spirit that is not in this wonderful book. Write out the lost and found parts and the lesson in similar style, and insert them on some pages in the back of the book. You can do this with the person you give the book to, if your relationship is a strong one. I always liked home-made presents the best, and this is a way to give a very personal one by including a little of yourself through your own stories.

Have a wonderful Christmas, always!

If you do not celebrate Christmas, may you have a joyous celebration of your most cherished beliefs every day!

Edited by professor of history Donald R. Hickey and consultant Connie D. Clark, Citizen Hamilton: The Wit & Wisdom of an American Founder is an anthology of shining quotations and insights from one of the great figures of American history. Alexander Hamilton was a member of George Washington's staff during the American Revolution, the nation's first secretary of the treasury, and played a crucial role in the founding of America. Many of his vignettes of wisdom are timeless; each is classified under an alphabetical subject heading and features an attribution line listing when, where, or to whom it was said. Highly recommended simply for pleasurable browsing, as well as for serious study of Hamilton's wisdom and character. "A large and well organized Republic can scarcely lose its liberty from any other cause than that of anarchy, to which a contempt of the laws is the high road."

Book is published in honor of Pioneer Funds 70th birthday. This book is a compilation of comments from Philip L. Carret, the founder of Pioneer's flagship mutal fund.

Mr Carret's insights come from his 75 years in the financial services industry. He was the elder statesman of money managers and witnessed more bull and bear markets than anyone in the industry at the time of this printing. Mr Carret's Pioneer Fund was one of the first mutual funds in the U.S. and to it he applied his company-focused and management-focused philosophy for identifying under-priced stocks. This style is now known as value investing, and it has become a popular investment approach among money managers today.

"Mr Carret's observations also came from a lifetime of other experiences - as a World War I pilot, author, publisher, philanthropist, husband, father, and enthusiastic follower of solar eclipes. And his lifetime spanned 101 years."

"The quotations that follow present the uncommon common sense of an active participant in business and in life."

Beautiful book.

Although it doesn't tell a lot of history about Clinton, it is a great book to flip through and read the quotes that have been selected. I loved to hear all of the great Clinton words of wisdom! Some funny, some serious and some sad, but all of them give you insight about Bill Clinton.

It's a thoughtful collection that goes from Socrates to Vince Lombardi to Charles Barkley. My first copy was gift and I went out and bought two more. One for a friend who coaches JV football and one for my son's x-country coach. Who said this? "Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parent, gobble their food..." Surprise! Socrates 400B.C. Need a quick quote for a dinner... you are sure to find one. My high rating is because I wouldn't loan this book for fear of not getting it back and I want it around for my grandchildren.

I love this book. I scrapbook my sons' and husband's baseball activities, and will use this book repeatedly to add a nice touch to their baseball pages. There are great quotes in here for players and coaches alike.

Dr. Chickie-Wolfe has concisely pulled together the most important concepts teachers should keep in mind. As teachers read and re-read this book they will be inspired. It is a perfect gift to give any teacher.

"If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties." Wonderful wisdom, great quotes, and a philosopher's keepsake.

This is one of those books everybody should have... It is funny, and often insightful. It also gives you an idea of what different people believe about many subjects, and leaves you somewhat envious because you cannot help but wish you could express yourself as clearly and seemingly effortlessly as them.

There are quotations on a lot of subjects, and they all differ greatly: some make you laugh, other lead you to think. I specially like the quotations that are permeated by ironic wit.

Some are truly remarkable, for example:

* "Ambition": one of the quotations is the answer that Daniel Webster gave, when he was advised not to join the overcrowded legal profession: "There is always room at the top" :)

* "the Army": Henry Kissinger said(accurately and clearly) that "The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerilla wins if it does not lose".

* "Belief": one of Cardinal Newman ("We can believe what we choose. We are answerable for what we choose to believe") and one of Bertrand Russel (who on being asked if he would be willing to die for his beliefs said "Of course not. After all, I may be wrong").

* Lastly, one on "Boredom" (I could go on copying my favorite quotations forever, but... you should read the book): Warren Austin, on being asked if he found long debates at the UN tiring, said that "It is better for aged diplomats to be bored than for young men to die".

As you see, reading quotations is quite entertaining, and learning from them even more so. If you can buy this book (or ask somebody to lend it to you), you won't have regrets.

Unseemly as it probably is to review a work in which I, myself, am quoted, I can't help myself, a combination of pride, shock and ego having overshadowed my better angels.

Coming of Age: a Treasury of Poems, Quotation and Readings on Growing Up, edited by Edward Searl and published by Skinner House Books (an imprint of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations), has to be one of my favorite anthologies in which my work has been done the honor of being included.

A tidy size for toting along anywhere, don't let the petite dimentions of this important volume mislead you. It is chock full of meaningful tidbits by marvelous writers beside whose valuable contributions to the annals of literary history my own paultry work must surely pale by comparisson.

Nevertheless, Mr. Searl has done me an unspeakable honor for which I will always be grateful: to have included my thoughts alongside those of such notables as Kahlil Gibran, Anais Nin, Virginia Woolf, Robert Fulghum, J.D. Salinger, D.H. Lawrence, George Eliot, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Wolfe, Walt Whitman, James Michener, Joseph Campbell, E.B. White, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David Thoreau, Vachel Lindsay, Albert Schweitzer and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Pretty impressive company in which to find one's self, eh? Even Aristotle, Shakespeare and Proverbs are quoted within these richly packed pages.

I feel confident anyone picking up a copy of this small volume of great breadth will find something of value within. It's the type of book in which readers might want to underline striking passages, then refer to them again and again amid moments of impact throughout their lives.

Ideal for both thinking adolescents and young adults, as well as for the loved ones trying to guide them into adluthood without losing their own hard-won perspective, Coming of Age is (rather understandably) a garrie keyman recommended reader.