Here is a collection of 56 journaling quotes.
Quotes help to inspires us and to think of our journaling practice in new and different ways. I hope you enjoy these. If any stand out I encourage you to leave a comment at the end so we can start a conversation.
- “Journal writing, when it becomes a ritual for transformation, is not only life-changing but life-expanding.” – Jen Williamson
- “Writing in a journal reminds you of your goals and of your learning in life. It offers a place where you can hold a deliberate, thoughtful conversation with yourself.” – Robin Sharma
- “He captures memories because if he forgets them, it’s as though they didn’t happen.” ― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
- “Keeping a [journal] need not be a major chore-just a few minutes of notes each day can be valuable. Writing crystallizes insights, fools the defense of forgetfulness, and builds a collection of ideas and reflections that can spur further insights even years later.” – Roger N. Walsh
- “I’ve always loved journaling as a way to clear my mind. Whether I’m traveling or at home, the first thing I do when I wake up is pull out my notebook and record positive things that have happened to me as well as uplifting thoughts.” – Gloria Reuben
- “Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter. And lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.” —Jack London
- “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” —William Wordsworth
- “Journal writing gives us insights into who we are, who we were, and who we can become.” ― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss
- “But I promise you that if you will keep your journals and records, they will indeed be a source of great inspiration to your families, to your children, your grandchildren, and others, on through the generations.” -Pres. Spencer W. Kimball
- “Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.” ― Christina Baldwin
- “As there are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen to write.” —William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Henry Esmond
- “This pouring thoughts out on paper has relieved me. I feel better and full of confidence and resolution.” ― Diet Eman, Things We Couldn’t Say
- “What a comfort is this journal. I tell myself to myself and throw the burden on my book and feel relieved.” —Anne Lister, I Know My Own Heart: The Diaries of Anne Lister, 1791-1840
- “Your Journal is like your best friend, You don’t have to pretend with it, you can be honest and write exactly how you feel” ― Bukola Ogunwale
- “Writing is the only way I have to explain my own life to myself.” ― Pat Conroy, My Reading Life
- “Keeping a journal: The short entries are often as dry as instant tea. Writing them down is like pouring hot water over them to release their aroma.” ― Ernst Jünger, A German Officer in Occupied Paris: The War Journals, 1941-1945
- “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” — Anne Frank
- If you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, what you think is fair and what you think is unfair.—Madeleine L’Engle
- “When I look back on my personal story through my journals, it struck me my words had an unmatched power to heal me. To change me.” ― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss
- “The best time to begin keeping a journal is whenever you decide to.” ― Hannah Hinchman, A Life In Hand
- “Journaling can be an excellent way to increase self-awareness, discover and change habits.” ― Akiroq Brost
- “If kids reflect on their days, they will become better problem-solvers of life.” ― Trevor Carss
- Keeping a journal will change your life in ways that you’d never imagine. Oprah Winfrey
- “Writing is medicine. It is an appropriate antidote to injury. It is an appropriate companion for any difficult change.” — Julia Cameron
- “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” – Oscar Wilde
- “What a comfort is this journal. I tell myself to myself & throw the burden on my book & feel relieved.” – Anne Lister
- “Once a day, especially in the early years of life and study, call yourselves to an account what new ideas, what new proposition or truth you have gained, what further confirmation of known truths, and what advances you have made in any part of knowledge.” ― Isaac Watts, The Improvement of the Mind to Which Are Added a Discourse on the Education of Children
- “In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself.” —Susan Sontag, Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963
- “The journal is a vehicle for my sense of selfhood. It represents me as emotionally and spiritually independent. Therefore (alas) it does not simply record my actual, daily life but rather — in many cases — offers an alternative to it.” —Susan Sontag, Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963
- “Tears are words that need to be written.” – Paulo Coelho
- “Journal writing, when it becomes a ritual for transformation, is not only life-changing but life-expanding.” — Jennifer Williamson
- “A personal journal is an ideal environment in which to “become”. It is a perfect place for you to think, feel, discover, expand, remember, and dream.” – Brad Wilcox
- “These handwritten words in the pages of my journal confirm that from an early age I have experienced each encounter in my life twice: once in the world, and once again on the page.” ― Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
- “A good journal entry- like a good song, or sketch, or photograph- ought to break up the habitual and life away the film that forms over the eye, the finger, the tongue, the heart. A good journal entry ought to be a love letter to the world.” ― Anthony Doerr, Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World
- “Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.” – Christina Baldwin
- “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” — Flannery O’Connor
- “If you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, what you think is fair and what you think is unfair.” —Madeleine L’Engle
- “Each Bullet Journal becomes another volume in the story of your life. Does it represent the life you want to live? If not, then leverage the lessons you’ve learned to change the narrative in the next volume.” ― Ryder Carroll, The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future
- “Documenting little details of your everyday life becomes a celebration of who you are.” ― Carolyn V. Hamilton, Art Improv 101: How to Create a Personal Art Journal
- “These empty pages are your future, soon to become your past. I will read the most personal tale you shall ever find in a book.” ― Anonymous
- I must try to set aside half an hour in some part of my day, and consecrate it to diary writing. Give it a name and a place, and then perhaps, such is the human mind, I shall come to think it a duty, and disregard other duties for it. Virginia Woolf
- “The true purpose of illustrated journaling [is] to celebrate your life. No matter how small or mundane or redundant, each drawing and little essay you write to commemorate an event or an object or a place makes it all the more special.” ― Danny Gregory, The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to Be The Artist You Truly Are
- “Writing in a journal reminds you of your goals and of your learning in life. It offers a place where you can hold a deliberate, thoughtful conversation with yourself.” – Robin Sharma
- “I write awe-thoughts flowing in my mind.” ― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!
- “Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.” – Will Self
- “The young John Quincy Adams begins it lifelong habit of keeping a journal with reluctance that he might one day have to read it. He hopes, though, that the flaws in his earlier entries will be balanced by the progress he is able to see.” ― Paul C. Nagel, John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life
- “Writing in a journal each day allows you to direct your focus to what you accomplished, what you’re grateful for and what you’re committed to doing better tomorrow. Thus, you more deeply enjoy your journey each day.” — Hal Elrod
- “Paper is to write things down that we need to remember. Our brains are used to think.” – Albert Einstein
- “For years I’ve been advocating the power and pleasure of being grateful. I kept a gratitude journal for a full decade without fail—and urged you all to do the same.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “When I go back and read my journals or fiction, I am always surprised. I may not remember having those thoughts, but they still exist and I know they are mine, and it’s all part of making sense of who I am.” – Amy Tan
- “He said, You’ll write it not because there’s no possibility it’ll be found but because it costs too much to not write it.” ― China Miéville, This Census-Taker
- “Successful journals break the deadlock of introspective obsession” ― Alexandra Johnson, Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal
- “Keeping a journal will change your life in ways that you’d never imagine.” -Oprah Winfrey
- “Writing is another powerful way to sharpen the mental saw. Keeping a journal of our thoughts, experiences, insights, and learnings promotes mental clarity, exactness, and context.” – Stephen Covey
- “Keeping a journal of what’s going on in your life is a good way to help you distill what’s important and what’s not.” – Martina Navratilova
- What a comfort is this journal I tell myself to myself and throw the burden on my book and feel relieved. – Anne Lister
JournaledLife Conversation
I invite you to join the conversation about these quotes. What was your favorite and how did it influence your journaling practice?