When I research, I like to collect a wide range of responses to a given topic. Searching quotes online typically brings up a variety of quote sites. These are helpful, but some of the quotes are not relevant or out of date or not complete enough to capture my imagination. Recently, I’ve come up with a way to draw from the collective interests of readers online by using kindle.amazon.com and findings.com as a search engine for quotes. The Kindle site captures popular highlights and your own highlights if you use a Kindle. Findings is an attempt at social clippings. Not sure how active it is at the point, but it still is helpful for searching quotes.

I enter a search term topic or name, and find a range of quotes from books people are currently reading. While some are not relevant, I’ve actually been surprised by the number of quotes that provoke me to think about the topic in a new way. I copy the quotes onto an Evernote page, so I can access all quotes on a given topic later when I want to reflect, utilize and brainstorm through the quotes. They also point me to books that open the theme I’m researching that can serve as future reference.