Where to get quotations for presentations?

In my presentations, I may have several slides which feature a quote from a famous (sometimes not so famous) individual in the field. The quote may be a springboard into the topic or serve as support or reinforcement for the particular point I'm making. A typical Tom Peters presentation at one of his seminars, for example, may include dozens of slides with quotes. "I say that my conclusions are much more credible when I back them up with great sources," Tom says in this post from May, 2005. (I talked about using quotes a few months back here with examples.)

Like everything else, quotations work best when not over done. Too many quotes or quotes which are too long may bog down your presentation. And of course, if your quote is inaccurate or completely irrelevant to your point, it may undermine your efforts in a big way.

Where to get quotes?
Personally, I do not search for quotations on the internet very often. I almost always get mine straight from material I have read directly. My books for, example, are filled with tags and pages full of my comments and highlighter marks. I sketch a star and write a note to myself next to great passages for future reference. It's kind of messy, but it works for me. Still, there may be occasions when poking around one of the quotations pages may be of help. So below I have listed a few of the many places you can check for quotations. I'm certain there are even better resources, so please let me know and I'll update this post to make it better.

Tom Peters' slides from his website
As Tom says "we post all my slide shows so attendees can go back at their leisure and recall the logic of the presentation and "steal" some cool quotes to use in their presentations!" If nothing else, a look at the sources in Tom's slides may point you to the original material for deeper research.
Tom Peters' "Top 41" quotes and other free stuff
Various PDFs from TP. Excellent.
Wikiquote
Quotes, proverbs, etc. in several languages (thanks, Pawel!).
Yahoo's list of quotation sites
One of the best places to start. You can search sites on Yahoo popularity or alphabetically.
The brainy quote
Thousands of quotes by thousands of authors. Search by topic, author, or profession.
Famousquotations.com
Good selection. Searchable.
The Quotations page
Over 24,000 quotes, 2,700 authors
Quoteland.com
Many categories.
Quotationreference.com
Searchable by author or subject.
Famous quotes and quotations
Searchable and organized in a few broad categories.
Quotelady.com   
Organized by category here.
Great-Quotes.com
Over 54,000 famous sayings, proverbs, and quotes.
Quotation resources by about.com
Different.
Bartlett's Quotations
11,000 searchable quotations from literature
Business-related
Not great, but may be some gems in there.
Stupid Quotes About Hurricane Katrina
By Daniel Kurtzman
Dr. Gabriel Robins' "Good quotations by famous people"
Interesting list by a CS prof.
Positive Atheism's Big List of Quotations
A lot of categories but especially philosophy, religion, politics...
World's best quotes in 1-10 words
I like this short list from Career Lab.
Zen Quotes
A few quote from the world of Zen
Using quotes effectively
A few tips from the Idea Bank

Note: The photo of the woman making tea in the sample slide above was snapped by me about a year ago in Kobe. (You may notice something a bit odd about it — extra points for anyone who can guess what it is...).

 

Comments

[Bruce Scharlau]

Would it perchance be the book-like item tucked into her top? It looks a bit out of place.

[Pawel Rutkowski]

You can also try http://www.wikiquote.org/ (available in english,polish,french,deutsch,spanish and few more)

[Garr]

>Would it perchance be the book-like item tucked into her top? It looks a bit out of place.

Bruce, the item tuck inside her kimono (although you are getting warm) is a usual item for one to have when performing tea ceremony. It is something for wiping. I think it is a "fukusa" (not a normal Japanese word).

http://www.kato3.org/chanoyu/equip.html

Getting warm though :-)

[Rimantas]

Shouldn't the right overlap of the kimono be under the left, not over as in the picture?

[Garr]

> Shouldn't the right overlap of the kimono be under the left

Yes, that's right, Rimantas. The reason is I flipped the pic around (in Keynote) so that the woman was facing to the left. Pic looks better that way (facing toward the text). A small thing perhaps. Not sure if anyone would notice as the photo would not be on screen that long (and it is the quote that is important). *BUT*, the thing is, wrapping the kimono over on top of the left is only used to dress a corpse for burial, so I would not actually use this photo, at least not in Japan... Sometimes you have to be careful of unintended messages when editing photos...

[Timothy Gray]

The best place I've found for quotations is thinkexist.com. They have a huge database of quotes and allow you to store favorites in your own "books".

[Steve]

Is it a design rule to have the image on the right side of the slide... which made you have to flip the image?

Sorry no design schooling for me :(

[mcp]

Nice list, thanks.

There is a book stuck in the chest area. ?

[Mike]

Steve-
You want the person facing towards the middle of the slide.

[Ivan Minic]

Bravo for this post!

[Matt]

Hello,

I know you want the person facing the middle of the slide, but couldn't that have been done by putting the photo on the left, and not flipping it?

-Matt

[Milan Davidovic]

Here's something fun to do the next time a speaker lays a quote on you: ask them about the person who said it, and the context in which they said it. Often, the speaker has no clue. Watch how they either squirm or try to finesse their way out.

[Nog]

"I say that my conclusions are much more credible when I back them up with great sources,"

This is argument technique known as "reliance on a higher authority". It is usually used when the argument one is making is not in itself strong enough to be convincing.

As entertainment, quotes are great, but as credibility-enhancers, they're useful only for convincing people who aren't thinking anyway.

[Evan]

I personally enjoy many of the quotes on http://www.wist.info/ . They're mostly funny, but some serious ones in there as well. Seachable by last names and terms.

[Evan]

I personally enjoy many of the quotes on http://www.wist.info/ . They're mostly funny, but some serious ones in there as well. Seachable by last names and terms.

[photohome.com]

Seth Godin posted an excellent list of quotes, "What Every Good Marketer Knows": http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/05/what_every_good.html

[rtrtrtt]

rrere

[Jeff Winkler]

Holy Crap, are Peter's slide ugly! What's he think he is, Wired? :)

I'm sure there's good content there, but they give me a migrane..yikes.

[Mike Pascoe]

Great new site for quotes:

http://bigcite.com

[Stephanie]

Might I also suggest the library? As a librarian, I'm biased, but they do have gobs of books containing nothing but quotations. Many of their online "databases" contain quotations as well and most US public libraries have resources that can be accessed remotely *for free* with a library card.

If you must use the "free" Internet, I would also suggest bartleby.com's Quotations section at http://bartleby.com/quotations/ , which offers the full-text of 4 books of quotations.

[Jim Rockingham]

Just what I needed, I do key note presentations now and again and these are fantastic. All the best Jim.

[Walt]

Another good quotations site is http://www.notable-quotes.com/

And unlike a lot of the other quotations pages, most of these are fully annotated.

[Positive Guy]

Another good blog on Daily Positive Thinking Quotes http://positivequotes.blogspot.com/

Thanks for helpful post on quotations.

[Jerome]

Hello,

I've another site about quotations : http://www.paliteo.com/en/

See you

[Ed Darrell]

1. Knowing the context of a quote can be a saving grace. Imagine finding a great quote from an idol of your opponent, which supports your case. Imagine putting that into your brief before the Supreme Court. Imagine having to argue when it is revealed that your quote is fictional, in a world where careful citation is much. Imagine what it does to your credibility when it is revealed that the quote is contrary to the man's views, and your every statement is now suspect. (True story. They lost the case.)

2. Circa 1975, a graduate television production student at the University of Utah had a small diamond of a research issue -- where on a video screen should news people put images with a news anchor, if the desire is that the image be remembered. The research was strong: Upper left quadrant from the viewer's side. I've often wondered if the study was ever replicated. (Can't remember the guy's name -- wonderful voice, Greek guy with a typically Greek name.)