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Flash Wisdom: A Curated Collection of Mind-Blowing, Perspective-Changing Quotes
"A quotation at the right moment is like bread to the famished." --Talmud
The right quotation can change your life. That compressed idea--expressed in just a few words, a sentence or two--can shift your thinking, trigger an epiphany, or alter your way of seeing the world. The wisest and most experienced people in history have left behind these thought-bombs--at turns surprising, jolting, discomforting, and comforting insights about living a full, unbridled life, questioning authority and reality, relating to fellow humans, creating, risking, loving, living with uncertainty, and staying sane in an insane world.
Poets, philosophers, scientists, musicians, artists, presidents, activists, and more rub shoulders in this smartly designed book, giving us the benefit of their hard-earned wisdom, breakthroughs, breakdowns, bad choices, sudden illuminations, and lightning wit. Sharing some of life's most important lessons are William Blake and Bruce Lee, Abraham Lincoln and Lorrie Moore, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Terence McKenna, Rene Magritte and St. Teresa of Avila, Zelda Fitzgerald and Bob Marley, and dozens more. The quotes are arranged neatly into topics so you can find the apt word for any given situation.
"Flash Wisdom" is a book of rousing insights and challenging thoughts that will appeal to anyone who is searching, anyone who doesn't fit in, anyone who questions the way things are.... which is to say, all of us."
The right quotation can change your life. That compressed idea--expressed in just a few words, a sentence or two--can shift your thinking, trigger an epiphany, or alter your way of seeing the world. The wisest and most experienced people in history have left behind these thought-bombs--at turns surprising, jolting, discomforting, and comforting insights about living a full, unbridled life, questioning authority and reality, relating to fellow humans, creating, risking, loving, living with uncertainty, and staying sane in an insane world.
Poets, philosophers, scientists, musicians, artists, presidents, activists, and more rub shoulders in this smartly designed book, giving us the benefit of their hard-earned wisdom, breakthroughs, breakdowns, bad choices, sudden illuminations, and lightning wit. Sharing some of life's most important lessons are William Blake and Bruce Lee, Abraham Lincoln and Lorrie Moore, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Terence McKenna, Rene Magritte and St. Teresa of Avila, Zelda Fitzgerald and Bob Marley, and dozens more. The quotes are arranged neatly into topics so you can find the apt word for any given situation.
"Flash Wisdom" is a book of rousing insights and challenging thoughts that will appeal to anyone who is searching, anyone who doesn't fit in, anyone who questions the way things are.... which is to say, all of us."
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2015
4 people are currently reading
303 people want to read
About the author
Russ Kick
40 books98 followersEditor of the website The Memory Hole which publishes and archives hidden US government documents, including scientific studies and reports, civil rights-related reports, intelligence and covert action reports.
He was also editor-at-large for The Disinformation Company, where he had published several books including The Book of Lists and 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know.
He was also editor-at-large for The Disinformation Company, where he had published several books including The Book of Lists and 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 8, 2018
Such books are always doomed to meh-ness. This was meh too.
April 4, 2015
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
This book is a collection of the author’s (a self-described “quotation junkie”) favorite quotes and ideas. I liked the collection and I enjoy reading quotes and letting them soak in. The list of quotes is sorted into nine chapters with a brief introduction to each by the author. I think this would make a great “coffee table book” but my copy is a rather small paperback.
A quote from the book:
“What was once called the objective world is a sort of Rorschach ink blot, into which each culture, each type of personality, reads a meaning only remotely derived from the shape and color of the blot itself” –Lewis Mumford
I do have one complaint regarding his presentation. None of the quotes give any background other than the name of the quote’s originator. Perhaps this was done purposely to encourage your own interpretation but I would rather know the conditions under which the quote was made. I would hate to use my interpretation of the quote and cite the person when they were referring to something completely different.
This book is a collection of the author’s (a self-described “quotation junkie”) favorite quotes and ideas. I liked the collection and I enjoy reading quotes and letting them soak in. The list of quotes is sorted into nine chapters with a brief introduction to each by the author. I think this would make a great “coffee table book” but my copy is a rather small paperback.
A quote from the book:
“What was once called the objective world is a sort of Rorschach ink blot, into which each culture, each type of personality, reads a meaning only remotely derived from the shape and color of the blot itself” –Lewis Mumford
I do have one complaint regarding his presentation. None of the quotes give any background other than the name of the quote’s originator. Perhaps this was done purposely to encourage your own interpretation but I would rather know the conditions under which the quote was made. I would hate to use my interpretation of the quote and cite the person when they were referring to something completely different.
February 12, 2016
This was a hard book to put down, as I kept nodding and smiling as I paged along. The quality of the material is quite strong. A good collection that gathers some contemporary voices - Mary Karr, Tom Robbins, Bill Nye - along side the familiar - Rilke, Disraeli, Epictetus. They are grouped two or three to a page under nine topical categories (Reality, Living, Love, Well-Being, Self, Others, Art/Lit/Creativity, Authority, The Big Picture). The choices are excellent, engaging, and thought provoking. Well worth having as inspiration or resource. As with most recent quote books, there are no citations, and an index of contributors would have been nice.
March 7, 2025
I had high hopes from a quote book by Russ Kick, since with his impressive reach into the underground and alternative literary obscura, the sky's the limit for what he could've dug up in here. But instead, many of these quotes are fairly run of the mill platitude fare, or the stereotypical takes by Twain, Dostoyevsky, Aurelius, Chesterton, Rilke, etc. Some of them are unexpected, but that's a minority overall. It's a quick and easy read, but one that doesn't live up to its potential.
December 26, 2015
I was lucky enough to win a copy of this book in a giveaway and I have to say, it is absolutely worth buying!
A great book to keep on the coffee table or next to the bed, for when you're needing a bit of inspiration or motivation.
Packed full of humorous and thought-provoking quotes which will make you smile, it's a really sweet read and one that I'll go back to again and again!
A great book to keep on the coffee table or next to the bed, for when you're needing a bit of inspiration or motivation.
Packed full of humorous and thought-provoking quotes which will make you smile, it's a really sweet read and one that I'll go back to again and again!
August 15, 2016
After adding books to owned books[shelf goodreads provides] I lost ratings and review. Will attempt to add the review. Books won on goodreads giveaways that is missing review due to this are books I have enjoyed. On a later date I will attempt to remember what I have written about them and will rewrite them.
February 16, 2016
great book may of the quotes I'd never before, they also were well chosen
July 23, 2016
A wonderful potpourri of quotations for everything you could want or imagine. A must have for everyone. A book I will carry around with me everywhere I go.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews