8,789 Words of Wisdom: Proverbs, Precepts, Maxims, Adages, and Axioms to Live By

by Barbara Ann Kipfer

An essential, obsessive collection of all those wise and quirky sayings we’ve heard before—plus plenty of essential, obscure ones to discover—now all in one place.
 
With words of comfort and motivation, humor and warmth, here are thousands of proverbs, precepts, maxims, adages, and axioms—8,789 of them, to be precise—that prove just as true today as the day they were coined. Polished over years of use, there’s the unexpected, the playful, even the counterintuitive.
 
Learn to unlearn.
Appreciate the questions as much as the answers.
Stretch beyond what is comfortable.
Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.
 
Every page contains secrets and encouragement to lead a happy, healthy, sane, and productive life; taken altogether, it’s the ultimate source of inspiration for personal growth.
 

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Reference, Philosophy, Inspirational, Writing, Psychology

608 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Dr. Barbara Ann Kipfer (born in 1954) is a lexicographer,as well as an archaeologist. She has written more than 60 books, including 14,000 Things to be Happy About (Workman), which has more than a million copies in print and has given rise to many Page-a-Day calendars. The 25th anniversary edition of the book was published in October 2014. She is the editor of Roget's International Thesaurus.

Kipfer is Chief Lexicographer of the company Temnos. She has worked for such companies as Google, Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com, Answers.com, Ask Jeeves, Bellcore/Telcordia, Federated Media Publishing, General Electric Research, IBM Research, idealab, Knowledge Adventure, Textdigger, The Chicago Tribune, and WolframAlpha. Barbara holds a PhD and MPhil in Linguistics (University of Exeter), a PhD in Archaeology (Greenwich University), an MA and a PhD in Buddhist Studies (Akamai University), and a BS in Physical Education (Valparaiso University).

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Nicole]

A great book full of advices. If you don't know what to do, open up a random page and read the first saying that catches your eye. Maybe it will help. I found a lot of comfort and new favorite sayings in this book.

[Leslie]

This book was a gift from a friend and it's the perfect inspirational read. I love reading and collecting quotes.

[فـي قبضتــه السحــاب !!؟]

انطلقت ( باربرا ) لتجمع كل ما مر عليها من حكم وأمثال ومقتطفات ادبية وتعليقات و...و...
ودونتها في كتاب ليكن بين يديك ..




تصويري :)

ووصفت كتابها بـ ( العادي ) والذي بدوره أمدني بمتعة غير عادية :) حين قالت :

زلات اللسان هي إفشاء للحقيقة ..

لا تتكلم مالم يكن بإمكانك قول ما هو أبلغ من الصمت..

القلم دائماً ما يبقى لفترة أطول من الممحاة

لابد أن تركض كي تفوز بالسباق

من أكثر الأشياء المخيفة في الحياة شخص ليس لديه ما يخسره .

اخسر سمكة صغيرة لتصيد واحدة كبيرة

الصمت هو أفضل حصن للجهلاء

الحديث فن

إقتبست بعضها وينتظركم الكثير :)

[Morgan]

There were a lot of repeat quotes and a good chunk of them weren't even really 'words of wisdom'. They felt like my mother was nagging me. "Brush your teeth twice a day!" Thanks.

[Aljaz Motion Cut]

Inspiring, somewhat motivational, but too repetitive. You can see a quote appearing for 3-5x times or more, not even paraphrased.

Why not focus on quality of the quotes, rather than quantity? Some quotes i just don't get it:

“Eventually everything gets done” -> rather pessimistic. If you really think that and you don't do something about it, than it won't get done. Nobody will do you work.

“Kiss someone good night even if he is already asleep” Probably is too late if you start thinking of kissing someone at night, what about in the morning?

“Talk to your plants and animals” Have you ever had a nice conversation with plants?

I would rather have a book of amazing 1,000 quotes or even only 100 quotes, but really profound, good and unique ones. Nevertheless I read 1/3 of the book, I find some enjoyment in reading, but I quit reading because of repetitiveness.

[Tim Gannon]

This one was so-so - There were tons of repeats and near-repeats of the quotes - I think the amount of original quotes was less than 100. This one differed from previous texts in adding proverbs, precepts, maxims, adages, and axioms. Not even sure what most of those words mean, but it was written on the back cover so it must be true. Luckily I could still understand what I read.

[Jennifer]

This book helps get through my negative thoughts.

[Sable]

I read about 2-3 pages a day just for morning inspiration. There were a lot of repeated quotes that were just worded differently and some of the quotes I didn’t fully agree with. However, this book came handy when drinking coffee and when you want to start your day off on the right foot.

[Ivory]

Other quotes I agree and then highlighted it. Some I seem to not get. Overall, was happy I took the time and chance to read this. I didn’t expect it to be that long to finish. Oh well!

[Jon Robnett]

Excellent life advice

[Sheryl]

Love this little book!

[Dev]

Full of positive words.

[Arroma Assada]

كتاب رائع مليئ بالحكم المفيدة و الملهمة.

[Brice Fuqua]

Most of these aphorisms are both stupid and wrong. Use common sense to pick out the ones to live by.

[Maui Rochell]

Finally finished this book after almost 5 months! Whenever I don't know where to start reading again, I find myself getting this book and skim a few pages and get inspired. I even wrote some pieces in my personal journal.

[Chantel]

This is a book of quotes. I put it on the coffee table to pick up here and there to read. Unfortunately, I lost interest in it. There were a lot of good quotes, but it took a while to get through them.

[~cowgirl J.~]

Random thoughts and quotes for daily living and for help with having a better character everyday.

[Tara Kazimir]

a lot!

[Karendillard]

Happiness in book form...good for a pick-me-up.

[SmarterLilac]

Slightly less soporific and condescending than its counterparts, but still nothing special.

My favorite: 'Buy comfortable furniture.'

[Lynne]

618 pages of shared wisdom, inspiration and quotes. A must read for all quote lovers.

[Lisa Ebarb]

if I need my spirit to be lightened this is one of the books..I love just reading great quotes.funny n a lot of the time I feel better when I open up n read this book..

[Jimbo]

Lots of wisdom!

[Syrlane Albuquerque]

I'm giving three stars for this book because it is way too repetitive. It could be cut it down to 4,000 or even less words of wisdom.

[Magdalene Koh]

8,789 Words of Wisdom

[WisMx1821]

A fun little book of quotes.

[William]

What an insightful read! One to keep handy!

[Vasilka]

This is a neat little book w/ words of wisdom & quotes.

[翰 科]

=

[Michelle Carrell]

An excellent and enlightening read.