Journaling Quotes

“No one is commonplace, and I doubt if you can ever read a biography from which you can not learn something from the difficulties overcome and the struggles made to succeed. These are the measuring rods for the progress of humanity.”  -Pres. Spencer W. Kimball

“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

“Thoughts are created in the act of writing.  It is a myth that you must have something to say in order to write.  Reality: You often need to write in order to have anything to say.  Thought comes with writing, and writing may never come if it is postponed until we are satisfied that we have something to say. The assertion of write first, see what you had to say later applies to all manifestations of written language, to letters, as well as to diaries and journals.”  -Frank Smith

On Saturday, 20 June 1942,  Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who eventually died in the Holocaust, wrote the following in her personal journal: “I haven’t written for a few days, because I wanted first of all to think about my diary. It’s an odd idea for someone like me to keep a diary; not only because I have never done so before, but because it seems to me that neither I- nor for that matter anyone else- will be interested in the unbosoming of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl.  Still, what does that matter?  I want to write, but more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart.”  -Anne Frank

“My journal took on a whole new role.  Sometimes it was my best friend or trusted confidant.  Sometimes it was a good place to sort out my feelings and remember friendships and experiences. Sometimes it was a goal-setting instrument or just a convenient place for creative expression.  Sometimes it became my psychologist or a means of solving my problems.  -Janene Woolsey Baadsgaard

“The act of writing in a journal can help a person deal with emotional pressures.  Some people who don’t intend to keep journals–and some who don’t even want to–find themselves writing as they try to cope with difficulties.  Christian theologian C.S. Lewis didn’t even approve of the journal he spontaneously kept following the death of his wife, Helen Joy Lewis. But those notebooks became his emotional salvation as he recorded his struggles with grief. (Published first under a pseudonym and then under his own name, the journals were entitled A Grief Observed.)”  -Janet Brigham

“You start communicating in your journal and then you are on your way to communicating with other people.”  -Janet Brigham

A women pen-named Martha Martin who was isolated by an avalanche in Alaska undated journal entry from the 1920’s: “I can hardly write, but I must.  For two reasons.  First I am afraid I may never live to tell my story, and second, I must do something to keep my sanity.”  -From talk by Janet Brigham

Sophie Tolstoy, wife of Russian author Leo Tolstoy, journal entry of 35 Feb. 1865: “I am so often left alone with my thoughts that the desire to write my diary is quite natural.  I sometimes feel depressed, but now it seems wonderful to be able to think everything over for myself, without having to say anything about it to other people.  -From talk by Janet Brigham

“By recording our impressions and feelings in a journal, we come to better understand ourselves and recognize the responsibility we must take for our actions. We begin to see the whole situation more clearly–and receive insight into how to solve our problems. A journal can help us see our choices and alternatives more clearly.”

“Our worries can become less worrisome and our fears less fearful when we write them down. Explaining our thoughts and feelings on paper can help relieve us of the turmoil and distress we might have felt. Expressing private feelings on paper can help to heal private hurts.” -Gawain and Gayle J. Wells

“Keeping a journal will change your life in ways that you’d never imagine.”  -Oprah Winfrey

“Confessional writing has been around at least since the Renaissance, but new research suggests that it’s far more therapeutic than anyone ever knew: Researchers found direct physiological evidence (that writing about your feelings and experiences is good for your physical health): writing increased the level of disease-fighting lymphocytes circulating in the bloodstream.”  –Newsweek April 1999

“The most important thing about journaling is that it must be confidential.  If it is not, then it won’t work.  Worrying about what someone thinks or will say about one’s journal entries defeats the whole purpose of emotional honesty with oneself.  Journaling for mental or physical health is nothing to be trifled with. It is a powerful tool and can unearth lots of emotions.”  -Dr. Lucia Capacchione