commonplace book

noun

1. a book in which noteworthy quotations, comments, etc., are written.

commonplace book

noun

1. a notebook in which quotations, poems, remarks, etc, that catch the owner's attention are entered

Word History and Origins

Origin of commonplace book¹

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

If you come across a passage you like, copy it out into a commonplace book.

From The Daily Beast

My memory is well stored, but unfortunately I have never kept a diary or commonplace book of any kind.

From Project Gutenberg

It is a good plan, in order to fix on your mind what you read and wish to remember, to keep a commonplace book.

From Project Gutenberg

It is the kind of book that grows out of a romantic disposition and an assiduously stuffed commonplace book.

From Project Gutenberg

And yet it appears to have been deliberately copied with some amplification from an entry in his last year's commonplace book.

From Project Gutenberg

"I have my trade, a lame leg and the marks of smallpox—and I never was good-looking, anyway," he wrote in his commonplace-book.

From Project Gutenberg