commonplace book

American  

noun

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

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commonplace book British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of commonplace book

First recorded in 1570–80

Example Sentences

Besides keeping my own commonplace book, I enjoy reading similar compilations by others.

From Washington Post • Dec. 15, 2022

As it happens, I’ve kept my own commonplace book since I was in college.

From Washington Post • Dec. 15, 2022

Keeping a commonplace book feels like a kinder way to grow, by wrestling with the articulations of others in the open as I hopefully adjust myself within.

From New York Times • Mar. 22, 2022

And he took copious notes, organized by topic, in his commonplace book — the database of the era.

From Nature • May 1, 2018

Samuel Adams’s master’s thesis was “delivered in flawless Latin,” Alexander Hamilton copied Demosthenes into his commonplace book, and Thomas Jefferson modeled his oratory on the prose of Livy, Sallust, and Tacitus.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith