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Quote

I have collected quotes for years, using various apps, Obsidian Notes, spreadsheets and Google Docs. I am still in search of the elusive perfect, feature packed app. Here's what I would like the app to be able to do.

Features I Want

  • Import from a spreadsheet containing the quote, author, source, tag(s), date collected
  • iCloud or other reliable syncing mechanism
  • Export individual quotes in a format suitable for social media
  • Universal (Mac and iOS)
  • Automatic import of author pictures and biographies from Wikipedia or other source
  • Share sheet in and out
  • Searchable by tag or author
  • A nice to have, but not absolutely required feature would be importing Kindle highlights

Apps That Have Some of These Features

  • Quotemarks - Quote Notebook - This comes close, but it doesn't sync through the cloud and doesn't have a way to share anything but text to social media.
  • Thoughts - Inspiration Manager - iOS only. Does not display a list of authors. Tag list is not in alphabetical order.
  • Quotes - Organize and Recall - Mac only. Can't import anything other than a Kindle clippings file.
  • Quotebook by Lickability - The OG quotes app dating back to 2011. It was removed from the App Store in 2016, but has remained usable. The deprecated version has good syncing via iCloud, automatic import of author pictures and biographies, import and export through CSV. There is no Mac version, however and it's sure to break one day since it is quintessential abandonware.
  • Quotz - a nice iOS app of quality quotes, but you can't add your own. It does have good sharing features though
  • BrainyQuote - Another nice quote data base with good sharing features, but with no way to add your own content
  • TextShot - Works on Mac and iOS. Allows you to create your own quotes with title, author and source, but only saves image files of the quotes, no tagging, no searching.
  • Quotify - No way to import existing quote collection except through one at a time manual entry. Have to use work around for tagging. Doesn't display a list of authors or tags. Has nice sharing features. The individual import feature is also well thought out.

Quote Sources

If you are interested, I have a repository on GitHub with Markdown notes from 500+ authors and public figures with one or more quotes from each of them. Browse the notes or download a ZIP of the whole thing. They are formatted for Obsidian, if that's your jam.

Goodreads also has an extensive quote library.

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