Fortune Files Collection

A collection of quotes and insights from books, philosophies, and ideas worth remembering, integrated with the Unix fortune command for random terminal wisdom.

What is This?

This is a collection of fortune files created from quotes and lessons encountered while reading. When something seems worth remembering, AI helps structure it into fortune entries that include:

• The original quote or insight
• Context about the author/source
• An interpretation or analysis
• Practical takeaways

The goal is simple: use spaced repetition through random terminal exposure to help retain ideas from books and philosophies.

Collection (46 Files)

Philosophy & Spirituality

• bible - Biblical wisdom and verses
• buddhism - Buddhist teachings and sayings
• meditations - Marcus Aurelius's Meditations
• stoic - Stoic philosophy principles
• taoism - Taoist wisdom
• zen - Zen Buddhism and mindfulness

Technical Books

• accelerate - Accelerate (DevOps and high performance)
• algorithms - Algorithmic concepts and problem solving
• cleancode - Clean Code by Robert C. Martin
• ddd - Domain-Driven Design
• ddia - Designing Data-Intensive Applications
• designpatterns - Software design patterns
• legacycode - Working Effectively with Legacy Code
• pragmatic - The Pragmatic Programmer
• refactoring - Refactoring techniques
• sicp - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
• tdd - Test-Driven Development

Cloud & Infrastructure

• aws - Amazon Web Services
• awsaction - AWS in Action
• awsdata - AWS data engineering
• gcp - Google Cloud Platform
• gcparchitect - GCP architecture
• gcpdata - GCP data engineering
• dataengineering - Data engineering
• datawarehouse - Data warehousing
• streaming - Stream processing

DevOps & Methodologies

• agile - Agile methodologies
• continuousdelivery - Continuous delivery
• devops - DevOps practices
• microservices - Microservices architecture
• releaseit - Release It! (production readiness)
• scrum - Scrum framework
• sre - Site Reliability Engineering
• systemdesign - System design

Leadership & Soft Skills

• crucialconversations - Crucial Conversations
• influence - Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• managerspath - The Manager's Path
• staffengineer - Staff Engineer
• thinkingfastslow - Thinking, Fast and Slow
• userstories - User Stories Applied

Books & General Wisdom

• alchemist - The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• fallacies - Logical fallacies and critical thinking
• feynman - Richard Feynman's insights
• hitchhikers - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• motivational - Motivational quotes
• wisdom - General wisdom and life lessons

Installation

Install My Fortune Files

./install.sh

Or:

make install

See What Will Be Installed

./install.sh --list

How I Use It

1. Install the Fortune Files

make install

2. Install the Aliases

make install-aliases

This copies .fortune-aliases to ~/.fortune-aliases in your home directory.

3. Set Up Your Shell

Add this to your shell aliases file (e.g., ~/.zsh_aliases or ~/.bash_aliases):

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Fortune Aliases
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Load fortune-specific aliases if they exist
if [[ -f ~/.fortune-aliases ]]; then
    source ~/.fortune-aliases
fi

4. Add Fortune to Your Shell Startup

Add this to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Fortune - Random Quotes
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Display a random fortune if installed
if command -v fortune &> /dev/null; then
    if alias fortune-everything &> /dev/null; then
        fortune-everything
    else
        fortune
    fi
fi

5. Reload Your Shell

source ~/.zshrc
# or
source ~/.bashrc

That's it! Now every time you open a terminal, you'll see random wisdom from your entire collection.

Available Aliases

After sourcing .fortune-aliases, you'll have access to these commands:

Core topics:

• fortune-wisdom - Philosophy and spirituality
• fortune-tech - Technical books
• fortune-cloud - Cloud platforms
• fortune-arch - Architecture and design
• fortune-lead - Leadership and management

Context-specific:

• fortune-coding, fortune-design, fortune-data, fortune-devops, fortune-philosophy, fortune-books

Cloud-specific:

• fortune-aws, fortune-gcp

Work context:

• fortune-standup, fortune-review, fortune-planning, fortune-debugging

Personal development:

• fortune-morning, fortune-reflect, fortune-learn

By role:

• fortune-developer, fortune-architect, fortune-manager, fortune-engineer

By mood/need:

• fortune-inspire, fortune-focus, fortune-think, fortune-balance

Project types:

• fortune-backend, fortune-frontend, fortune-fullstack, fortune-mlops

Learning paths:

• fortune-softskills, fortune-hardskills, fortune-cloudpath, fortune-leadership

Everything:

• fortune-all - Curated selection
• fortune-everything - All 46 fortune files

Managing the Collection

Check What's Installed

# List all fortune files with sizes
fortune -f

# See the fortune directory
ls /opt/homebrew/share/games/fortunes  # macOS
ls /usr/share/games/fortunes            # Linux

Remove Specific Files

# Find the directory
fortune -f

# Remove files (macOS Homebrew example)
cd /opt/homebrew/share/games/fortunes
rm stoic stoic.dat

Adding New Notes

When I finish a new book or learn something important:

1. Create a new file in fortunes/ directory
2. Add quotes/insights separated by % on its own line
3. Run ./install.sh

Format:

The quote or insight.
    -- Author

    Context: Background about the author or source

    Why this matters: My interpretation

    How to use it: Practical application
%
Next quote...

Example workflow:

# Create new fortune file for a book I just finished
cat > fortunes/newbook << 'EOF'
Important quote from the book.
    -- Author Name

    Context: This is from Chapter 3...

    Why this matters: This changed how I think about...
%
Another key insight.
EOF

# Install it
./install.sh

# Test it
fortune newbook

Why I Built This

I read a lot of technical books and study various philosophies, but I noticed I'd forget key insights over time. This collection helps me:

1. Spaced repetition - Random exposure to ideas I want to internalize
2. Easy access - No need to flip through books to find that quote
3. Context preserved - Each quote includes why it matters
4. Daily practice - See wisdom every time I open a terminal
5. Curated learning - Only the most impactful ideas make it in

Fortune File Format

Each file contains entries separated by %:

Quote or insight.
%
Another quote.
Can span multiple lines.
%
Third quote.

Project Structure

fortunes/
├── README.md           # This file
├── install.sh          # Installation script
├── Makefile            # Make targets
└── fortunes/           # My 46 fortune files
    ├── stoic
    ├── cleancode
    ├── ddia
    ├── ... (43 more)

License

This is my personal collection of quotes and notes from books I've read and philosophies I study. The original quotes belong to their respective authors and sources.

Acknowledgments

• The authors of all the books that shaped my thinking
• The Unix fortune program for keeping this tradition alive
• The philosophical traditions that provide timeless wisdom