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Reading quotes

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“People don't realize how a man's whole life can be changed by one book.” Malcolm X, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” - 1965

“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” Francis Bacon, “The Essays of Francis Bacon” - 1597

“There is no enjoyment like reading!” Jane Austen, “Pride and Prejudice” - 28 January 1813

“Let every man judge according to his own standards, by what he has himself read, not by what others tell him.” Albert Einstein, “The world as I see it” - 1949

“Words can be like X-rays, if you use them properly—they'll go through anything. You read and you're pierced.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“He loved books; books are cold but safe friends.” Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables” - 1862

“From a child I was fond of reading, and all the little money that came into my hands was ever laid out in books.” Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” - 1791

“Books are like imprisoned souls until some one takes them down from a shelf and reads them.” Samuel Butler, “The Note-Books of Samuel Butler” - 1912

“And so he learned to read. From then on his progress was rapid.” Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes” - 1912

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” Haruki Murakami, “Norwegian Wood” - 1987

“Not that you have to be there; books are a uniquely portable magic.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot.” J. D. Salinger, “The Catcher in the Rye” - 1951

“The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read.” Margaret Atwood, “The Blind Assassin” - 2000

“I wanted to read all these books, but I would have to have been in a rest home or something in order to do that.” Bob Dylan, “Chronicles, Volume One” - 2004

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use reading it at all.” Oscar Wilde, “Intentions” - 1891

“He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often returned with two.” Victor Hugo, “Les Misérables” - 1862

“'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read.” Mark Twain, “Following the Equator” - 1897

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” George R. R. Martin, “A Dance with Dragons” - 2011

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“The best books . . . are those that tell you what you know already.” George Orwell, “1984” - 1949

“With freedom, flowers, books, and the moon, who could not be perfectly happy?” Oscar Wilde, “De Profundis” - 1905

“I am too fond of reading books to care to write them” Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray” - 1890

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” Oscar Wilde, “The Importance of Being Earnest” - 1895

“Knowing I lov'd my books, he furnish'd me from mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom.” William Shakespeare, “The Tempest” - 1623

“How well he's read, to reason against reading!” William Shakespeare, “Love's Labour's Lost” - 1598

“He read the verses backwards but then they were not poetry.” James Joyce, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” - 1916

“When I used to read fairy-tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!” Lewis Carroll, “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” - 1865

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” John Green, “The Fault in Our Stars” - 2012

“Back to culture. Yes, actually to culture. You can't consume much if you sit still and read books.” Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” - 1932

“The reader, the booklover, must meet his own needs without paying too much attention to what his neighbors say those needs should be.” Theodore Roosevelt, “Theodore Roosevelt; an Autobiography” - 1913

“Reading was the only amusement I allow'd myself. I spent no time in taverns, games, or frolicks of any kind; and my industry in my business continu'd as indefatigable as it was necessary.” Benjamin Franklin, “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” - 1791

“My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern, being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore, in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning their language;...” Jonathan Swift, “Gulliver's Travels” - 1726

“If I weren't out here every day battling the white man, I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity—because you can hardly mention anything I'm not curious about.” Malcolm X, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” - 1965

“You can do as you please, but I shall keep my book on the table here and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good and help me through the day.” Louisa May Alcott, “Little Women” - 1868

“Her reputation of reading a great deal hung about her like the cloudy envelope of a goddess in an epic; it was supposed to engender difficult questions and to keep the conversation at a low temperature.” Henry James, “The Portrait of a Lady” - 1881

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” Francis Bacon, “The Essays of Francis Bacon” - 1597

“He longed for the little cabin and the sun-kissed sea—for the cool interior of the well-built house, and for the never-ending wonders of the many books.” Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes” - 1912

“To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar.” Samuel Johnson, “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia” - 1759

“I seek, in the reading of books, only to please myself by an honest diversion; or, if I study, 'tis for no other science than what treats of the knowledge of myself, and instructs me how to die and how to live well.” Michel de Montaigne, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne” - 1580

“The trick is to teach yourself to read in small sips as well as in long swallows. Waiting rooms were made for books—of course!” Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” - 2000

“Fools admire everything in an author of reputation. For my part, I read only to please myself.” Voltaire, “Candide” - 1759

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it.” J. D. Salinger, “The Catcher in the Rye” - 1951

“There is more to do. We need to prepare our children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs.” George W. Bush, “State of the Union Address” - 29 January 2002

“For six months, then, Emma, at fifteen years of age, made her hands dirty with books from old lending libraries.” Gustave Flaubert, “Madame Bovary” - 1856

“Books, for me, used to be a way to escape. I now consider reading a good book a sacred indulgence, a chance to be any place I choose. It is my absolute favorite way to spend time.” Oprah Winfrey, “What I Know For Sure” - 2014

“What I know for sure is that reading opens you up. It exposes you and gives you access to anything your mind can hold. What I love most about reading: It gives you the ability to reach higher ground. And keep climbing.” Oprah Winfrey, “What I Know For Sure” - 2014

“All the old history was written for the amusement of the ruling classes. The lower classes couldn't read, and their rulers didn't care about remembering what happened to them.” Frank Zappa, “The Real Frank Zappa Book” - 1989

“it is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn't. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn't read.” Oscar Wilde, “The Importance of Being Earnest” - 1895

“It is only a novel . . . or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and...” Jane Austen, “Northanger Abbey” - 1817

Related topics

books writing book life knowledge friendship happiness words amusement libraries enjoyment magic culture author reason truth ignorance human nature self-love understanding

Related authors

Oscar Wilde (5)
Stephen King (5)
Jane Austen (3)
William Shakespeare (2)
John Green (2)
Aldous Huxley (2)
Victor Hugo (2)
Benjamin Franklin (2)
Malcolm X (2)
Francis Bacon (2)
Edgar Rice Burroughs (2)
Haruki Murakami (2)
J. D. Salinger (2)
Oprah Winfrey (2)
James Joyce (1)
Mark Twain (1)
George R. R. Martin (1)
Lewis Carroll (1)
George Orwell (1)
Charles Dickens (1)

Related sources

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (5)
Northanger Abbey (2)
The Importance of Being Earnest (2)
Brave New World (2)
Les Misérables (2)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (2)
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (2)
The Essays of Francis Bacon (2)
Tarzan of the Apes (2)
Norwegian Wood (2)
The Catcher in the Rye (2)
What I Know For Sure (2)
The Tempest (1)
Pride and Prejudice (1)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1)
Love's Labour's Lost (1)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1)
1984 (1)
The Fault in Our Stars (1)

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