If we encountered a man of rare intellect we should ask him what books he read.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
People are much more willing to lend you books than bookcases.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Until it is kindled by a spirit as flamingly alive as the one which gave it birth a book is dead to us. Words divested of their magic are but dead hieroglyphs.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
A book that is shut is but a block.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Books worth reading once are worth reading twice; and what is most important of all, the masterpieces of literature are worth reading a thousand times.
—John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Political Leader, Writer, Editor, Journalist
The books one reads in childhood, and perhaps most of all the bad and good bad books, create in one’s mind a sort of false map of the world, a series of fabulous countries into which one can retreat at odd moments throughout the rest of life…
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason: they made no such demand upon those who wrote them. Those works, therefore, are the most valuable, that set our thinking faculties in the fullest operation. understand them.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Read an hour every day in your chosen field. This works out to about one book per week, 50 books per year, and will guarantee your success.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) American Novelist, Playwright
Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Reading is a lot like physical exercise. Reading is a workout for the brain.
—Steve Pavlina (b.1971) American Motivational Speaker
A successful book cannot afford to be more than ten percent new.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
Reading not only enlarges and challenges the mind; it also engages and exercises the brain. Today’s youth who sits mesmerized by a television screen is not going to be tomorrow’s leader. Television watching is passive. Reading is active.
—Richard Nixon (1913–94) American Head of State, Lawyer
There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates loot on Treasure Island and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.
—Walt Disney (1901–66) American Entrepreneur
We are too civil to books. For a few golden sentences we will turn over and actually read a volume of four or five hundred pages.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Never read any book that is not a year old.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There is a set of religious, or rather moral, writings which teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery in this world. A very wholesome and comfortable doctrine, and to which we have but one objection, namely, that it is not true.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
What is twice read is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
What a sense of security in an old book which time has criticized for us.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
I always begin at the left with the opening word of the sentence and read toward the right and I recommend this method.
—James Thurber
There are three classes of readers: some enjoy without judgment; others judge without enjoyment; and some there are who judge while they enjoy, and enjoy while they judge. The latter class reproduces the work of art on which it is engaged.—Its numbers are very small.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
While thought exists, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
That is a good book which is opened with expectation, and closed with delight and profit.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
What we become depends on what we read after all the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is the collection of books.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
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