The reading or non-reading a book will never keep down a single petticoat.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Wear the old coat and buy the new book.
—Austin Phelps (1820–90) American Presbyterian Clergyman, Educator, Theologian
Books are not men and yet they stay alive.
—Stephen Vincent Benet (1898–1943) American Poet
A good book is the purest essence of a human soul.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
I read part of it all the way through.
—Samuel Goldwyn (1879–1974) Polish-born American Film Producer, Businessperson
There are two kinds of books. Those that no one reads and those that no one ought to read.
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
Remarks are not literature.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Literature is the human activity that make the fullest and most precise account of variousness, possibility, complexity, and difficulty.
—Lionel Trilling (1905–75) American Literary Critic
This book is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled with great force.
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American Humorist, Journalist
‘Tis pleasant, sure, to see one’s name in print; A book’s a book, although there’s nothing in it.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
The multitude of books is making us ignorant.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.
—Italo Calvino (1923–85) Italian Novelist, Essayist, Journalist
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
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
When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
I have decided that the trouble with print is, it never changes its mind.
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b.1929) American Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer
I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
As life grows more terrible, its literature grows more terrible.
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American Poet
When politicians and politically minded people pay too much attention to literature, it is a bad sign—a bad sign mostly for literature. But it is also a bad sign when they don’t want to hear the word mentioned.
—Italo Calvino (1923–85) Italian Novelist, Essayist, Journalist
Literature flourishes best when it is half trade and half an art.
—William Motter Inge (1913–73) American Playwright, Novelist
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
The fact is, the public make use of the classics of a country as a means of checking the progress of Art. They degrade the classics into authorities. They use them as bludgeons for preventing the free expression of Beauty in new forms.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Thou mayest as well expect to grow stronger by always eating, as wiser by always reading. Too much overcharges Nature, and turns more into disease than nourishment. ‘Tis thought and digestion which make books serviceable, and give health and vigor to the mind.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
No publisher should ever express an opinion on the value of what he publishes. That is a matter entirely for the literary critic to decide. I can quite understand how any ordinary critic would be strongly prejudiced against a work that was accompanied by a premature and unnecessary panegyric from the publisher. A publisher is simply a useful middle-man. It is not for him to anticipate the verdict of criticism.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A good book on your shelf is a friend that turns its back on you and remains a friend.
—Indian Proverb
Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.
—John Wesley (1703–91) British Methodist Religious Leader, Preacher, Theologian
A book that is shut is but a block.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
We are as liable to be corrupted by books, as by companions.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Books are masters who instruct us without rods or ferules, without words or anger, without bread or money. If you approach them, they are not asleep; if you seek them, they do not hide; if you blunder, they do not scold; if you are ignorant, they do not laugh at you.
—Richard de Bury
Books – the best antidote against the marsh-gas of boredom and vacuity.
—George Steiner (1929–2020) American Critic, Scholar
Begin to read a book that will help you move toward your dream.
—Les Brown
O, let my books be then the eloquence and dumb presages of my speaking breast.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
There are books which take rank in your life with parents and lovers and passionate experiences, so medicinal, so stringent, so revolutionary, so authoritative.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
It is from books that wise people derive consolation in the troubles of life.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A book worth reading is worth buying.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
Read much, but not many books.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The most valuable book we can read, about countries we have visited, is that which recalls to us something that we did notice, but did not notice that we noticed.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
That is a very good question. I don’t know the answer. But can you tell me the name of a classical Greek shoemaker?
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.
—Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) American Philosopher, Educator
A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them. It is a wrong to his family. Children learn to read by being in the presence of books. The love of knowledge comes with reading and grows upon it. And the love of knowledge, in a young mind, is almost a warrant against the inferior excitement of passions and vices.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
There is no Frigate like a book to take us lands away nor any coursers like a page of prancing Poetry.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.
—Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–89) English Poet, Writer
Autobiography is probably the most respectable form of lying.
—Humphrey Carpenter (1946–2005) English Children’s Books Writer, Biographer, Author, Radio Personality
Other relaxations are peculiar to certain times, places, and stages of life, but the study of letters is the nourishment of our youth, and the joy of our old age. They throw an additional splendor on prosperity, and are the resource and consolation of adversity; they delight at home, and are no embarrassment abroad; in short, they are company to us at night, our fellow travelers on a journey, and attendants in our rural recesses.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer