A collection of inspirational quotes about books and reading.

Top Quotes About Books

In the era before computers and internet, books singlehandedly dominated the market of information. Today, despite the influx of websites and new media, books reliably breeze through as the most respected source of information. Some merely read books for gaining factual information, while others take pleasure in sifting through words of poets and novelists. The conclusion, however, is the same. Reading is among the most fruitful tasks because it allows us to broaden our knowledge and expand our thoughts. A book transports us through time and space. It can connect us to people all over the world. Reading a book not only stimulates your memory, it decreases your stress and enhances your imagination. Many great leaders attribute their success to developing a habit of reading. If you haven’t started yet, it’s not too late yet. You can go through these quotes on the importance and joy of books and find the necessary motivation to get you started.

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
Mark Twain

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.
Haruki Murakami

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.
Oscar Wilde

Books are a uniquely portable magic.
Stephen King

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.
William Shakespeare

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.

You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
Ray Bradbury

In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.

In a good bookroom you feel in some mysterious way that you are absorbing the wisdom contained in all the books through your skin, without even opening them.
Mark Twain

Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.

Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.
Francis Bacon

Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.

Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent. What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.
Stephen King

I cannot live without books.
Thomas Jefferson

So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books.

So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install A lovely bookshelf on the wall. Then fill the shelves with lots of books.
Roald Dahl

Books may well be the only true magic.
Alice Hoffman

But luxury has never appealed to me, I like simple things, books, being alone, or with somebody who understands.

But luxury has never appealed to me, I like simple things, books, being alone, or with somebody who understands.
Daphne du Maurier

Good books don't give up all their secrets at once.

Good books don't give up all their secrets at once.
Stephen King

That's the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.

That's the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.
Jhumpa Lahiri

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.
Louisa May Alcott

Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.

Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.
J. K. Rowling

We live for books.
Umberto Eco

Books are the mirrors of the soul.
Virginia Woolf

Books. Cats. Life is Good.
Edward Gorey

Stories never really end...even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.

Stories never really end...even if the books like to pretend they do. Stories always go on. They don't end on the last page, any more than they begin on the first page.
Cornelia Funke

Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.

Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.
Mark Twain

If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!

If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!
John Waters

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?

With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?
Oscar Wilde

I don't believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.

I don't believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.
J. K. Rowling

Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this.

Books have a unique way of stopping time in a particular moment and saying: Let’s not forget this.
Dave Eggers

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.
Jorge Luis Borges

One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.
J. K. Rowling

There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.

There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts.
Charles Dickens

The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books.

The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books.
Katherine Mansfield

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means...

Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means...
Umberto Eco

A house without books is like a room without windows.

A house without books is like a room without windows.
Horace Mann

I get a warm feeling among my books.
Anthony Powell

Most books on witchcraft will tell you that witches work naked. This is because most books on witchcraft were written by men.

Most books on witchcraft will tell you that witches work naked. This is because most books on witchcraft were written by men.
Neil Gaiman

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.

I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.
Robert Louis Stevenson

Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them.

Books have to be heavy because the whole world's inside them.
Cornelia Funke

I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.

I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books

The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.

I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.
Neil Gaiman

I am too fond of reading books to care to write them.

I am too fond of reading books to care to write them.
Oscar Wilde

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.
Abraham Lincoln

Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.

Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.
Stephen Fry

The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.

The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.
Joseph Joubert

Oscar Wilde always makes me smile - with respect and admiration. His short stories prove that it is possible to be both sarcastic, even cynical, but deeply compassionate. Just seeing the cover of one of Wilde's books in a bookshop makes me smile.
Orhan Pamuk

How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.

How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.
Gore Vidal

We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.

We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.
Jules Verne

My alma mater was books, a good library.... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.

My alma mater was books, a good library.... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.
Malcolm X

Boys think girls are like books, If the cover doesn't catch their eye they won't bother to read what's inside.

Boys think girls are like books, If the cover doesn't catch their eye they won't bother to read what's inside.
Marilyn Monroe

If sex is such a natural phenomenon, how come there are so many books on how to do it?

If sex is such a natural phenomenon, how come there are so many books on how to do it?
Bette Midler

When the whole world reads your books, is there any other happiness for a writer? I am happy that my books are read in 57 languages. But I am focused on Istanbul not because of Istanbul but because of humanity. Everyone is the same in the end.
Orhan Pamuk

I write because I have an innate need to. I write because I can't do normal work. I write because I want to read books like the ones I write. I write because I am angry at everyone. I write because I love sitting in a room all day writing. I write because I can partake of real life only by changing it.
Orhan Pamuk

When I am dead, I hope it may be said: "His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.
Hilaire Belloc

There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.

There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.
Ray Bradbury

I dropped out of school, but I didn't drop out of life. I would leave the house each morning and go to the main branch of the Carnegie Library in Oakland where they had all the books in the world... I felt suddenly liberated from the constraints of a pre-arranged curriculum that labored through one book in eight months.
August Wilson

If you feel that there's the author and then the character, then the book is not working. People have a habit of identifying the author with the narrator, and you can't, obviously, be all of the narrators in all of your books, or else you'd be a very strange person indeed.
Margaret Atwood

Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors.

Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors.
Khaled Hosseini

Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you'd most like not to lose.

Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you'd most like not to lose.
Neil Gaiman

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.

Writing books is the closest men ever come to childbearing.
Norman Mailer

Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.

Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.
Henry David Thoreau

Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it's much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world!

Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it's much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world!
Neil Gaiman

Almost seventy years later I remember clearly how the magic of translating the words in books into images enriched my life, breaking the barriers of time and space...

Almost seventy years later I remember clearly how the magic of translating the words in books into images enriched my life, breaking the barriers of time and space...
Mario Vargas Llosa

I have been attacked in Turkey more for my interviews than for my books. Political polemicists and columnists do not read novels there.

I have been attacked in Turkey more for my interviews than for my books. Political polemicists and columnists do not read novels there.
Orhan Pamuk

When I was publishing my first books, the previous generation of authors was fading away, so I was welcomed because I was a new author.

When I was publishing my first books, the previous generation of authors was fading away, so I was welcomed because I was a new author.
Orhan Pamuk

You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.

You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.
Ansel Adams

Books were safer than other people anyway.

Books were safer than other people anyway.
Neil Gaiman

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The truly great books are always novels: 'Anna Karenina,' 'The Brothers Karamazov,' 'The Magic Mountain.' Just as with 'Shahnameh,' I browse these books from time to time to remember how a great book works on us or to teach my students at Columbia University.
Orhan Pamuk

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.
Henry David Thoreau

Just as good books give me the joys of being alive, bad novels depress me, and as I notice this sentiment coming from the pages, I stop. I also do not hesitate to walk out of a movie house if the film is bad.

Just as good books give me the joys of being alive, bad novels depress me, and as I notice this sentiment coming from the pages, I stop. I also do not hesitate to walk out of a movie house if the film is bad.
Orhan Pamuk

Unrequited love is all right in books and things, but in real life, it completely sucks

Unrequited love is all right in books and things, but in real life, it completely sucks
Meg Cabot

Our generation in the west was lucky: we had readymade gateways. We had books, paper, teachers, schools and libraries. But many in the world lack these luxuries. How do you practice without such tryout venues?

Our generation in the west was lucky: we had readymade gateways. We had books, paper, teachers, schools and libraries. But many in the world lack these luxuries. How do you practice without such tryout venues?
Margaret Atwood

There is no reason why the same man should like the same books at eighteen and at forty-eight

There is no reason why the same man should like the same books at eighteen and at forty-eight
Ezra Pound

Books are challenging and inspirational to me.

Books are challenging and inspirational to me.
Amy Sedaris

Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather and a little music played out of doors by somebody I do not know.

Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather and a little music played out of doors by somebody I do not know.
John Keats

I guess there are never enough books.
John Steinbeck

Read. Read. Read. Just don't read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different style.

Read. Read. Read. Just don't read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different style.
R. L. Stine

Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack.

Second hand books are wild books, homeless books; they have come together in vast flocks of variegated feather, and have a charm which the domesticated volumes of the library lack.
Virginia Woolf

Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.

Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.
Hermann Hesse

I have a big following among the biogeeks of this world. Nobody ever puts them in books.

I have a big following among the biogeeks of this world. Nobody ever puts them in books.
Margaret Atwood

To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.

To live in the world without becoming aware of the meaning of the world is like wandering about in a great library without touching the books.
Dan Brown

Shakespeare is one of the last books one should like to give up, perhaps the one just before the Dying Service in a large Prayer book.

Shakespeare is one of the last books one should like to give up, perhaps the one just before the Dying Service in a large Prayer book.
Charles Lamb

Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.

Despite the enormous quantity of books, how few people read! And if one reads profitably, one would realize how much stupid stuff the vulgar herd is content to swallow every day.
Voltaire

The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.

The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.
Ray Bradbury

Good books are as friends, willing to give to us if we are willing to make a little effort.

Good books are as friends, willing to give to us if we are willing to make a little effort.
Gordon B. Hinckley

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.

I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.
Franz Kafka

And I am all the things I have ever loved: scuppernong wine, cool baptisms in silent water, dream books and number playing.

And I am all the things I have ever loved: scuppernong wine, cool baptisms in silent water, dream books and number playing.
Toni Morrison

Books are a narcotic.
Franz Kafka

I like to make things, but I looked at old craft books on weaving or mosaics or whatever, I'm like, 'I don't really know anything about that stuff.'

I like to make things, but I looked at old craft books on weaving or mosaics or whatever, I'm like, 'I don't really know anything about that stuff.'
Amy Sedaris

Books loved anyone who opened them, they gave you secruity and friendship and didn't ask for anything in return; they never went away, never, not even when you treated them badly.

Books loved anyone who opened them, they gave you secruity and friendship and didn't ask for anything in return; they never went away, never, not even when you treated them badly.
Cornelia Funke

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.

All that I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.
E. B. White

I love cop shows and crime books and thrillers, and before I die I'm gonna play a cop.

I love cop shows and crime books and thrillers, and before I die I'm gonna play a cop.
Amy Sedaris

Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a very dangerous enemy indeed.

Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a very dangerous enemy indeed.
Anne Rice

It wasn't until I started reading and found books they wouldn't let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else.

It wasn't until I started reading and found books they wouldn't let us read in school that I discovered you could be insane and happy and have a good life without being like everybody else.
John Waters

It's a good idea to have your own books with you in a strange place

It's a good idea to have your own books with you in a strange place
Cornelia Funke

I'm a very ordinary human being; I just happen to like reading books.

I'm a very ordinary human being; I just happen to like reading books.
Haruki Murakami

There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.

There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.
Kurt Vonnegut

Perhaps they were right putting love into books. Perhaps it could not live anywhere else.

Perhaps they were right putting love into books. Perhaps it could not live anywhere else.
William Faulkner

Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.

Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.
Amos Bronson Alcott

If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.

If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.
Thurgood Marshall

I think that a movie can only be an adjunct or only a supplement to books, to different points of view, to scholars, historians and your own teachers.

I think that a movie can only be an adjunct or only a supplement to books, to different points of view, to scholars, historians and your own teachers.
Steven Spielberg

I want to do something splendid…
Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead…
I think I shall write books.

I want to do something splendid… Something heroic or wonderful that won’t be forgotten after I’m dead… I think I shall write books.
Louisa May Alcott

Top Quotes About Books

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Change

Character

Children

Culture