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Books and reading
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“I remember that Federico García Lorca was always asking me to read my lines, my poetry, and yet in the middle of my reading, he would say, "Stop, stop! Don't go on, lest you influence me!”
Federico García Lorca (1898–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Pablo Neruda Interview (1971) translated from Spanish by Ronald Christ
“Stuff the head With all such reading as was never read: For thee explain a thing till all men doubt it, And write about it, goddess, and about it.”
Alexander Pope (1688–1744) said by 1744 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“At present I'm re-reading Traherne's Centuries of Meditations which I think almost the most beautiful book (in prose, I mean, excluding poets) in English.”
Thomas Traherne (1636–1674) said by 1674 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: C. S. Lewis, letter to Arthur Greeves in December 1941.
“to a mother of three suing the defendant for an assault: You don't belong out at a club [at] 12:30 at night when you have a one-year-old, a two-year-old, a five-year-old and a 12-year-old! You belong HOME, reading them stories from a BOOK!”
Judith Sheindlin (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you are reading a book in a dark room, and come to a difficult part, you take it to a window to get more light. So take your Bibles to Christ.”
Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813–1843) said by 1843 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The way I attempted to learn Japanese was by reading a book called Japanese at a Glance in the plane from San Francisco to Tokyo. This is not the method recommended by experts. The method recommended by experts is to be born as a Japanese baby and raised by a Japanese family, in Japan.”
Dave Barry (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. No virtuous man — that is, virtuous in the Y.M.C.A. sense — has ever painted a picture worth looking at, or written a symphony worth hearing, or a book worth reading.”
H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) said by 1956 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1775 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (6 April 1775)
“We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain.”
Roberto Bolaño (1953–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) first seen 1914 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Arthur Greeves (February 1932); in They Stand Together: The Letters of C. S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves, 1914–1963 (1979), p. 439
“If the book is good, is about something that you know, and is truly written, and reading it over you see that this is so, you can let the boys yip and the noise will have that pleasant sound coyotes make on a very cold night when they are out in the snow and you are in your own cabin that you have built or paid for with your work.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Harry Rowohlt, the fellow who translated my book into German and is reading with me on my tour, told me that when someone on the bus or at a nearby table in a restaurant talks on a cell phone, he likes to lean over and shout, "Come back to bed, I'm freezing.”
David Sedaris (born 1956) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 18.05.1999 - p.391
“From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend on reading it.”
Groucho Marx (1890–1977) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To S. J. Perelman about his book Dawn Ginsbergh’s Revenge (1929), as quoted in LIFE (9 February 1962)
“Basler finds my Lincoln the 'phoniest historical novel I have ever had the pleasure of reading.'... Also, 'more than half the book could never have happened as told.' Unfortunately, he doesn't say which half. If I knew, we could then cut it free from the phony half and publish the result as Basler's Vidal's Lincoln.”
Gore Vidal (1925–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. The study of this Book is forbidden. It is wise to destroy this copy after the first reading. Whosoever disregards this does so at his own risk and peril. These are most dire.”
Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was struck in reading Karl Marx's new work by the extent to which he fetches his materials from England. It is a remarkable book, as the Koran of the new socialists.”
John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) first seen 1873 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to William Ewart Gladstone on Marx's Das Kapital (17 November 1873), quoted in J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (eds.), Selections from the Correspondence of the First Lord Acton, Vol. I (1917), p. 169
“This is, after all, a book about reading, and the kind of reader I am addressing does not care primarily about being in fashion.”
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No efforts of mine could avail to make the book easy reading.”
Ronald Fisher (1890–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple.”
Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) said by 1902 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[To beginning readers (ages 4 to 8) at a reading of "Noelle's Treasure Tale"]: If you discover a word in my book that you don't understand, ask your parents so they can look it up in the dictionary for you.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: comment to audience at book signing at Macy's in New York City (November 21, 2006
“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading it.”
William Styron (1925–2006) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview in Writers at Work, First Series (1958), edited by George Plimpton
“Watts published a luminous book entitled The Wisdom of Insecurity that ought to be required reading for every high school senior. Watts elaborates beautifully on what I've learned from observation and personal experience: namely, that security is an illusion.”
Tom Robbins (1932–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's in this book I was reading. Apparently, there's a little red demon dwarf that haunts the city, and before every major bad thing that's happened, it's appeared to somebody. Last time, he appeared in a Cadillac.”
Meg White (born 1974) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Andrew Perry (13 November 2004). "What's eating Jack?", TheGuardian.com (accessed October 24, 2014)
“Humans are more or less identical except for a few peculiar habits generally delineated by geographic circumstances and historical precedent. But essentially, they’re all the same and reading from the same rule book. To get along you have to appreciate the rules, but also know that other people know the rules—and that they know that you know the rules. Get it?”
Jasper Fforde (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.”
S. J. Perelman (1904–1979) first seen 1928 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Groucho Marx on Perelman’s Dawn Ginsbergh’s Revenge (1928), quoted in Dorothy Herrmann S. J. Perelman: A Life (1986) p. 61.
“(Sylvia to character in book she is reading, Death by) Get out of that tub! Get in your car and get out of there! (Character) Suddenly I felt compelled to get out of that tub and out of that motel. I dressed and hopped in my car. Later I stopped for gas, and met a great guy. We got married and raise cocker spaniels.”
Nicole Hollander (1939–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This isn't a diet book. In fact, you may gain 30 pounds just reading it.”
Morgan Murphy (food critic) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I should strive (on reading a book of poetry) to evoke the a soul out of this piece of inanimate matter,a something characteristic and structural inherent in this organic form which is friendly to me and responds to my mood.”
John Gould Fletcher (1886–1950) first seen 1916 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface to Goblins and Pagodas, 1916
“For seven blissful years I had spent my time reading, writing and researching a book about introversion. But the publication date had arrived, the idyll was over and my metamorphosis was complete. I was now that impossibly oxymoronic creature: the Public Introvert.”
Susan Cain (born 1968) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Essay: "An Introvert Steps Out," "Sunday Book Review" section of The New York Times, online April 27, 2012 and in print April 29, 2012.
“You know in my lifetime, Jews have been very close to Blacks, really have had very close relations, and I just happen to be reading this book When and Where I Enter (by Paula Giddings).”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In 1959 it was absolutely insane for Ken McCormick to say, yes, he was going to publish a book of short stories. Now everybody in the writing world is reading and writing short stories.”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Then I was almost thirty years old when I wrote Macho!, and finally got published after 265 rejections. Immediately, I returned to this book you’re reading, thinking I could now pull it off, but I was wrong.”
Victor Villaseñor (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My work is noisy, but my life is quiet. I need nature and solitude — they nurture me. My idea of a vacation is reading a book on the terrace while my boyfriend cooks us dinner.”
Tina Turner (1939–2023) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speaking of her boyfriend Erwin Bach, whom she would marry in 2013, Judith Thurman, "Tina Turner's House in the South of France", Architectural Digest (9 November 2016) [originally appeared in the March 2000 issue]
“The next picture is a Goliath with four arms, reading a book, lofting a 1000-pound dumbbell, aiming a pistol at a target, painting a picture. The enemy can do everything. "He's a giant, seven feet tall with four arms, each with two biceps. Each arm can, of course, be used simultaneously.”
Herman Kahn (1922–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If young people don’t like reading, let’s not blame television or the modern world or school. Or rather, blame them all, but only after asking what we have done to that ideal reader since the days when we played at being both storyteller and book.”
Daniel Pennac (born 1944) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Rights of the Reader (2008 translation by Sarah Adams)
“Virginia Woolf thought one of the pleasures of reading contemporary novels was that they forced you to exercise your judgment. There was no received opinion about a book. You had to decide for yourself whether it was good.”
Tim Parks (born 1954) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Why Read New Books?" The New York Review of Books (11 November 2014).
“What kind of scholar was I? Or was I a scholar at all? My ignorance was enormous. Beside it my knowledge was nothing. My hunger for learning, not so much to improve my lot as to understand my world, had led me to study and to thought. Reading without thinking is as nothing, for a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think.”
Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Malhotra writes with passion from within an avowedly dharmic stance, undermining the attempts to domesticate and expropriate Indian traditions in a process of inter-religious dialogue that is ultimately based on a Western cosmological framework. This book is essential reading for Western scholars.”
Rajiv Malhotra (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only diet for a peacemaker, for an environmentalist, is a vegetarian diet. … I became a vegetarian thirty-five years ago, after reading Frances Moore Lappé's book Diet for a Small Planet, which makes an unassailable case that vegetarianism is the best way to eliminate world hunger as well as to sustain the environment.”
“reading a 900 page book on Dry Rubs and immediately forgetting all of it and just dumping a shit load of cocoa pebbles on my ribs”
“Within the context of the late 1970s utterly white-middleclass-dominated genre of feminist writings (mediated by white instructors), Bridge was the logical and necessary critical outcome to my feminist studies. The book was an enormous collective "fill in the blank"-of so much that had been missing in my own education. It was what never appeared on a reading list. (Afterward to 4th edition, 2014)”
Cherríe Moraga (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I did, not only because of that, but also because there was no value placed on education in my family. My mother just assumed I was smart, and I had glasses so I was called “four eyes,” and I was always reading a book, and so the outsider feeling came from the fact that I really loved school…”
Robert O'Hara (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My hope was always that the experience of reading this book would mirror my experience of writing it: I wanted it to feel like quicksand, like entering a landscape that literally swallows you and then spits you up somewhere else.”
Hanya Yanagihara (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My mum would have loved Shirley Temple as a daughter – full of confidence, tap-dancing all over the place in flouncy clothes, and showing off. [She had] A girl sitting there reading a book, looking gormless.”
Jacqueline Wilson (born 1945) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My idea of beauty is as much about the inside as the outside. I think it’s about self-care, it’s about creativity. If we feel good, we look good. Being allowed to take time to nurture yourself in whatever way you need is what beauty is about. So that could be putting on a nourishing face mask, or reading a book, or experimenting, or being creative with your makeup.”
Gemma Chan (born 1982) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gemma Chan on How to Be a Better Ally and Skincare as Self-Care" in Byrdie (24 May 2021)
“I do not have a special time, or place for reading or writing. Whenever and wherever I feel the urge to write, I write, using my small note book to capture passing ideas from within me, and scenes from the outside.”
Zaynab Alkali (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When the Bible was the only book people knew, they naturally thought it embodied all that is true; but when their reading expanded, and with it the world, and a sense of other times, other voices, other possibilities and points of view, that authority could not last.”
A. C. Grayling (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Another book I recall, which caused an immediate change in my life, was The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. After reading it I forthwith became a vegetarian!”
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (1890–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(after writing this book, Agrippa sent it to Trithemius, who after reading the manuscript and then answered Agrippa)”
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535) said by 1535 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source