Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Books and reading
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“I don't belong to any club or group. I don't fish, cook, dance, endorse books, sign books, co-sign declarations, eat oysters, get drunk, go to church, go to analysts, or take part in demonstrations.”
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I consider as lovers of books not those who keep their books hidden in their store-chests and never handle them, but those who, by nightly as well as daily use thumb them, batter them, wear them out, who fill out all the margins with annotations of many kinds, and who prefer the marks of a fault they have erased to a neat copy full of faults.”
Erasmus (1466–1536) first seen 1489 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to an unidentified friend (1489), as translated in Collected Works of Erasmus (1974), p. 58
“Even bad books are books, and therefore sacred.”
Günter Grass (1927–2015) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Tin Drum Book 1, "Rasputin and the Alphabet" (1959), as translated by Ralph Manheim (1961)
“I'm not a collector. I don't keep letters, or books, or souvenirs. But I do keep one copy of each translation of my books into a foreign language. Have you ever seen a murder story printed in Singhalese? Wow!”
Rex Stout (1886–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are only two kinds of books which you can write and be pretty sure you're going to make a living – cook books and detective stories.”
Rex Stout (1886–1975) said by 1975 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“BERISH: I distrust miracles. They exist only in books, and books say anything.”
Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Go to the bookstore and look at how many bookshelves are filled with books trying to explain how to work the devices. We don't see shelves of books on how to use television sets, telephones, refrigerators or washing machines. Why should we for computer-based applications?”
Donald Norman (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The happiest and most glorious hours of my life with books have been with German books.”
Enoch Powell (1912–1998) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Observer (24 April 1966)
“When ya done ransackin' his room, Grabbin' any-damn-thing that shines, Throw the scraps down on the street, Like all his books and his notes. All his books and his notes and all the junk that he wrote, The whole fucken lot goes right up in smoke.”
“A public library does not acquire Internet terminals in order to create a public forum for Web publishers to express themselves, any more than it collects books in order to provide a public forum for the authors of books to speak.”
William Rehnquist (1924–2005) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: United States v. American Library Association, 539 U.S. 194 (2003) (plurality opinion); the case concerned whether Congress could require libraries receiving Federal subsidies for Internet connectivity to install filter…
“It does not follow because many books are written by persons born in America that there exists an American literature. Books which imitate or represent the thoughts and life of Europe do not constitute an American literature. Before such can exist, an original idea must animate this nation and fresh currents of life must call into life fresh thoughts along its shores.”
Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) first seen 1846 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: American Literature" in Papers on Literature and Art (1846), p. 122
“A copy of Dante's Purgatorio excited his especial disgust."French, eh?" he said. "I guessed as much, and pretty dirty too, I shouldn't wonder. Now just you wait while I look up these here books"—how he said it!—"in my list. Particularly against books the Home Secretary is. If we can't stamp out literature in the country, we can at least stop its being brought in from outside.”
Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Books that have become classics—books that have had their day and now get more praise than perusal—always remind me of venerable colonels and majors and captains who, having reached the age limit, find themselves retired on half pay.”
Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) said by 1907 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Jules Bonnet, ed., Letters of John Calvin, 4 vols., (Lenox Hill), vol.II, 1973, pp. 376–377;[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0833740210&id=bZIcAAAAMAAJ&q=%22letters+of+john+calvin%22&dq=%22letters+of+john+calvin%22&pgis=1.”
John Calvin (1509–1564) said by 1564 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jules Bonnet and Henry Beveridge, eds., Selected works of John Calvin: tracts and letters (Baker Book House, 1983), , pp. 375-381. -->
“I was evidence of the theory that books are made out of other books . . . But I did not remain so for long, nor do I believe any potential writer could.”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You've got the temperament of a scholar, and you live on your own and write books. You don't have anything to do with civilization. You've been in London a few days and you can't wait to get back home. But how about the people who can't write books -- people there's no outlet for in this civilization? What about your new men who don't know what to do?”
Colin Wilson (1931–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Two persons take trouble in vain, and use fruitless endeavors, — he who acquires wealth without enjoying it, and he who is taught wisdom but does not practice it. How much soever you may study science, when you do not act wisely you are ignorant. The beast whom they load with books is not profoundly learned and wise; what knoweth his empty skull whether he carrieth firewood or books?”
Saadi (1210–1292) said by 1292 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The pride comes from accomplishment. I have done what I wanted to do more than any other thing in life. I have become a writer, published two books of integrity and worth. I did not know what those two books would cost me, how very difficult it would be to write them, to survive the opposition to them.”
Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Battered Wife Survives", (1978)
“The first step in liquidating a people," said Hubl, "is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was. The world around it will forget even faster.”
Milan Kundera (1929–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The answers to everything are in the books,” he said to her. “It is in knowing which books, of course, and where to look.”
Sheri S. Tepper (1929–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To study the phenomenon of disease without books is to sail an uncharted sea, while to study books without patients is not to go to sea at all.”
William Osler (1849–1919) first seen 1901 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Books and Men" in Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (1901)
“Great books are great teachers; they are showing us every day what ordinary people are capable of. These books come out of ignorant, inquiring humanity. They are usually the first announcements for success in learning. Most of them were written for, and addressed to, ordinary people.”
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is all, as usual, paradox. I have to use what intellect I have in order to write books, but I write the kind of books I do in order that I may try to set down glimpses of things that are on the other side of the intellect. We do not go around and discard the intellect, but we must go through and beyond it.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most superficial fact regarding the Discourses, the fact that the number of its chapters equals the number of books of Livy's History, compelled us to start a chain of tentative reasoning which brings us suddenly face to face with the only New Testament quotation that ever appears in Machiavelli's two books and with an enormous blasphemy.”
Leo Strauss (1899–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To take another simile [that the brain is like a machine], if we imagine a great library containing books which have a vast number of cross references one to another, then should one whole shelf be burned, it might be possible to reconstruct the lost books -- but somewhat less perfectly than at first. (p. 302)”
Colin Cherry (1914–1979) said by 1979 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think books are chiefly responsible for my dogged self determined efforts to write; books & verisimilitude; I like to describe things.”
Marianne Moore (1887–1972) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Essay - 1957 Subject, Predicate, Object
“In our day, computer technology and the proliferation of books on CD-ROM have not affected - as far as statistics show - the production and sale of books in their old-fashioned codex form.”
Alberto Manguel (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There’s something about writing books that gives us the permission to discuss things that aren’t as easy to talk about in everyday life. To me, the whole point of writing books is to look at the unexamined, the unspeakable, and the unarticulated.”
Susan Cain (born 1968) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mineo, Liz (interviewer), "That feeling you get when listening to sad music? It's humanity", The Harvard Gazette, May 11, 2022.
“I generally keep upto date with recent academic writings in law and literature; and to keep myself upto date I also subscribe to and browse through the New York Review of Books – a bi-weekly feature which gives all the current publications around the world – as well as the London Review of Books.”
Fali Sam Nariman (1929–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is to my mind much to be regretted, and it is a regret which I believe every Judge on the bench shares, that text-books are more and more quoted in Court—I mean, of course, text-books by living authors—and some Judges have gone so far as to say that they shall not be quoted.”
Arthur Kekewich (1832–1907) first seen 1887 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Union Bank v. Munster (1887), L. R. 37 CD. 54.
“Thus, even today, one can hardly find a single reference to Indian philosophy in modern text books. “For instance, writes Roger-Pol Droit, one cannot come across a single mention, in the Dictionary of Philosophers, of the Buddhist philosopher Asanga, whose works are probably as important as those of Aristotle, nor his books can be found in libraries...”
François Gautier (born 1959) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Arise again, o India, 1999
“You can’t study human nature in books. Books is a hindrance more than anything else. p. 25”
George Washington Plunkitt (1842–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everything that's in [my] books comes out of what I've seen, or touched, or felt, or smelt, and if I had one wish it would be that the books were fiction.”
Andrew Vachss (1942–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some books I buy for their title, others for brevity. I love short books - the way you know from the first page that it's going to end.”
Amit Chaudhuri (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The books I loved most as a child were those that contained elements of magic—the whole series of Oz books, Mary Poppins, The Princess and the Goblin—I could name them indefinitely.”
Lois Duncan (1934–2016) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her favorite literature as a child, quoted in The 100 Most Popular Young Adult Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies (1997), p. 110
“Violence is a fact of life in today’s society and therefore it has its place in books and films, but I strongly believe that the people who create those books and films have a duty to treat the subject seriously and to show the terrible consequences.”
Lois Duncan (1934–2016) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On violence in the arts, 1998 interview, reprinted in The Telegraph (2016)
“The place was part museum, part library, and part archive; I loved it at first sight...and smell, for here there were thousands of printed books, many very old indeed, and nothing smells quite as wonderful as old books.”
Dan Simmons (1948–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have 5,000 books in my home, 1,000 of which I feel are close to my heart. They have always shown me the way. Books are my great passion; I could not live without them.”
Brunello Cucinelli (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After gradual research; I have come to the conclusion that long before all heavenly books, God had revealed to the Hindus, through the Rishis of yore, of whom Brahma was the Chief, His four books of knowledge, the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sarna Veda and the Atharva Veda.”
Dara Shukoh (1615–1659) said by 1659 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in his Persian translation of the Upanishads. quoted in Londhe, S. (2008). A tribute to Hinduism: Thoughts and wisdom spanning continents and time about India and her culture. New Delhi: Pragun Publication.
“I love books . I adore everything about them. I love the feel of the pages on my fingertips. They are light enough to carry, yet so heavy with worlds and ideas . I love the sound of the pages flicking against my fingers. Print against fingerprints. Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.”
Nnedi Okorafor (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I travel a lot, and I know that I communicate very well in person, on one to one, but the books say things in a better way than I can get verbally, and also it works so efficiently, with those books getting out all over the world. (1990)”
Maxine Hong Kingston (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(How do you distinguish Y.A. books from adult fiction?) Partly voice, but my own personal ethos is that Y.A. requires hope. I’m less stringent on my requirement for hope in books for adults.”
Elizabeth Acevedo (born 1988) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: interview (2021)
“What he knew, he knew from books, and books lied, they made things prettier.”
Hanya Yanagihara (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was crap at writing. I learned to ride. I wrote a few books and after, you written a few books, you get good at it. But I was really rubbish at writing to start.”
Joe Armstrong (programmer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My personal history would not be disappointing to readers, but it is my own affair which I want to keep to myself. I am in fact in no way more important than is the typesetter for my books, the man who works the mill; ... no more important than the man who binds my books and the woman who wraps them and the scrubwoman who cleans up the office.”
B. Traven (1882–1969) said by 1969 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted by Randy F. Nelson in The Almanac of American Letters (1981), p. 237
“We all love mysteries in books and hate them in life. I’m no exception. After all, the reason we love mysteries in books is that the secret is revealed on the last page.”
Dmitri Bilenkin (1933–1987) said by 1987 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What do you see here?” “Books?” “Indeed, books. They are the ocean in which magic swims.”
Django Wexler wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I certainly do not subscribe to any form of kiss and tell in my writing. Those who write such real-life confessional books are certainly not doing it for any kind of literary reasons. Sadly, that seems to be what some publishers want, and they know these books have readers and they will sell copies.”
Malachi Edwin Vethamani (born 1955) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with "Robert Raymer" (July 2019)
“My major genre is the prose fiction, followed by short stories, and the central theme has always been about female empowerment. I am intrigued by mysteries, Sci-fi and detective books. As for children’s books, as I get older, I now realize the importance of writing for children.”
Zaynab Alkali (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is publishers who take stories from their raw state and turn them into food, food that may nourish or poison us. We have to talk about and acknowledge the unseen infrastructure that ensures that books are in circulation, because books, unlike print media or blogs, offer us some of the densest, extended, and interpretive conversations we can have about the world around us.”
Bibi Bakare-Yusuf (born 1970) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bibi Bakare-Yusuf at the 2018 Abantu Book Festival speaking on the importance of publishers