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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 must lay down the law as I understand it, and as I read it in books of authority.”
John Coleridge, 1st Baron Coleridge (1820–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is worthy of notice that many of this generation, fed on text-books, on anthologies and on abstracts, cannot read.”
Vincent Massey (1887–1967) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, March 7, 1953
“In the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was very common for boys and young men to read about the lives of the so-called great men for the purpose of extracting lessons in how to be great themselves in whatever field they chose. I see these books as reviving that tradition by distilling ideas to their essence and putting them in a readily digestible form.”
Alan Axelrod (born 1952) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alan Axelrod, Business Book Juggernaut – An interview with Mike Hofman, Jun 1, 2004.
“We should be as careful of the books we read, as of the company we keep. The dead very often have more power than the living.”
Tryon Edwards (1809–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I put my books in a bag because I don't care anymore if people in the subway look at me admiringly. I can't hold on to a girl, I can't keep an office job, I make a fool of myself in my first literature class and I wonder why I left Limerick at all. [...] I could have read Jonathan Swift to my heart's content not giving a fiddler's fart whether he was a satirist or a seanachie.”
Frank McCourt (1930–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'd like to stand up in those classes and announce to the world that I'm too busy to be Irish or Catholic or anything else, that I'm working day and night to make a living, trying to read books for my courses and falling asleep in the library [...].”
Frank McCourt (1930–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Two good books to read: A Life Full of Holes, Charhadi/I Work Like a Gardener, Joan Miró”
Grace Paley (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The heroes of the books I read, The Lord of the Rings and the Foundation series, always felt a duty to save the world.”
Elon Musk (born 1971) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 24 August 2009
“I did read several books and do some research just to be as familiar with it as possible. But I am not a particularly outwardly political person. I leave that to the other half of my family. And so I focused as much, if not more, on [my character] Janet Mayes, and being a forensics expert, and what it would be like for her in that circumstance as much as what our relationship is overall.”
Jennifer Garner (born 1972) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jennifer Garner Interviews, The Kingdom". RadioFree.com. (August 24, 2007).
“He had given such heed to what was read that none of the things that were written fell from him to the ground, but he remembered all, and afterwards his memory served him for books.”
Athanasius of Alexandria (296–373) said by 373 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Before 1997, some people were publicly claiming that they would be put behind bars [after the resumption of Chinese sovereignty], or not be allowed to return if they left. Some people even feared that certain books or magazines would not be read in Hong Kong and that the Chinese government would somehow monitor the Internet. They’ve been proved wrong, and I can prove them wrong again." (2012)”
Leung Chun-ying (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[The books of Euclid pass on to us] something admirable and very necessary to see and to read, namely the order in the method of writing on mathematics in that aforementioned time of the wise age.”
Simon Stevin (1548–1620) said by 1620 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Géographie, in Les Oeuvres Mathématiques de Simon Stevin de Bruges (1634) ed. Girard, p. 109, as quoted by Jacob Klein]], Greek Mathematical Thought and the Origin of Algebra (1968)
“I always keep four or five books on my bed table, and each night I read a little of each; I guess I can't concentrate on any one at a time. But I always finish them.”
Edward G. Robinson (1893–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fall asleep to happy dreams for the next ten years. If you do them the favor of understanding them, of taking in their portions of grief and wisdom, then they settle down in contented residence in your heart.”
Pat Conroy (1945–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“West Lake flower garden: a desert, now. Alone, at the window, I read through old pages. A smudge of rouge, a scent of perfume, but I still weep. Is there a Fate for books? Why mourn for a half-burned poem? There is nothing, there is no one to question, and yet this misery feels like my own. Ah, in another three hundred years will anyone weep, remembering my fate?”
Nguyễn Du (1766–1820) first seen 1411 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reading Hsiao-ch'ing", in The Harpercollins World Reader: The Modern World, eds. Mary Ann Caws and Christopher Prendergast (HarperCollins Publishers, 1994), , p. 1411
“There are two answers to the things they will teach you about our land: the real answer and the answer you give in school to pass. You must read books and learn both answers.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born 1977) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Happy Birthday Chimamanda Adichie: Powerful Quotes From The Bestselling Author The guardian(15 Sep 2018)
“Think, Amelia, think. You read all those books. What would Odysseus do? Dress up like a beggar, and then shoot everyone. No help there. What would Achilles do? Go sulk in his tent. Nope. Aeneas? Sacrifice a cow or something. Boy, these old heroes are really not useful as role models. Who were my other heroes? Margaret Thatcher? Attack Argentina. No time to go wobbly.”
John C. Wright (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[In my family] we read books on the subject—a lot of them—and came to the conclusion that, because of the number and amounts of hormones now used to fatten animals, meat isn't healthy. … [Vegetarianism] helped my cycling some, but the diet is more important over the long run and later in life.”
Wayne Stetina (born 1953) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: They Hunger for Success", interview with (February 28, 1977).
“There was once upon a time a man whom other men called Aben Hassen the Wise. He had read a thousand books of magic, and knew all that the ancients or moderns had to tell of the hidden arts.”
Howard Pyle (1853–1911) said by 1911 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's a very strange time of life. I go on a lot of long walks. I stopped watching television for a year so I wouldn't avoid my feelings. All I read are self-help books. And when I go to parties, I corner divorced people and badger them for details about what this was like for them and how they got through it. Divorce is like my own personal disaster porn.”
Elna Baker (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I must get inside that library! I must have books again. If I cannot read and learn and have things that are worth thinking about, I would rather immolate myself than go on living.”
Walter Tevis (1928–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I feel free and strong. If I were not a reader of books I could not feel this way. Whatever may happen to me, thank God that I can read, that I have truly touched the minds of other men.”
Walter Tevis (1928–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, Jim, I haven't read any of your books but I'll have to someday because they must be good considering how well they sell.”
Nora Barnacle (1884–1951) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dictionary of Quotations, p. 452, To her husband James Joyce, Recalled on her death, 12 April 1951
“We are not learning the occult alphabet; most of us have done all that before we came here. I used to read for about three or four hours a day before I met M.H.-not as a duty, but because I liked it. When you’ve extracted all the knowledge you can out of books, then the Master appears.”
Cyril Scott (1879–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Much of the vagueness of the human mind is due to the fact that the mind is largely composed of material derived second-hand from books. The ideas are not read.”
J. Howard Moore (1862–1916) first seen 1910 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Human Nature is Defective", speech to the Young People's Socialist League, The Chicago Tribune, 20 Oct. 1910
“(Did you feel you weren't finding yourself in the books you read?) LE: Perhaps that's why I was drawn to science fiction. If you don't see yourself reflected, you can travel to another world. I suppose that was probably what drew me to the captivity narrative. This idea that this was telling me something about my family.”
Louise Erdrich (born 1954) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in The writer's library: the authors you love on the books that changed their lives by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager (2020)
“I don't write with "lessons" in mind. I just hope my readers are absorbed by the story, that they enjoy the read, and that the novel raises some provocative questions. (The Women's Review of Books, March 2004)”
Jessica Hagedorn (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't like hearing non-Chinese people say to a Chinese person, "Well now I know about you because I have read Maxine Hong Kingston's books." Each artist has a unique voice. Many readers don't understand that. The problem of how "representative" one is will only be solved when we have many more Chinese American writers. Then readers will see how diverse our people are.”
Maxine Hong Kingston (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“people read like they eat: Sometimes we want comfort, sometimes we want to work to crack something open…Books truly are nourishment for me.”
Elizabeth Acevedo (born 1988) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: interview (2021)
“I had all but decided to take a break and do some plays, and to see plays and read books and not work – literally not work – until I was going to burn for something.”
Tessa Thompson (born 1983) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On turning down the roles Hollywood was offering to her in “Tessa Thompson: ‘I decided not to work until I burned for something’” in The Guardian (2018 Feb 16)
“Political novels can be boring to read unless written effectively with the powerful tools of fiction; I was trying to do this. I want my books to be pleasurable and edifying. Though Frederick Douglass didn’t write fiction, his speeches have great narrative power because he integrates storytelling tools elegantly with his political analysis.”
Min Jin Lee (born 1968) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On her penchant for writing political novels in “Min Jin Lee: 'History has failed almost everybody who is ordinary'” in The Guardian (2018 Aug 2)
“She is like a great writer, with the power to read people; I was influenced by her. But hers wasn't a life where you could sit indoors with books.”
Kyung-sook Shin (born 1963) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the resilience of her mother in “Kyung-Sook Shin: 'In my 20s I lived through an era of terrible political events and suspicious deaths'” in The Guardian (2014 Jun 7)
“Deep in my psyche, I am no different than any American—I have a greater command of their language than they do. I am a composite of all of the heroines in the books I’ve read—legendary, mythological, fictional ones. I wonder if I am real? I want to be!”
Estela Portillo-Trambley (1936–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“if trees could talk wonder what they'd say met an old man ...told me "girl! my hands seen more than all them books... at tuskeegee" ...met an old woman ..."sista" she called to me "...my feet seen more than yo eyes ever gonna read" ...if trees would talk wonder what they'd tell me”
Nikki Giovanni (1943–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“books hold so many memories of the times and places in which I’ve read them.”
Laila Lalami (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the state of elevation, the mystic may be able to read heavenly books in languages and characters previously unknown to him and learn the heavenly names of things and beings in including his own eternal name which is different from his wordly name.”
Najmuddin Kubra (1145–1221) said by 1221 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We say that 'Black Lives Matter’ Well truthfully they really never have. No one ever really gave a fuck. Just read your bullshit history books. But honestly it ain't just black. It's yellow, it's brown, it's red. It's anyone who ain't got cash. Poor whites that they call trash.”
Ice-T (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A script is only the beginning of the process. But with books, what you write is exactly what people read. So as a writer, that's very satisfying.”
D. J. MacHale (born 1955) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: AME with D.J. MacHale (January 29, 2021)
“Seeking out help is never a weakness. Whether that's just phoning a friend or finding a therapist or starting to read up on things on the internet or in books. Sometimes we think that means we can't help ourselves, that it's a bad thing, but it's not. It's just becoming more self-aware, and I think that that's a really amazing gift to give yourself.”
Lily Collins (born 1989) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lily Collins on Anxiety, Self-Care, and the Workout Plan That Helped Her Heal (May 8, 2020)
“Well, I don’t ever plan anything in my books. Since I don’t outline, I tend to just go wherever my imagination leads me and where I feel excited to write about. I tend to write scenes that I would want to read.”
Jenny Han (born 1980) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before author Jenny Han on watching her book become a phenomenon" in Vox (4 June 2019)
“Any route, be it Africa, Asia, or the islands of Oceania, I go twice: the first time in reality, the second — when I write about it. Everything that happened: adventures, joys, problems — live now in my memoirs, travel notes, in the imagination of those who have read my books and articles. It will stay when I am gone into the world of shadows.”
Viktor Pinchuk (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There were things to do, people to see, questions to ask. Books to read.”
Genevieve Cogman (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many people read History books but it takes just a few people to LEAD the cause that will shape the course of HISTORY.”
Tara Fela-Durotoye (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As Frits Staal wrote in 1982 in “What is happening in Classical Indology?”, “Some chocolates can only be sold if they are wrapped up in gold- speckled papers. Books about the Rigveda will only be read through the medium of some fashionable theory”.”
Frits Staal (1930–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: quoted in Thomson, Karen. 2016. “Speak for itself: How the Long History of Guesswork and Commentary on a Unique Corpus of Poetry has Rendered it Incomprehensible.” Times Literary Supplement, 8 January: 3–4.
“Young people should continue to lead their own learning from the people they meet, the events they go to, and the books they read.”
Lillian Nkosazana Moremi wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I read a lot of newspapers, magazines, books. The news are the fundamental resource to find ideas for the satirical cartoons but also for generic themes, for gag cartoons. Now all the media can give us a big number of inspirations.”
Marco De Angelis (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As readers and writers, we find a certain home in books and language and literature — like I hear a Mary Oliver poem, and it’s as if I’ve been her neighbor, because I’ve read so many of her poems, even though I’ve never spent a day in her town.”
Naomi Shihab Nye (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Truth for the Communists is the position the Party takes. This holds true for values like art and ethics. We don’t need to explain this to people who have read books published by Communist Russia on these topics and sold at dirt cheap prices.”
S. L. Bhyrappa (1931–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't forget books. What would life be without them? Emily Brontë, Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Toni Morrison, Jane Austen, William Faulkner. Read the greats-they're great for a reason. They know how to chart the human soul. (p 32)”
Alice Hoffman (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Ocean scientists... who have read it said they learned lots of things. So there is this assumption that popular science books are for the people who don't know anything, and that is not true because the oceanographers know the oceanography, but they don't know the stories, and I think that the stories are worth it.”
Helen Czerski (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source