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 love to read books in the original now that I'm getting more fluent in French and English. I like Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, Gallsworthy, André Maurois, Somerset Maugham, Colette, H.G.Wells, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann, Franz Werfel..." (Chapter Three)”
Nina Graboi (1918–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you suffer from social anxiety maybe read books, watch movies, take a break. Never stop working on yourself.”
Toke Makinwa (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Progress is the synthesis of all human history; Those who have leafed through its immortal books have read this word on every page.”
Federico De Roberto (1861–1927) said by 1927 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I think of all the books I have left to read, I am sure that I am still happy.”
Jules Renard (1864–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My books are so far removed from me that I am already a kind of posterity to them. This is my precise judgment: I will never read them again. (November 29, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 245)”
Jules Renard (1864–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody gives it to you, give it to yourself. Watch movies, read books… formerly or informally educate yourself.”
Ifeoma Aggrey-Fynn (1980–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I might always be an economist at my core, but I don’t have to limit myself to graphs and equations. In fact, if I wanted to achieve the best of which I was capable, I couldn’t afford to limit myself. I’d have to read the big books and grapple with them. I needed … the best that had been written about culture and society throughout the ages.”
Glenn Loury (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She wondered if later on she would wish she hadn’t looked. That was one thing about books: once you read them they couldn’t be unread.”
Lev Grossman (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think many people can relate especially if you are a family that respects education. Education outside the school setting. Education happens all the time. We had books all over the place. Our parents read. We had a library at Lake Victoria Primary School, Entebbe. We had horrible TV. That helped a lot.”
Doreen Baingana (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s important for us to see ourselves reflected in the entertainment industry, films, series and documentaries we watch and the books we read”
Nunu Khumalo (born 1992) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Things that change your life are the people you meet and the books you read.”
“He is the most widely read theologian of the contemporary age, with over 13 million copies of his books on Jesus in circulation. Symposiums on him are held all over the world.”
Peter Seewald (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had a perfect confidence, still unshaken, in books. If you read enough you would reach the point of no return. You would cross over and arrive on the safe side. There you would drink the strong waters and become addicted, perhaps demented — but a Reader.”
Helen Bevington (1906–2001) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The House was Quiet and the World was Calm (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971), pp. 25–6
“(about Leonard Peltier) We always idealize wild rebels who refuse to bow to empire when we read about them in fantasy books, but some of those rebels are alive and imprisoned by the same people who draw their salaries from our taxes.”
Margaret Killjoy (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[On The Multiple Meanings of Being According to Aristotle] Among the various books I have read and studied on the philosophy of Aristotle, this one by Brentano certainly occupies one of the top places, if not the first.”
Giovanni Reale (1931–2014) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From the preface to Franz Brentano, Sui molteplici significati dell'essere secondo Aristotele, Giovanni Reale (editor), Stefano Tognoli (translator), Vita e pensiero, 1995
“The three male “Vs”—vulgarity, violence, and visibility, the result of impotent and aggressive masculinity—must be replaced by empathy, diplomacy, and patience. Men must be re-educated. We have read many books about women who love too much or work too hard. Well, it's time for men who love too little or work too little to go back to school. Let them learn to be more feminine.”
Lilli Gruber (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“if European scholars and historians are truthfully interested in the pursuit of knowledge, they will learn Marathi and read my books.”
Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade (1863–1926) said by 1926 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in Remembering Vishvanath Kashinath Rajwade: The Maharashtra Historian Extraordinaire 03 Nov 2021
“Most of the books I read reinforce the way I think and view things”
Sue Nyathi (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you were a foreigner coming to South Africa, and you read the books, you will think black people do not exist”
Fred Khumalo (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I love to write and read and not necessarily in that order. My home is choked with books of all sizes, both adult literature and children stuff as well.”
Margaret Safo (1957–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ethnicity is obvious — it’s in our food, it’s in the music we listen to, it’s in the books we read, it’s in the way we live, it’s in the company we keep and the dances that we do”
Phylicia Rashad (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It’s not about age, that’s why when you read the books written by King Solomon, you will know that he was asked, ‘what do you want?”
Katamelo Phillipus Wido (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Four-Eyes’s parents probably wanted their son to be a writer. They must have thought it would be good for him to read books, even if he had to do so in secret.”
“These days, love is not what we used to read in books or movies.”
“So many authors have shaped my life through their books, and I felt it was time to give back. Many of those authors are not Nigerians, and I began to realize how powerful it would be for people here—people who have walked in my shoes—to read a story that reflects their own realities.”
Tope Mark-Odigie wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had the incredible luck to grow up in a house with a family library. As a child, I read books that I was too young to understand.”
Moussa Konaté (1951–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I read more books by writers from Africa when I lived in Europe than I do here”
Edwige-Renée Dro wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want to get books in translation read, so that everybody has access to literature, whether you finished school in grade two or you have a doctorate.”
Edwige-Renée Dro wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“According to the books I've read on the subject, Satanism is a belief system where the noblest of men are God, nature is the holiest of holy spirits, common sense would be the one commandment, and Heaven and Hell exist right here on Earth.”
Nick Bougas (born 1955) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speak of the Devil, 1993, 3 minutes in
“Libraries had become dumping grounds for old junk that somebody didn’t want any more … books that children couldn’t read.”
Hallie Beachem Brooks (1907–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The movies I watch and the books that I read, I’m a very empathetic person. So, feeling ko ako 'yung main character 'pag nanonood ako ng movie, and nai-inspire ako to write,”
Clara Benin (born 1994) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Passion, Persistence, and a Promising Era: Clara Benin Reflects on a Decade-Long Career in Music, Lance Joseph Martinez 7 March 2026.
“I think the next little bit of excitement is flying. I hope I am not too old to take it up seriously, nor too stupid about machines to qualify as a commercial pilot. I do not feel like spending the rest of my life writing books that no one will read. It is not as though I wanted to write them.”
Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Letters of Samuel Beckett 1929–1940 (2009), p. 362
“Faces are as legible as books, only with these circumstances to recommend them to our perusal, that they are read in much less time, and are much less likely to deceive us.”
Johann Kaspar Lavater (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My favorite books have a personality and complexion as distinctly drawn as if the author’s portrait were framed into the paragraphs and smiled upon me as I read his illustrated pages.”
Amos Bronson Alcott (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Be careful what books you read; for as water tastes of the soil it runs through, so does the soul of the authors that a man reads.”
John Trapp (attributed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I love to travel and read books but it's cooking that has a healing effect on me. Whenever I am not well I cook something nice and the aroma of the food works wonders for me.”
Shreya Ghoshal (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That’s a lot of books. Dictionaries?” She nodded. “Are you a student?” “Of life,” she said. People liked this kind of quippery. It caused them to open up. “I just read them for fun.” “Dictionaries?” “Yes.” “That doesn’t sound like fun. That sounds awful.” “Awful used to mean ’full of awe.’ The same meaning as awesome. I learned that from a dictionary.” He blinked. “See?” She said. “Fun.”
“Books are influential in proportion to their obscurity, provided that the obscurity be that of inexpressible Realities. The Bible is the most obscure book in the world. He must be a great fool who thinks he understands the plainest chapter of it.”
Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) said by 1896 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happy the man with a book-length grievance — and rare. Each of these books contains one possible magazine article surrounded by more padding than an offensive lineman: every little indignity that ever happened to them, and every two-bit feud, magnified to a Horrible Example to justify a larger printing.”
Wilfrid Sheed (1930–2011) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Unnecessary Roughness" (1971), p. 150
“I don't think any good book is based on factual experience. Bad books are about things the writer already knew before he wrote them.”
Carlos Fuentes (1928–2012) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in International Herald Tribune (Paris, 5 November 1991)
“You are being dishonest if you are not writing about sex in your book. It is very natural and normal. Well, I have earned the name of 'dirty old man' but there is not much sex in my books. What I have written is very serious stuff - biography, history, religious texts, etc.”
Khushwant Singh (1915–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The concept of a Favorite Book is childish, if you’re a lifelong reader. Lots of books of political theory, philosophy and economics have indelibly influenced my thinking.”
Ilana Mercer wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This isn't something I feel the need to apologize for. The idea that every year or two years you're supposed to turn out these new books that are all going to be wonderful and commercially popular is a misguided notion that commerce has foisted upon us. The writing process has a rhythm all its own, and at least for me the rhythm is absolutely different for every book.”
Joanna Russ (1937–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, "Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1763 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (21 July 1763) p. 126
“What I will be remembered for are the Foundation Trilogy and the Three Laws of Robotics. What I want to be remembered for is no one book, or no dozen books. Any single thing I have written can be paralleled or even surpassed by something someone else has done. However, my total corpus for quantity, quality and variety can be duplicated by no one else. That is what I want to be remembered for.”
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Yours, Isaac Asimov (20 September 1973)
“Mr Noyes remarks at the beginning of his book that one cannot cast out devils with the aid of Beelzebub, but he is also extremely angry because anti-British books can still be published in England and praised in British newspapers. Does it not occur to him that if we stop doing this kind of thing the main difference between ourselves and our enemies would have disappeared?”
George Orwell (1903–1950) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Observer, 27 February 1944
“I'd never heard anything like it before. It was like banshee music. This absolutely otherworldly voice, singing about a book, and as a bookish kid, I was always fascinated by anything, any music that seems to be about or inspired by books.”
Neil Gaiman (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are magic moments, involving great physical fatigue and intense motor excitement, that produce visions of people known in the past. As I learned later from the delightful little book of the Abbé de Bucquoy, there are also visions of books as yet unwritten.”
Umberto Eco (1932–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 (1932–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many counterrevolutionary books have been written in favor of the Revolution. But Burke has written a revolutionary book against the Revolution.”
Novalis (1772–1801) first seen 1790 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)