Famous quotes
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Books and reading
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“Which books are ruined?” I asked Margot, who was going through my library of treasures. “Algebra,” Margot said. I hurried over for a look, but unfortunately the algebra book had not been destroyed completely too.”
Anne Frank (1929–1945) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 20th May 1944, Version A of the diary ('either' would be a more accurate word than 'too' in this context).
“What do I myself think of this particular book? I feel lousy about it, but I always feel lousy about my books.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A book which, above all others in the world, should be forbidden, is a catalogue of forbidden books.”
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations (1991) edited by Alan Lindsay Mackay, p. 153
“Many books in my library are now behind and beneath me. They were good in their way once, and so were the clothes I wore when I was ten years old; but I have outgrown them. Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.”
Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If people need a book to tell them that in marriage kindness and forbearance are necessary, and that the sexual act is happier when it is undertaken to give pleasure as well as to receive it, these books are what they want. Possibly people so lacking in understanding of themselves and others do not mind being addressed in the coarse, grainy prose of the marriage counselor.”
Robertson Davies (1913–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Guerrilla ontology The basic technique of all my books. Ontology is the study of being; the guerrilla approach is to so mix the elements of each book that the reader must decide on each page 'How much of this is real and how much is a put-on?'”
Robert Anton Wilson (1932–2007) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Illuminati Papers (1980), p. 2
“I would take to be quite a fool any man who would make a book full of laws and statutes for an apple tree telling it how to bear apples and not thorns, when the tree is able by its own nature to do this better than the man with all his books can describe and demand.”
Martin Luther (1483–1546) said by 1546 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Abbot Terrasson tells us that if the size of a book were measured not by the number of its pages but by the time required to understand it, then we could say about many books that they would be much shorter were they not so short.”
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) said by 1804 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I relaxed] my customary aversion to consulting a book by anyone so immensely pratty as to put "Ph.D." after his name (I don't put Ph.D. after my name on my books, after all — and not just because I don't have one).”
Bill Bryson (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just because we're celebrities, we shouldn't get dissed. What people might be complaining about is that they think a lot of these [other] celebrities don't write their own books. But I've written every word in this book -- both in English and in Spanish. I love music and I love children and I love animals, and it's a great combo of all those things.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Estefan's response to people who say, "Here goes another celebrity using her name to get published." The New York Daily News (October 30, 2005)
“A love of books, of holding a book, turning its pages, looking at its pictures, and living its fascinating stories goes hand-in-hand with a love of learning.”
Laura Bush (born 1946) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The Gift of Books" in Biography Today : Profiles of People of Interest to Young Readers, Vol. 12, Issue 2 : Laura Bush by Joanne Mattern (2003), p. 17
“The power of a book lies in its power to turn a solitary act into a shared vision. As long as we have books, we are not alone.”
Laura Bush (born 1946) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Bringing Out the Best in Everyone You Coach : Use the Enneagram System for Exceptional Results (2009) by Ginger Lapid-Bogda, p. 123
“Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage.”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“While it is in no way racist for any author to write a book exclusively about white women, it is fundamentally racist for books to be published that focus solely on the American white woman's experience in which that experience is assumed to be the American woman's experience.”
Bell hooks (1952–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no such thing, wrote Oscar Wilde, as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. Presumably, then, Mein Kampf would have been all right had it been better written.”
Anthony Daniels (psychiatrist) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Trash, Violence, and Versace: But Is It Art? (Winter 1998).
“Had Israel not sinned, they would have been given only the five books of Moses and the book of Joshua.”
Yehuda Ashlag (1880–1954) said by 1954 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m beginning now even to see it in my own books which are written from many different points of view, very different personae, first person as a man, a child, a woman, a young person, an older person, there is the sense, looking back, that you are really writing one book all your life. Because there is this voyage of discovery of life.”
Nadine Gordimer (1923–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A woman who taught at Berkeley dropped in on me once and saw a book burning in the fireplace. She pointed at it in terror, and I explained that it was a crummy ghostwritten life of a movie star and that it was an act of sanitation to burn it rather than sending it out into the world which was already clogged with too many copies of it. But she said, "You shouldn’t burn books" and began to cry.”
Pauline Kael (1919–2001) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The New Republic (December 24, 1966)
“Hebrews. This book is much superior to most of the writings attributed to St. Paul, though passages in the other books are very admirable.”
James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) first seen 1848 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal kept by Cooper from January to May 1848
“There is a sense in which every great book is always over the head of the reader: he can never fully comprehend it. That is why these books are great teachers; they demand the attention of the reader and keep his intelligence on the stretch.”
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't think I should be getting more attention from mainstream book reviewers. I've never written any mainstream books, and I'm always surprised when the mainstreamers notice me at all.”
R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002) first seen 1991 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "My interview with R.A. Lafferty", by Tom Jackson, originally published in Lan's Lantern #39 (1991); here in the Sandusky Register (16 January 2015)
“But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library. I was just browsing through the section of math books and I found this one book, which was all about one particular problem -- Fermat's Last Theorem.”
Andrew Wiles (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My first impression of the man as of steel was consolidated and enhanced. He told us, amongst other things, of the work he had in hand. Three great books were partially done. The translation of the Arabian Nights, the metrical translation of Camoëns, and the Book of the Sword. These were all works of vast magnitude and requiring endless research. But he lived to complete them all.”
Bram Stoker (1847–1912) first seen 1879 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On a later meeting of Richard Francis Burton, on 8 February 1879, in, Vol. 1, p. 225
“As for the Bible, it was a book, and all books told the truth in the sense that their authors believed they were writing a kind of truth.”
Philip José Farmer (1918–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Book-learning scarcely tells me Of severe afflictions after death-bed; And such as have heard my bardic books They shall obtain the region of heaven, the best of all abodes.”
Taliesin (518–599) said by 599 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot write at all, but if I could how could I make a little book, when I have seen enough to make a dozen large books? I will not write at all.”
John James Audubon (1785–1851) first seen 1826 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Journal entry in Audubon and His Journals (1897), edited by Maria R. Audubon, Vol. I, "The European Journals 1826 - 1829", p. 184
“One must be prepared to reject not only the schema of the physical library, which is essentially a response to books and their proliferation, but the schema of the book itself, and even that of the printed page as a long term storage device, if one is to discover the kinds of procognitive systems needed in the future.”
J. C. R. Licklider (1915–1990) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As cited in: Ching-chih Chen (1980) Quantitative measurement and dynamic library service. p. 52.
“I have great respect for the unconditional teachers called books. Because from a book, you can either learn, or you can’t.”
Kamal Haasan (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If every pure character in the Old Testament announces the Messiah, if every unworthy person is his torturer and every woman his Mother, does not the Book of Books lose all life with this obsessive theme?”
Emmanuel Levinas (1906–1995) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Persons or Figures (1950)
“My first book “The Naked Manager”, a big success in 1971, had been followed by many others, and I wanted to write still more. Writing books is very interesting as each new project takes you in a different direction. You learn a lot – especially about what you yourself really think.”
Robert Heller (1932–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've been haunting bookshops and hiding behind display signs of TV chefs (Nigella is excellent to hide behind as she has a huge arse) as I spy on the short fiction section and see if anyone's tempted by my sweet bait. I've also been counting how many copies of the book are left in shops, and I've been covering other “upcoming” authors’ books with mine.”
Kevin Barry (1902–1920) said by 1920 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So let us wage a glorious struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism, let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons. One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution.”
Malala Yousafzai (born 1997) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am amazed that Roli Books should publish such thinly disguised plagiarism, and allow the author to hide in a cavalier manner behind a nom-de-plume. The book is clearly modelled on my career, even down to the name of the main character. That character's journalism is abysmal, and his views on Hindutva and Hinduism do not in any way reflect mine. I would disagree with them profoundly.”
Mark Tully (1935–2026) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In: Dean Nelson, "Former BBC correspondent Sir Mark Tully attacked in novel," The Telegraph (5 April 2010)
“He liked slim books which he could slip into his overcoat pocket and leave there unread for months. What was the point of a book if you couldn’t carry it around with you as a theoretical defence against boredom?”
Edward St. Aubyn (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“(What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?) Books about self-esteem and depression.”
Trevor Noah (born 1984) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: interview (2016)
“I do more non-fiction writing. I have two memoirs, another nonfiction book, and I do lots of essays, journalism, poetry, and reporting. But I love the fiction. As you know I have a novel, a short story collection, and two children’s books. It’s more challenging to write fiction, but I’d like to do more of these. I don’t really prefer one over the other.”
Luis J. Rodriguez (born 1954) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his writing preferences in “An Interview with Luis J. Rodriguez” (Evanston Public Library; 2011)
“when it came to having conversations with editors, I felt really prepared to be like, “I want to know how many folks of color you’ve published. I want to know what their trajectories were. I want to know how you support second books.” Right. Not just this one book.”
Elizabeth Acevedo (born 1988) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“in all of my books, you see disease and people grappling with disease. But disease itself is something that always has a name. It's something that characters learn to face forthrightly. And it's something that they eventually learn to live with. And those were very good lessons, not just for the writing of this book, but for living in our current moment. (NPR, 2022)”
Hanya Yanagihara (born 1974) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But listen to this," Kathleen laughed and wheezed. "We had been talking about books. He tells me he reads a lot - as a matter of fact he's book mad - and when I came in with the tea I said 'Do you like Earl Grey?' and he says, 'I don't know. What did he write?' Isn't that marvellous?" Mary smiled and nodded while Kathleen giggled uncontrollably.”
Bernard MacLaverty (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...There is a lack of diversity in publishing—authors and books—so if you want to write that book about growing up as a Filipino in the States, or a culture that you find interesting, do it now. Publishing is hard enough, and we need to take advantage of opportunities when we can.”
Jason Tanamor (born 1975) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nobody wins in a war.” “Nonsense, Arthur. That sounds great in a university lecture or a book, but the fact is that someone always wins. Who do you think writes the history books? The winners.”
Mike Resnick (1942–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Look at Christianity and Islam. They have the Bible and the Koran. The books have ensured the continuity and spread of the religions – but, perhaps more important, the culture and tradition of the nations where the faiths originated from. Now, where is our own book on Orunmila? It is a question that should worry all rational Yoruba and African people, indeed.”
Sophie Oluwole (1935–2018) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Prof Sophie speak on African Essence and Oral legacy in 2017.
“no book makes me furious. Maybe sad, or lost, or confused, but mostly joy and wonder are the emotions involved. That’s why I prefer books to people.”
Cynthia Ozick (born 1928) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Alice Hoffman
“When Tom's school was evacuated to St Albans during the war we had a little flat opposite the library. I took a book every day: Chaucer, Emerson, John Donne. Good plain writing, no hyperbole. I would have liked to have studied philosophy. Homespun philosophy, that's what you get in my books.”
Catherine Cookson (1906–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I set out to learn. I went around Scripps... I knocked on people's doors and I said "Hello, I'm a physicist. ...I'm learning about the ocean. If you've got a book you would recommend..." and people recommended books to me... [O]ne of them was Jacques Cousteau's Silent World and a whole bunch of others... Once I knew I wanted to learn, I was in exactly the right place to begin that journey.”
Helen Czerski (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have written and published two books, the first: Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings published by Heinmann ; the second book is called the Female King of Colonial Nigeria and other numerous journals and articles and chapters but my area is women history.”
Nwando Achebe (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As much as I love the heroine of my last books, and as much as she represents everything that virtuous power could be, I wanted to write a fantasy book that talks about what happens when there’s simply too much space between the most powerful person and the least powerful person in any government.”
Jordan Ifueko (born 1993) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’ve written about all kinds of things and every one of my books is very different from the others, which delights me. You can say that I have carved a style out of all my various resources, out of being different in every book.”
Angélica Gorodischer (1928–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Norbert Guterman, A Book of Latin Quotations (New York: Anchor Books, 1966), pp. 30–33”
Caecilius Statius (219–168 BC) said by 168 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She was too tired to feel anything more, she wanted a book to do to her what books did: take away the world, slide it aside for a little bit, and let her please, please just be somewhere and somebody else.”
Lev Grossman (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source