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. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Books and reading
LoveFriendshipHappinessHopeFearCourageDeathLifeTimeWarPeaceFreedomTruthWisdomKnowledgeScienceArtMusicNatureMoneyWorkPowerGodBeautyLaughterFamilySuccess and failureChangeDreamsBooks and reading
“The purity of the spectral element being the keystone of my.. ..searching for an optical formula on this basis ever, since I held a brush 1876 - 1884.. ..having read Charles Blanc in school and therefore knowing Chevreul's laws and Eugene Delacroix's precepts, having read the studies by the same Charles Blanc on the same painter [= Delacroix]”
Georges Seurat (1859–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When people hear stories, they identify more closely with the characters. When I read aloud, people always come up to me and say, “I understand it much better now that I’ve heard you read it. I can hear the characters’ voices much clearer…”
Ernest J. Gaines (1933–2019) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how his reading aloud helped frame the character’s voice in “An Interview with Ernest J. Gaines” in The Missouri Review (1999 Dec 1)
“John C. Calhoun's last speech had a bitter attack on Mr. Jefferson for his amendment to the Ordinance of '87 prohibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory. Calhoun was in a dying condition – was too weak to read it. So James M. Mason, a Virginia Senator, read it in the Senate about two weeks before Calhoun's death, March 1850.”
John S. Mosby (1833–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He stared at me. “You barely know how to read and you have decided to become a great writer?” he said to me in a voice full of shock and arrogance. I’d finally had enough of him. “Yes!” I bellowed, going into my wrestling stance. “I don’t know how to read, and I’ve decided to become a great writer—WHAT OF IT?”
Victor Villaseñor (born 1940) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is much more meaningful and enjoyable to read the scientific literature about experiments you are involved in yourself than to read about science in the abstract.”
Eric Kandel (born 1929) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In Brazil, it goes like this: communists only read communist authors, (economic) liberals only read liberal authors and so on. Each one is afraid of tarnishing their little soul with sinful thoughts. In order for someone to speak with some propriety about the communist movement, they must have previously studied the following things:”
Olavo de Carvalho (1947–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.”
Cosimo de' Medici (1389–1464) said by 1464 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, in Apothegms by Francis Bacon, (1624) No. 206
“All meaning is intertextual. No text is complete or autonomous in itself; it needs to be read, and it is read, in relation to other texts.”
“All day yesterday she read a new kind of writing called poems. Some of them she read aloud. In places they were like chess—incomprehensible—and in other places they said strange and interesting things.”
Walter Tevis (1928–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I grew up as a Catholic militant; when I was a boy I used to read authors like Jacques Maritain, Emmanuel Mounier and novelists like Bernanos. But Catholic inspiration led me also to read authors that were heretical to the modern tradition. I didn’t like rationalistic historicism that came from Enlightenment, peaking in Hegel and Marx.”
Gianni Vattimo (1936–2023) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gianni Vattimo Interview by Claudio Gallo, publicseminar.org, July 11, 2016.
“The advice to any young poet is to embrace your freedom and not feel constrained to write in one particular way or only about one particular topic. If they’re Latino poets, I would encourage them not only to read widely, but also to read Latino poetry, to familiarize themselves with their particular tradition within American literature…”
Francisco Aragón (born 1965) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his advice to Latino poets in “Interview with Francisco Aragón: Latino Poetry From All Its Perspectives” in Sampsonia Way (2010 Sept 16)
“Poetry has always been the ignition for everything. It’s what ignites my brain, lights the imaginative forces. If poetry didn’t exist, I’d be doing something else entirely. That’s how crucial it is to me. For pleasure, for work, to get started in the day—I read poetry. And it’s the last thing I read at night. It fuels my dreams.”
Cristina García (journalist) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how much poetry means to her in “Language is the Way: An Interview with Cristina García” in Fiction Writers Review (2013 Jun 19)
“I can't even remember Saving Agnes. I haven't read it in years and years. I don’t think I could read it. It's a strange thing about having been publishing for so long. As with any memory of yourself at twenty-five, it feels like your cellular being has completely changed. It's not just photographs of me with a weird hairstyle at twenty-five—a novel is such an intricate document.”
Rachel Cusk (born 1967) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On how an author might revisit one of their earlier novels to reconnect with their past self, as quoted in Sheila Heti "Rachel Cusk, The Art of Fiction No. 246" The Paris Review (No. 232, Spring 2020)
“Since it was judges who had read abortion rights into the Constitution, abortion opponents believed, we needed judges who would read abortion back out... [S]ome urged a that would... have prohibited abortion or... at least have returned the question to each state's legislature, but... consensus and effort... proved elusive.”
Laurence Tribe (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I first read the script, I thought it has such a unique structure. That was my first impression. And the character I was going play, it was very important. It’s kind of the centre of the story. That’s the sense I had when I read it.”
Song Kang-ho (born 1967) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On reading the script of Parasite for the first time in "Song Kang-ho interview: “It’d be amazing to work with Ken Loach!”" in Eastern Kicks (17 January 2020)
“When a girl is educated, she can read and write, she is aware of the law, and knows love. When a girl is educated, she is aware of her potential; she can read about Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of the World Trade Organisation.”
Dolapo Osinbajo (born 1967) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dolapo Osinbajo stated this in her address at the two-day MALLPAI Foundation 2021 Literacy Day with the theme: ‘Promoting Literacy for Better Education in Nigeria’ in Abuja
“I would tell my 20-year-old self… To read much more widely. Being a student of the Arts meant that I read a fairly decent amount of literature, but I could have ventured more into other areas – philosophy, biographies of great people, etc. Of course, I’ve done a bit of catching up, but there’s no doubt that some ground was lost.”
Remi Sonaiya (born 1955) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imagine having a mother who worries that you read too much. The question is, what is it that's supposed to happen to people who read too much? How can you tell when someone's crossed the line.”
Helen Oyeyemi (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m still looking for that perfect role for me, the kind of script you read and just think, This is it! When I read it, I’ll know.”
“It is doubtful if a candid person, entirely unacquainted with the facts, who should read English history with an account of the seven years' war of the Revolution, and then read our American history of the same events, could believe that they related to the same events. The same may be said in reference to the historians of the Franco-German war or of our war of the Rebellion.”
Belva Ann Lockwood (1830–1917) said by 1917 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I had to give any credit to myself, I would say that I was a darn good organizer, and if I did it was because I read the works of the...I read quite a bit about the anarchists’ organization.”
Emma Tenayuca (1916–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here in the Gulf South, we know climate disaster. Hurricane Katrina changed my life. I moved back home, to Slidell, Louisiana, in 2006. I realized my community needed lawyers-someone to read all the papers a disaster creates. They were being asked, in the middle of trauma, to sign away their rights. I'm only the third lawyer to come from my community. So I read the papers, and I decided to stay.”
Colette Pichon Battle wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you are not able to travel, he told me, the next best thing is to read. Read all you can, girl. And store up that knowledge, for you never know when you will need it.”
Paula Brackston wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Giving up is not an option. Stay the course. As a people, we have survived many unspeakable atrocities. Read and know your true history. We just celebrated the Year of Return. Read that history, very, very carefully. It has not been a nice cup of sobolo.”
Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It seems to me that fiction is the bridge between these things, the bridge between this immense scholarship and that kind of popular perception. So you can read about these matters as fiction. And I hope that the reaction then is to say, ‘I didn’t know that’ and possibly for the reader, ‘I must go and read something about that.’”
Abdulrazak Gurnah (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“the literature I value the most is those parts of the Bible that I read through choice and love. I am proud of the Bible and carry it with me. I read it as literature, I don't worship it, but I see it as part of who I am.”
Dorit Rabinyan (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All the conversation is focused around pronouns and things like that, and I’m like, however you read me is fine. I know how I read myself.”
Mae Martin (born 1987) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A journal editor will give you a good hour to explain why he doesn't have time to read your manuscript. But at least he had that hour to read it. (December 10, C.E.1906; Vergani, p. 247)”
Jules Renard (1864–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Victorian liberals who campaigned for a free press and educated people to read it believed that newspapers should prepare Britons to participate in democracy. The new voters repudiated this patronising view. They were not content to read accounts of parliamentary debates and analyses of British diplomatic endeavour. They wanted fun too. Crime and scandal provided it.”
Tim Luckhurst (born 1963) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Read all about it: Britons have always loved scandal", The Guardian (25 May 2011)
“You can look for help later down the line, but you have to do the toughest bits of this gig yourself, read everything, even if it's niche and nobody else is interested in it, read it anyway.”
Chikodili Emelumadu wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[The anonymous (male) interviewer recently read Lace with pleasure] Oh really? My ex-husband paid his lawyer to read it, to check whether there was anything to sue me about. A lovely job for £250 an hour. ["Did he find anything?"] Well Terence didn’t sue me [...] But I don’t think his lawyer did a very good job.”
Shirley Conran (1932–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Curiosity is unbecoming in the female sex. This girl's curiosity surely comes from your teaching her to read. An ability to read is prejudicial in any woman, in a slave doubly and triply so. It opens them to ideas unsuited to their station in life.”
Manu Herbstein (born 1936) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want African writers to find inspiration in what Africans want to read not what they should read or what will save them or educate them or edify them.”
Ainehi Edoro wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A second-hand bookseller, I found, may read much in his time, but he cannot read continuously.”
E. V. Lucas (1868–1938) said by 1938 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Her husband requested she would read, and she determined to read; her husband wished her to talk, and she resolved to talk. ... Then she had the habit into which your poor conversationalists usually fall, namely, asking questions.”
Sarah Josepha Hale (1788–1879) first seen 1828 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sketches of American Character: William Forbes"; Ladies' Magazine, vol. 1, no. 11 (November 1828), p. 499
“A great crime film, which is very difficult to achieve. [...] you can cling to all the clichés, but it's a great crime film that's very difficult to make. Well, we read crime novels, we talk about them, but we read them and there's nothing there, you know what I mean? It's thin, you can't attract people with that kind of thing anymore, you need something massive and compact that carries weight.”
Lino Ventura (1919–1987) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From the interview of Christian Defaye e Claudette per "Spécial Cinéma,", Les archives de la RTS, 11 February 1985. Video available on Youtube.com.
“I believe I started to write because I wanted to read what I was writing. When I was growing up there were no images of me in the literature I read. I didn't see myself or people like me in any of the literature of my youth.”
Lorna Goodison (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I tried to read up as much as I could but felt anxiety creep in as I read the millions of pamphlets that were just slight variations on the same damn thing.”
Christine Michel Carter (born 1986) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was producing so much milk, I read up on how to store breastmilk and misunderstood what I read.”
Christine Michel Carter (born 1986) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It's daunting for these young men, very often they weren't read to as children themselves, so this was new to them. They come in to the little studio to read Goldilocks and they're embarrassed, they don't know how to do it, and a big part of it is helping them to relax.”
Sharon Berry wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My preferred subject was Mathematics ... I was given admission, but somehow, my family ... decided that I should read Medicine. At that time there were no female medical doctors, so all I needed was to apply to read Medicine. They gave me the offer and that was how I ended up in the profession.”
Halima Adamu (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I also have a passion for thrillers, mystery and any good suspense novel from the West. I have read almost all of Sydney Sheldon, Dan Brown, Robert Ludlum, Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, Martina Cole and a few of David Baldacci. I do love historical novels and romance. So, it goes without saying that I have read Danielle Steel, Judith Gould and Judith Krantz.”
Margaret Safo (1957–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’ve read the Koran, I’ve read Indian scriptures and I really like taking from them all”
Sanaa Lathan (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Read lots and find out the stories you like to read - which will be the stories you'd like to write, more often than not. Practice your writing like you would practice and instrument or sport, constantly looking for a better word or description of something.”
Adele Broadbent (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My preparation as an actor is very simple. I read the script and it's gut feel. I read it as an audience.”
Eugene Domingo (born 1971) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Did Eugene Domingo ever set her sights on Hollywood?, Toff C., Push Team, 10 February 2026.
“We had been so unlucky. By the time we had finally learnt to read properly, there had been nothing left for us to read.”
“If I had to convince someone not to believe, I would tell them to read the Bible… but to read it carefully.”
Piergiorgio Odifreddi (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let's face it: there are two types of television audience. My way of distinguishing between people is between those who read newspapers and those who, perhaps through no fault of their own, do not read them. Unfortunately, I also see in the eyes of many presenters the vacuousness of people who only flick through newspapers at the hairdresser's.”
Renzo Arbore (born 1937) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, I’ve been a fan of Louis’ for years and years and years, and an old friend as well, so I’ve always wanted to work with him, and even while I was living in L.A. for eight years, I used to call him often saying, ‘Just send me another play, send me another play so I can read it’. I just wanted to read his stuff, not thinking I’d ever work with him because I was living somewhere else”
Carl Beukes (born 1976) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lot of times you get an assistant on set or a script supervisor who will read the other side. However, he came in and … from start to finish, he read the conversation. I thought that was very generous of him.”
Adhir Kalyan (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source