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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. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

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Books and reading

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• “If it is permissible to write plays that are not intended to be seen, I should like to see who can prevent me from writing a book no one can read.”

  Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–1799) said by 1799 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I've always tried to write the kind of book I most loved to read: character-centered adventure.”

  Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The devil gave me a look which made me profoundly uneasy. 'Just because I am enjoying your sympathy, don't imagine that I cannot read you like a book,' he said. 'You think you are cleverer than I; it is a very common academic delusion.'”

  Robertson Davies (1913–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I read a book lately by Nietzsche and he says religion is just to dull the senses of the people. I agree.”

  Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader.”

  Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I never read a book before reviewing it: it prejudices a man so.”

  Sydney Smith (1771–1845) said by 1845 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Reported in Bon-Mots of Sydney Smith and R. Brinsley Sheridan, edited by Walter Jerrold with grotesques by Aubrey Beardsley (London: J. M. Dent and Company, 1893), p. 24

• “Pray thee, take care, that tak'st my book in hand, To read it well: that is, to understand.”

  Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Soul of the age! The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage! My Shakespeare, rise; I will not lodge thee by Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie A little further, to make thee a room; Thou art a monument, without a tomb, And art alive still, while thy book doth live, And we have wits to read, and praise to give.”

  Ben Jonson (1572–1637) said by 1637 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Language does not extend to explaining the Way in detail, but it can be grasped intuitively. Study this book; read a word then ponder on it. If you interpret the meaning loosely you will mistake the Way.”

  Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) said by 1645 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “In returning I read a very different book, published by an honest Quaker, on that execrable sum of all villanies, commonly called the Slave-trade.”

  John Wesley (1703–1791) first seen 1772 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Journal (12 February 1772) after reading Some historical accounts of Guinea by Anthony Benezet

• “The first really important book I read about filmmaking was The Film Technique by Pudovkin. This was some time before I had ever touched a movie camera and it opened my eyes to cutting and montage.”

  Stanley Kubrick (1928–1999) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Interviewed by Charles Reynolds, Popular Photography (1960)

• “The only reason I read a book is because I cannot see and converse with the man who wrote it.”

  Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) first seen 1905 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Speech in Kansas City (12 May 1905), PWW (The Papers of Woodrow Wilson) 16:99

• “[as Tim Burton] Anyone who knows me will tell you that I would never read a comic book." Which, to me, explains fucking Batman.”

  Kevin Smith (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “There was this book I read and loved, The story of a ship Who sailed around the world and found That nothing else exists Beyond its own two sails And wooden shell And what is held within. All else is sure to pass. We clutch and grasp And debate what's truly permanent.”

  Conor Oberst (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I wish I could write a book that will be read for as long as our civilization lasts... I would value it much more highly than any business success if I could contribute to an understanding of the world in which we live or, better yet, if I could help to preserve the economic and political system that has allowed me to flourish as a participant.”

  George Soros (born 1930) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted in The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros (2006) by Mark Tier, p. 219

• “When I read it, I don't wince, which is all I ever ask for a book I write.”

  Norman Mailer (1923–2007) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: On Tough Guys Don't Dance as quoted in The New York Times (8 June 1984)

• “Annie Besant’s book where she put forward the idea that theosophical mystical energies could be portrayed as colours or abstract shapes was practically the invention of abstract art. A lot of artists rushed out and read it and suddenly thought, ‘oh God you could, you could portray love as a colour, or depression as a colour” All of a sudden abstract art happens, a flowering out of occultism.”

  Alan Moore (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I began to read Capital, just as one reads any book, to see what was in it; I found a great deal that neither its followers nor its opponents had prepared me to expect.”

  Joan Robinson (1903–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If none of us ever read a book that was "dangerous," had a friend who was "different," or joined an organization that advocated "change," we would all be just the kind of people Joe McCarthy wants.”

  Edward R. Murrow (1908–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I know the first film I ever saw — it must have been some time in 1924, when I was six or so... was Black Beauty. About a stallion. I still recall a sequence with fire. It was burning, I remember that vividly. And I remember too how it excited me, and how afterwards we bought the book of Black Beauty and how I learned the chapter on the fire by heart — at that time I still hadn't learned to read.”

  Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The pencil moved prophetic: together now men read In the fair book of nature, and find the hope they need. The wreath woven by the river is by the seaside worn, And one of fate's best arrows to its due mark is borne.”

  Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) said by 1850 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “After describing in detail the adverse reactions to Silent Spring of the farm bureaus in two Pennsylvania counties, the reporter continued: "No one in either county farm office who was talked to today had read the book, but all disapproved of it heartily.”

  Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I gave my decisions on the principles of common justice and honesty between man and man, and relied on natural born sense, and not on law, learning to guide me; for I had never read a page in a law book in all my life.”

  Davy Crockett (1786–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Go and read the black book on communism and you'll find that under Mao's China they didn't eat babies but they boiled them to fertilise the fields.”

  Silvio Berlusconi (1936–2023) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: At a rally in Naples (28 March 2006) as quoted in "In quotes: Berlusconi in his own words" at BBC News (2 May 2006)

• “Get out of the house. Find other human beings to communicate with. Read a book. Do yoga. Meditate. Be of service. That is one of the biggest single most things to get one out of oneself, is being of service to people who are less fortunate than ourselves.”

  Gillian Anderson (born 1968) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: When asked for a motivational advice — Reddit "The Reigning Queen of TV" here. Also known as "mom." Gillian Anderson here, AMA." (March 13, 2014)

• “It seemed to me that I had no right to burn a book I hadn't even read.”

  William Saroyan (1908–1981) said by 1981 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A Message to Children Who Have Read This Book - When you grow up and have children of your own, do please remember something important: a stodgy parent is no fun at all. What a child wants and deserves is a parent who is SPARKY.”

  Roald Dahl (1916–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Once someone gave me a book of the Christians. I asked him to read it to me. It talked about nothing but sin. Sin is the only thing one hears at your Brahmo Samaj too... He who says day and night, ‘I am a sinner, I am a sinner’, verily becomes a sinner... Why should one only talk about sin and hell, and such things?”

  Ramakrishna (1836–1886) first seen 1882 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: October 27, 1882, to Keshub Chunder Sen. The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Volume 1, Madras, 1985, p. 138. Quoted from Goel, S. R. (2016). History of Hindu-Christian encounters Ch.13

• “The book, if you would see anything in it, requires to be read in the clear, brown, twilight atmosphere in which it was written; if opened in the sunshine, it is apt to look exceedingly like a volume of blank pages.”

  Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) first seen 1851 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Twice-Told Tales, Preface (1851)

• “At present, I am a poet trying to be a soldier. To tell the truth, I am not interested in writing nowadays, except in so far as writing is the expression of something beautiful … The only sort of book I care to write about the war is the sort people will read after the war is over — a century after it is over.”

  Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: A letter home, included in Joyce Kilmer, Poems, Essays and Letters (1918) edited by Robert Holliday

• “For this book is for me and all kings to read.”

  Henry VIII of England (1491–1547) first seen 1528 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: On William Tyndale's The Obedience of a Christian Man (c. 1528), quoted in John Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials: Relating Chiefly to Religion, and Its Reformation Under the Reigns of King Henry VIII., King Edward VI., …

• “He" should be read as "he or she" throughout the book.”

  Andrew S. Tanenbaum (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The Bible is the funniest book I have ever read. It's so funny! Right in the first six pages, it's funny!”

  David Cross (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “[Mrs Thatcher] started quoting St Francis within minutes of becoming elected, and scarcely an hour had gone by before she was sounding like the book of Revelations read out over a railway station public address system by a headmistress of a certain age wearing calico knickers.”

  Clive James (1939–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “A critic can only review the book he has read, not the one which the writer wrote.”

  Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Do you know anyone who's never watched TV, never seen a movie, never read a book? Of course not. So let me ask you one more question. Do you know someone, maybe even in your own family, who's never played a video game? I bet you do. How can this be? If we want to consider ourselves a true mass medium, if we want to grow as an industry, this has to change.”

  Reggie Fils-Aimé (born 1961) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Source: E3 2006 Press Conference, YouTube

• “But they lived those extraordinary lives that can never be lived again. And in the living of them, they gave me a history that is more profound, more beautiful, more powerful, more passionate, and ultimately more useful, than the best damn history book I ever read.”

  Utah Phillips (1935–2008) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Track 13: "The Long Memory." Fellow Workers, Righteous Babe Records (1999)

• “If you only ever read one book in your life I highly recommend... keeping your f***ing mouth shut." [sic]”

  Banksy (born 1973) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “You decide which side you want to be on and then help your general win. Christians have a great advantage. See, we have an infallible book that tells us how it comes out. I read the last chapter - we win! I think it would be smart to get on God's side, okay?”

  Kent Hovind (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I was raised on the good book Jesus Till I read between the lines Now I don't believe I ever wanna see the morning”

  Laura Nyro (1947–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I no more wrote than read that book which is The self I am, half hidden as it is From one and all who see within a kiss The lounging formless blackness of an abyss. How could I think the brief years were enough To prove the reality of endless love?”

  Delmore Schwartz (1913–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “If you only ever read one book in your life... I highly recommend you keep your mouth shut.”

  Simon Munnery (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Like many people, I was an ardent admirer of Theodore Roosevelt. ...He had recommended to the people 's book How the Other Half Lives. I had read it, and Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural address of 1905, and had straightaway felt that the pursuit of social justice would be my vocation.”

  Frances Perkins (1880–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “The die is cast; I have written my book; it will be read either in the present age or by posterity, it matters not which; it may well await a reader, since God has waited six thousand years for an interpreter of his words.”

  Johannes Kepler (1572–1630) said by 1630 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Motz, Lloyd, et al. "Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler." The Story of Astronomy (1995): 69-87.

• “[The office of the interpreter] is to read Scripture like any other book.”

  Benjamin Jowett (1817–1893) said by 1893 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “I am satisfied that if a book is a good one, it is so whatever the sex of the author may be. All novels are, or should be, written for both men and women to read, and I am at loss to conceive how a man should permit himself to write anything that would be really disgraceful to a woman, or why a woman should be censured for writing anything that would be proper and becoming for a man.”

  Anne Brontë (1820–1849) first seen 1848 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: Preface, 2nd edition (22 July 1848)

• “You know what enormous harm we have been dealt by the publication of Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago. Everybody who has read your book, everybody who has seen the reviews are convinced that the potential harm from your “Life and Fate” would be far more dangerous than that of Doctor Zhivago.”

  Vasily Grossman (1905–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “(You once said, "Fiction is NOT autobiography in a party dress." OK, then what is it?) NH: It's what happens after you grind up a bunch of your personally received input, everything from life experience to that book about spices you read ten years ago, compost it within your imagination, and then in that mulch grow something new. I think that could even apply to autobiographical fiction.”

  Nalo Hopkinson (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “One thing's for sure: if Mark Twain could have read A Course in Miracles, he never would have called the Book of Mormon "chloroform in print". Utterly without redeeming value (take that any way you want), the only conceivable importance of A Course in Miracles is a testimony to the pathetic state of spiritual hunger and confusion on the part of late twentieth-century American "seekers.”

  Robert M. Price (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

• “Werner, nobody will read this book if I don't write bad stuff about you. If I wrote that we get along well together, nobody would buy it. The scum only wants to hear about the dirt, all the time.”

  Klaus Kinski (1926–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source

  Recorded in: As quoted by Werner Herzog, in My Best Fiend, (1999)

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