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Books and reading

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“Reading is to the mind, what exercise is to the body. As by the one, health is preserved, strengthened, and invigorated: by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished, and confirmed.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) said by 1719 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: ジョゼフ・アディソン (ja)
“Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune, a genuine and passionate love of reading.”
Rufus Choate (1799–1859) first seen 1854 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the dedication of the Peabody Institute (29 September 1854).
“You write with ease to show your breeding, But easy writing's curst hard reading.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) said by 1816 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Clio's Protest (1819)
“You write with ease, to show your breeding, But easy writing’s vile hard reading.”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816) said by 1816 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: ‘Clio’s Protest’. T. Moore ‘Life of Sheridan’ (1825) 1, 55
“Looking for God — or Heaven — by exploring space is like reading or seeing all Shakespeare's plays in the hope that you will find Shakespeare as one of the characters or Stratford as one of the places. Shakespeare is in one sense present at every moment in every play.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Seeing Eye", in Christian Reflections (1967), p. 167
“My dear Wormwood, I note what you say about guiding your patient's reading and taking care that he sees a good deal of his materialist friend. But are you not being a trifle naive? It sounds as if you suppose that argument was the way to keep him out of the enemy's clutches. That might have been so if he had lived a few centuries earlier.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), Dedication: "To Lucy Barfield
“The doctrine of the Second Coming teaches us that we do not and cannot know when the world drama will end. The curtain may be rung down at any moment: say, before you have finished reading this paragraph.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere . . . God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.”
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Easy writing makes hard reading.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) first seen 1947 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Paris Was Our Mistress (1947) by Samuel Putnam, p. 128
“But it takes a war to make map-reading popular.”
George Orwell (1903–1950) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As I Please," Tribune (11 February 1944)
“At about the time when the autobiography first appeared I remember reading its opening chapters in the ill-printed pages of some Indian newspaper. They made a good impression on me, which Gandhi himself at that time did not.”
George Orwell (1903–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Children of the future Age Reading this indignant page, Know that in a former time Love! sweet Love! was thought a crime.”
William Blake (1757–1827) said by 1827 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Acts themselves alone are history, and these are neither the exclusive property of Hume, Gibbon nor Voltaire, Echard, Rapin, Plutarch, nor Herodotus. Tell me the Acts, O historian, and leave me to reason upon them as I please; away with your reasoning and your rubbish. All that is not action is not worth reading.”
William Blake (1757–1827) first seen 1809 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Blake's Exhibition and Catalogue of 1809, A Descriptive Catalogue of Pictures: Number V. The Ancient Britons
“And now the sagacious reader, who is capable of reading into these lines what does not stand written in them, but is nevertheless implied, will be able to form some conception of the serious feelings with which I then set foot in Emmendingen.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) said by 1832 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Autobiography: Truth and Poetry Book xviii. London 1884 p. 115 books.google.de
“Reading … is an activity subsequent to writing: more resigned, more civil, more intellectual.”
Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Universal History of Infamy [Historia universal de la infamia] (1935) Preface
“In the course of a life devoted less to living than to reading, I have verified many times that literary intentions and theories are nothing more than stimuli and that the final work usually ignores or even contradicts them.”
Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wakefield" prefigures Franz Kafka, but the latter modifies, and sharpens, the reading of "Wakefield." The debt is mutual; a great writer creates his or her precursors. He or she creates them and in some fashion justifies them.”
Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sometimes I get the feeling that there are orgies going on all over New York City, and somebody says, `Let's call Desmond,' and somebody else says,'Why bother? He's probably home reading the Encyclopedia Britannica.'”
Paul Desmond (1924–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That's a very good way to learn the craft of writing — from reading.”
William Faulkner (1897–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we go up to the shelves in the reading-room of the British Museum, how like it is to wasps flying up and down an apricot tree that is trained against a wall, or cattle coming down to drink at a pool!”
Samuel Butler (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am reading Jonson's verses to the memory of Shakespeare; an insolent, sparing, and invidious panegyric.”
John Dryden (1631–1700) said by 1700 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Many a head that down had lain, Impatient with its twelve hours' pain, And wishing that the bed it prest, Were, as the grave's, a long last rest, Has sprung again at morning's call, Forgiving, or forgetting all; Lighting the weary weight of thought With colours from the day-break brought, Reading new promise in the sky, And hearing Hope, the lark on high.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, who—reposed on some fond breast, Love's own delicious place of rest— Reading faith in the watching eyes, Feeling the heart beat with its sighs, Could know regrets, or doubts, or cares, That we had bound our fate with theirs!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) first seen 1824 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Sisters from The London Literary Gazette: 13th March 1824 Metrical Tales - Tale III.
“It was an epoch in my life, it is an epoch in every child's life, the first reading of Robinson Crusoe.”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Far transcend my weak invention. ’Tis a simple Christian child, Missionary young and mild, From her store of script’ral knowledge (Bible-taught without a college) Which by reading she could gather, Teaches him to say Our Father To the common Parent, who Colour not respects nor hue. White and Black in him have part, Who looks not to the skin, but heart.”
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) first seen 1827 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Young Catechist” (1827)
“When I am not walking, I am reading;”
Charles Lamb (1775–1834) said by 1834 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By reading a man does as it were antedate his life, and makes himself contemporary with the ages past. And this way of running up beyond one's nativity is much better than Plato's pre-existence, because here a man knows something of the state, and is the wiser for it, which he is not in the other.”
Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“By reading a man does, as it were, antedate his life, and make himself contemporary with past ages.”
Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The writing accompanying this oddity was, aside from a stack of press cuttings, in Professor Angell's most recent hand; and made no pretense to literary style. What seemed to be the main document was headed "CTHULHU CULT" in characters painstakingly printed to avoid the erroneous reading of a word so unheard-of.”
H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) said by 1937 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After reading all that has been written, and after thinking all that can be thought on the topics of God and the soul, the man who has a right to say that he thinks at all, will find himself face to face with the conclusion that, on these topics, the most profound thought is that which can be the least easily distinguished from the most superficial sentiment.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm listening to Billy Joe Shaver And I'm reading James Joyce Some people they tell me I've got the blood of the land in my voice”
Bob Dylan (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Just because somebody hears something you say, or reads something that you write, doesn’t mean you’ve reached them. With reading comprehension being what it is in the U. S., you can safely toss that one out the window. If you want to judge by the listening habits of people who buy records, the first thing they do is put it on and talk over it.”
Frank Zappa (1940–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let’s see if I’ve got this straight,” he returned. It was a phrase of hers that he had adopted “It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon, and there’s this couple lying naked in bed reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica to each other, and arguing about whether the Andromeda Galaxy is more ‘numinous’ than the Resurrection. Do they know how to have a good time or don't they?”
Carl Sagan (1934–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the problems, hanging out with me, is that I can turn any topic into a toxic horror story. I've lost two girlfriends and a job by reading an ingredients label out loud, with annotations, at the wrong time.”
Neal Stephenson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reader, if you don't know what a database is, rest assured that an explanation of the concept would in no way increase your enjoyment in reading this account. If you do know, you will thank me for sparing you the details.”
Neal Stephenson (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is hardly a pioneer's hut which does not contain a few odd volumes of Shakespeare. I remember reading the feudal drama of Henry V for the first time in a log cabin.”
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) said by 1859 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I thought I'd begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine.”
Spike Milligan (1918–2002) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Spike Milligan with Jeremy Taylor Live at Cambridge University. Recorded at Cambridge University on December 2, 1973, this was previously released as a double LP, and later re-issued as a 2 CD set. Milligan used variati…
“Finding the right form for your story is simply to realize the most natural way of telling the story. The test of whether or not a writer has divined the natural shape of his story is just this: after reading it, can you imagine it differently, or does it silence your imagination and seem to you absolute and final? As an orange is final. As an orange is something nature has made just right.”
Truman Capote (1924–1984) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a 1957 interview
“The stars are dreaming but they are laughing I see myself in the smile of a polar bear while turning the pages of an arctic sky reading the delirious lines that foretell the sovereignty of language and the rule of invisible birds”
Nancy Peters (born 1936) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: It's In the Wind (1977) "Ceremonies In A Polar Garden
“I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. Of course, you only live one life, and you make all your mistakes, and learn what not to do, and that's the end of you.”
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The right reading for this is the one I'm giving.”
Orson Welles (1915–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you are reading God's Word, it is not the obscure passages that bind you but what you understand, and with that you comply at once. If you understood only one single passage in all of Holy Scripture, well, then you must do that first of all, but you do not first have to sit down and ponder the obscure passages.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) said by 1855 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every boy... should be able by the age of 12 to write his own language with accuracy and some elegance; he should have a reading knowledge of French, and be able to translate Latin and easy Greek authors, and have some acquaintance with German. Having learned thus the meaning of words... a boy should study Logic, so as to be able to apply his words sensibly.”
William Thomson (1825–1907) said by 1907 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: At a Glasgow University Club dinner, as quoted by William Ramsay, The Life and Letters of Joseph Black, M.D. (1918) pp. 7-8.
“Surfing the Web” (as dubious a metaphor as “the information highway”) is, as a friend of mine has it, “like reading magazines with the pages stuck together.” My wife shakes her head in dismay as I patiently await the downloading of some Japanese Beatles fan's personal catalog of bootlegs. “But it’s from Japan!” She isn't moved. She goes out to enjoy the flowers in her garden.”
William Gibson (born 1948) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Net Is a Waste of Time," The New York Times Magazine, July 14, 1996.
“Even Morgan seems to me to be based on some hidden rock. Talking of Proust and Lawrence he said he'd prefer to be Lawrence; but much rather would be himself. He is aloof, serene, a snob, he says, reading masterpieces only.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tuesday 18 September 1923
“What a born melancholiac I am! The only way I keep afloat is by working. Directly I stop working I feel that I am sinking down, down. And as usual, I feel that if I sink further I shall reach the truth. That is the only mitigation; a kind of nobility. Solemnity. Work, reading, writing, are all disguising; and relations with other people. Yes, even having children wold be useless.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sunday 23 June, 1929
“Happy will be those who give ear to the words of the dead:—The reading of good works and the observing of their precepts.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) said by 1519 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no reason why the profoundest thoughts should not make easy and exciting reading. A profound thought is an exciting thing — as exciting as a detective's deductions or hunches. The simpler the words in which a thought is expressed the more stimulating its effect.”
Eric Hoffer (1902–1983) first seen 1950 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Entry (1950)