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

English Italiano Polski עברית Français Português فارسی Español 中文 Русский Deutsch العربية हिन्दी 日本語 Ελληνικά Latina

Books and reading

Love Friendship Happiness Hope Fear Courage Death Life Time War Peace Freedom Truth Wisdom Knowledge Science Art Music Nature Money Work Power God Beauty Laughter Family Success and failure Change Dreams Books and reading

“How can you read such a beautiful book and turn your back on it?” “Never said it wasn’t a beautiful book. I just don’t believe there’s some man up there in the black who gets off on watching us pound our head on the pavement six times a day.”
Kameron Hurley (born 1980) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien was the book I read last. The book reflects a world moving toward a certain direction, powered by both good and evil. It is a story of an entire universe in serious conflict and impending danger. The story says, this is also your world and you are not alone in it. It is just that we may not be conscious of the presence of the “others.”
Zaynab Alkali (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A book reads us as much as we read a book.”
Sarah Ladipo Manyika (born 1968) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: - Sarah Ladipo Manyiko speaking on the relevance of In Dependence in 2019.
“I have often felt that whatever is of value in this book could be found in Bell's "The Theory of Local Beables" (1987, Ch. 7)... this book will have served a great purpose if it does no more than encourage people to read Bell with the care and attention that he deserves.”
Tim Maudlin (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thomas Hughes, the author of “Tom Brown at Rugby,” has written a little book called “The Manliness of Christ” It would be an excellent thing if our young men became sufficiently interested in this book to read it.”
Mary Livermore (1820–1905) said by 1905 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I completely understand you. We have this woeful habit where once a book is borrowed is never returned. They think it is a gift. I don’t know where this culture comes from. On the one hand if one is an avid reader and they want to read and keep your book, I think that it is a plus. But on the other hand, it is just our lack of respect for people’s valued personal property.”
Doreen Baingana (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I haven't read one book about A book or memorized one plot. Or found a mind I did not doubt. I learned one date. And then forgot. And one by one the solid scholars Get the degrees, the jobs, the dollars.”
W. D. Snodgrass (1926–2009) first seen 1959 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: April Inventory", st. 5. Heart's Needle (1959), p. 38
“The Koran is a fascist book which incites violence. That is why this book, just like Mein Kampf, must be banned. The book incites hatred and killing and therefore has no place in our [Dutch] legal order.”
Geert Wilders (born 1963) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: BBC News - In quotes: Geert Wilders (2010)
“I want to describe the Body as a Book, a Book as a Body, and this Body and this Book will be the first Volume of Thirteen Volumes.”
Peter Greenaway (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“May I keep this book forever. May this book and this body outlast my love. May this book and this body love me as I love its length, its breadth, its thickness, its text, its skin, its letters, its punctuation, its quiet and its noisy pages.”
Peter Greenaway (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not simply a theological treatise, a code of laws, a religious homily, but the Bible — the book — while the only book for the soul, the best book for the mind.”
Herrick Johnson (1832–1913) said by 1913 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Craft is something you learn by studying models.When a student asks, what is a good book about traditional iambic verse, The Collected Poems of Ben Jonson. What is an excellent book about free verse? The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams. What is a good book about short line in ballad metre? The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson.”
Robert Pinsky (born 1940) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview at Skidmore College Aug 1995,published 'Paris Review' no 144 Fall 1997
“Very broadly, I think one writes and rewrites the same book. I lead a character from book to book, I continue along with the same ideas. Only the angle of vision, the method, the lighting, change.”
Françoise Sagan (1935–2004) said by 2004 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've tried to reduce profanity but I reduced so much profanity when writing the book that I'm afraid not much could come out. Perhaps we will have to consider it simply as a profane book and hope that the next book will be less profane or perhaps more sacred.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) first seen 1917 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: About his book, The Sun Also Rises in a letter (21 August 1926); published in Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981) edited by Carlos Baker
“Charles Darwin wrote a famous book in 18[gibberish]. And that book was an interesting book, cuz it was called "Monkey-Monkey-Monkey-Monkey-Monkey-Monkey-You".”
Eddie Izzard (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Certainly no one could have predicted what has happened. Back then, after 121 others had turned this book down, one lone editor offered a standard $3,000 advance. He said the book forced him to decide what he was in publishing for, and added that although this was almost certainly the last payment, I shouldn't be discouraged. Money wasn't the point with a book like this.”
Robert M. Pirsig (1928–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Tommyknockers is an awful book. That was the last one I wrote before I cleaned up my act. And I've thought about it a lot lately and said to myself, "There's really a good book in here, underneath all the sort of spurious energy that cocaine provides, and I ought to go back." The book is about 700 pages long, and I'm thinking, "There's probably a good 350-page novel in there.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”
Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) first seen 1841 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: History of the Church, 4:461 (28 November 1841)
“There’s an awful a lot of gaming of the list that goes on in book promotion, where you try to make everybody aware of your book at the same time, try to get them to buy it, get it noticed, get it visible. Which is kind of the opposite of the way I’ve written. I’ve not written bestsellers, I’ve written evergreens. Every book I’ve ever written is still in print.”
Lois McMaster Bujold (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We can no longer expect the one big book, the single achievement, to be an author's claim to posterity's regard. We shall be more inclined to assess the stature of a novelist by his ability to create what the French call an oeuvre, to present fragments of an individual vision in book after book, to build, if not a War and Peace or Ulysses, at least a shelf.”
Anthony Burgess (1917–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[On Yom Kippur] The rabbi intones that today is the day that God will put your name in the Book of Life... or the Book of DEATH. I'm five, and I'm going, "Uhhh, what the fuck is that? The book of WHAT?!?" Death? Death was not anything that had ever occurred to me. My greatest fear was that my parents were going to leave me in a grocery store.”
Lewis Black (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’m sure you’ve run into people who’ve said, “If I just had the time, I could write a book.” Everybody thinks they can write a book. And everybody’s life story could be the subject of a book — I don’t care who they are. It depends how you approach it. But writing itself, either you have it or you don’t have it. -->”
Taylor Caldwell (1900–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Disobedience to this our Proclamation Wee had little reason to expect, because this Service-book was no new thing unto them: For it not differing from the English Service-book in any materiall point, and We supposing that the English Liturgie neither Was nor could bee displeasing to them, did likewise conceive that this Book should be as little disliked by them.”
Charles I of England (1600–1649) said by 1649 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Always have a book at hand, in the parlor, on the table, for the family ; a book of condensed thought and striking anecdote, of sound maxims and truthful apothegms. It will impress on your own mind a thousand valuable suggestions, and teach your children a thousand lessons of truth and duty. Such a book is a casket of jewels for your household.”
Tryon Edwards (1809–1894) said by 1894 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I dedicate this book to all my readers, irrespective of whether they purchased my book, illegally obtained a copy, downloaded it or borrowed it from someone else. Some went ahead and directly asked me to send them a soft-copy of my book. Special salute to them as well.”
Gaurav Sharma (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A writer is going to write a novel and that writer may or may not only be from Uganda. I think too often when people are thinking about writers from the continent, there is this huge responsibility to produce some kind of great African book and that is nonsense. One writer writes one book that does or doesn’t succeed and that book will not necessarily be a Ugandan novel”
Ellah Wakatama Allfrey (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Burn that book? Stop kidding yourself, Sizwe! Anyway, suppose you do. You must immediately go apply for a new one. Right? And until that new one comes, be careful the police don’t stop you and ask for your book. Into the Courtroom, brother. Charge: Failing to produce Reference Book on demand. Five rand or five days.”
Athol Fugard (1932–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The greatest part of the first Book was printed in 1737: but it could not have been so useful to the Reader without the second; and I... recommend... to peruse the first Chapters of the second Book, before the five last of the first; there being a few passages... that will be better understood by... [having] some knowledge of the principal Rules of the Method of Computation... in the second Book.”
Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746) said by 1746 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think that, for the most part, I've have always tried to keep my focus on telling a story without worrying about what it might mean to others. ... Some people really write towards having a message. And, for me it's always been, when someone says, 'What is your book about?' — if I could say to them what my book was about in a few sentences, that book would be a failure — for sure.”
Amor Towles (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The book has been very well received. Our first distribution was through direct sales and donations to children and projects that might not have afforded the book. We are now preparing to reprint, and the book will go into retail bookshops. We are also working on an Afrikaans edition.”
Patricia Schonstein (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My second book is called . This book is about is the history of life on earth from a perspective of the African continent. It’s like a big picture story. The book was aimed at the high school level but can also be enjoyed equally by adults.One of my very big interests is to promote science through different platforms.”
Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan (born 1962) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“the clan book composers, except those from Book 5, are not well represented among the pavamāna composers of Book 9.”
Theodore Proferes first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (PROFERES 2003:12).
“The oldest book dealing with the virtue of herbs is the , circa 900–950. This Leech Book was evidently the manual of a Saxon doctor and it is the oldest existing Leech Book written in the .”
Eleanour Sinclair Rohde (1881–1950) said by 1950 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a man without many pleasures in life, a man whose few pleasures are small, but a man whose small pleasures are very important to him. One of them is eating. One reading. Another eating while reading.”
Amanda Filipacchi (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hard work makes easy reading or, at least, easier reading.”
M. H. Abrams (1912–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lemony Snicket: (narrating) Reading poetry, even if you are only reading to find a secret message within its words, can often give one a feeling of power, the way you can feel powerful if you are the only one who brought an umbrella on a rainy day or the only one who knows how to untie knots when you're taken hostage.”
Daniel Handler (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Failure to grasp centrifugal meaning is incomplete reading; failure to grasp centripetal meaning is incompetent reading.”
Northrop Frye (1912–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Well, I'm reading about the battle of New Orleans right now. I've got an ecolectic [sic] reading list.”
George W. Bush (born 1946) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Responding to questions about his current reading, in interview with Brian Williams of NBC News, (August 29, 2006)
“I am afraid that this chapter will amply demonstrate the truth of Clarke's 69th Law, viz., "Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software." In both cases the cure is simple though usually very expensive.”
Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Appendix II: MITE for Morons," The Odyssey File (1984), p. 123
“And I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.”
Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) said by 2007 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In antiquity and the Middle Ages reading was necessarily reading aloud. (p. 94)”
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are two kinds of cryptography in this world: cryptography that will stop your kid sister from reading your files, and cryptography that will stop major governments from reading your files.”
Bruce Schneier (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nothing is more commonplace than the reading experience, and yet nothing is more unknown. Reading is such a matter of course that at first glance it seems there is nothing to say about it.”
Tzvetan Todorov (1939–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the course of reading he became more and more melancholy and finally became completely gloomy. When the reading was over he uttered in a voice full of sorrow: "Goodness, how sad is our Russia!”
Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852) first seen 1843 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Alexander Pushkin in Four Letters Concerning Dead Souls (1843)
“If he wished he could resurrect the Dragon Isle’s former might and rule both his own land and the Young Kingdoms as an invulnerable tyrant. But his reading has also taught him to question the uses to which power is put, to question his motives, to question whether his own power should be used at all, in any cause. His reading has led him to this “morality”, which, still, he barely understands.”
Michael Moorcock (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A first reading of the "Bhagwat Gita" reveals that it preaches a gospel of complete detachment. A more intensified reading confirms this opinion but reveals some really beautiful verses which require careful understanding and implementation.”
Peter de Noronha (1897–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[After reading an article on Miles for Kids in an inflight journal] What [President of the Airline] is doing is, he's urging everyone to give up their frequent flyer miles for sick kids... But as I was reading this, there were two empty seats next to me. Why can't sick kids sit there? If they're so concerned with sick kids, shouldn't they have like a pen of sick kids next to the gate?”
David Cross (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was always much impressed, in reading prison memoirs of revolutionists, such as Lenin and Trotsky … by the amount of reading they did, the languages they studied, the range of their plans for a better social order. (Or rather, for a new social order.) In the Acts of the Apostles there are constant references to the Way and the New Man.”
Dorothy Day (1897–1980) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Pilgrimage," Catholic Worker (December 1968)
“The written word, obviously, is very inward, and when we're reading, we're thinking. It's a sort of spiritual, meditative activity. When we're looking at visual objects, I think our eyes are obviously directed outward, so there's not as much reflective time. And it's the reflectiveness and the spiritual inwardness about reading that appeals to me.”
Joyce Carol Oates (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reading in the third millennium B.C. may therefore have been a matter of hearing the cuneiform, that is, hallucinating the speech from looking at its picture symbols, rather than visual reading of syllables in our sense.”
Julian Jaynes (1920–1997) said by 1997 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source