Famous quotes
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Books and reading
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“Reading The Second Sex in the 1950s isolation of an academic housewife had felt less dangerous than reading "The Myth of Vaginal Orgasm" or "Woman-identified Woman" in a world where I was in constant debate and discussion with women over every aspect of our lives that we could as yet name.”
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I mean to indicate the reading of poetry not merely for the sensual ear, but for the mind's ear as well; yet the mind's ear can be trained only by the other, and the matter, practically considered, comes inescapably back to the reading of poetry aloud.”
Yvor Winters (1900–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The words of the Constitution … are so unrestricted by their intrinsic meaning or by their history or by tradition or by prior decisions that they leave the individual Justice free, if indeed they do not compel him, to gather meaning not from reading the Constitution but from reading life.”
Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) first seen 1949 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Supreme Court, vol. 3, no. 1, Parliamentary Affairs (London, Winter 1949).
“Reading is a wrestling with ideas greater than any we can create for ourselves. It has been said, a little extravagantly, that reading can get the better of most physical sufferings, all indeed save the pangs of hunger.”
Sidney Lee (1859–1926) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Place of English Literature in the Modern University" (1913)
“How would I describe what I do? I suppose a mixture of psychological reading and showmanship and a special form of poncing-about which kind of comes together to form the effect of thought reading and psychological influence but non, non-psychic... not ‘non-non-psychic’, non-psychic.”
Derren Brown (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If your journal consists of the best moments of your life and reading, then rereading it will be like walking a high mountain trail that goes from peak to peak without the intervening descent into the trough of routine. Just reading such a journal of high points will tighten your strings and raise your pitch.”
Robert D. Richardson (1934–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As you study science, and really try to understand what is happening behind the curtain, not just reading the predigested press releases but actually talking to scientists or reading technical papers, you realize that ... it's always more complicated than you think. ... No measurement is simple. ... The way you make the comparison will address different issues.”
Steven Novella (born 1964) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: SGU, Podcast #528, August 22nd, 2015
“Reading a poem aloud by someone who understands it, can be a crucial experience, but better yet is reading it aloud oneself.”
John Hollander (1929–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I really find listening to and reading the work of lyricists and songwriters as essential to my work as reading poetry itself. It is all poetry.”
Robbie Coburn (born 1994) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in 2014, Overland literary journal
“Reading is the subtle and thorough sharing of the ideas and feelings by underhanded means. It is a gross invasion of Privacy and a direct violation of the Constitutions of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth ages. The Teaching of Reading is equally a crime against Privacy and Personhood. One to five years on each count.”
Walter Tevis (1928–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As with any classic novel, each subsequent reading teaches me a bit more about myself, about the greater world, and about the nature of life and mystery; because at each reading, I approach the texts as a different person.”
Jef Murray (1960–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Growing up, my parents made reading a top priority. My parent’s emphasis on reading is not confined to our home, they have made it a priority for our entire country. Education is the key to our country’s future.”
Ange Kagame (born 1993) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Education is the key to Rwanda’s future, says Ange Kagame", The New Times (May 8, 2015)
“I’m thinking a lot about the fraught state of our world including the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza. I’ve just started reading The Ukraine by writer Artem Chapeye, who is currently fighting for his country, as well as The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. I’m also re-reading David Grossman’s To the End of the Land.”
Sarah Ladipo Manyika (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I started reading regularly in 2008. I had grown up with the DC Animated Shows like Batman The Animated series, Justice League, and Superman, but didn’t get into reading comics till out of high school.”
“History does not repeat itself, but our reading of history shapes our perception of the world and our vision of how to change it. With the collective rendering of woman's legacy still to come, we will reckon a course that transforms our reading of the human experience and allows us to navigate through hitherto unknown waters. (p 151)”
Bettina Aptheker (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have no guilt regarding my love of fantasy and science fiction, only pleasure. I grew up reading the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I chuckle over how this “genre” has become mainstream and how time travel, alternative universes and magic are now so everyday. Plus, no one could ever feel guilty about reading writers like Ursula K. Le Guin and Philip K. Dick.”
Alice Hoffman (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best way to promote a reading culture is to make it a holistic enterprise in its relation to other disciplines; by presentations – wherever possible – of people and offices, which have something to do with the text. The reading culture can also be promoted by using other media such as films to see the text in another light or from a different perspective.”
Karen King-Aribisala wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...Reading is a sustained act of telepathy or empathy, and reading horror is even more profound than that: it’s asking people to share real vulnerabilities of yours and open themselves up to their own...”
Catriona Ward (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am re-reading it because of some of the things that came up during discussions I had with friends and family. And I felt I did not know some of the things so I went back to reading it,”
Morakane Mosupyoe wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“... Dickens is to me a writer apart. I have been reading and re-reading his novels since I was six. I know his characters as I hardly know any of the men and women I have met in the flesh. Dickens is the novelist of the lettered and of the unlettered. The man at the street corner who has hardly heard of Thackeray knows all about and .”
Sidney Dark (1872–1947) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (123 pages; reprint of the 1919 edition published by T.C. & E.C. Jack, a subsidiary of the publishing firm)
“The ruthless answer is do I want to keep reading because my reading pile is huge... Is there a story or character I’m compelled by?”
Jane Tranter (born 1963) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jane Tranter expains what draws her to a script or story at the BBC Wales Writers Festival in December 2019.
“Writing and reading has always come with this colonial layer, even when we are reading local languages typeset using roman characters.”
Nontsikelelo Mutiti (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reading from text in general is a hard problem, because it involves all of common sense knowledge. But reading from text in structured domans I don’t think is as hard. It is a critical problem that needs to be solved.”
Edward Feigenbaum (born 1936) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reading is my hobby. No document passes without me reading it. I try to inform myself and when my car radio is not working, the car is not working.”
Mompati Merafhe (1936–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I remember reading The Matrix — it’s techno-babble, it’s scientific, I don’t even understand what I’m reading.”
Lela Rochon (born 1964) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Books give not wisdom where was none before, But where some is, there reading makes it more.”
John Harington (writer) first seen 1737 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Epigram in Muses Library (1737), p. 310.
“As to the other means of grace I would say: I fell into the snare, into which so many young believers fall, the reading of religious books in preference to the Scriptures.”
George Müller (1805–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I also did some jail time a few years ago. Spent a whole summer in jail reading books. I pumped a ton of new knowledge and new thinking into myself.”
“Intelligence is attractive, but so is life experience. You can’t amass it just by reading a ton of books. But you can live a lot of life in a short time. Travel. Talk to everyone. Collect adventures, and use them to understand the world. That’s how you learn to treat people well. And that’s sexy.”
Nicole Lapin (born 1984) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with Men's Health Magazine. (September 2007)
“Does one get faith by mere studying of books? Too much reading creates confusion. The Master used to say that one should learn from the scriptures that God alone is real and the world illusory.”
Sarada Devi (1853–1920) said by 1920 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my opinion, people in our society are becoming like clones. Children are not reading books , and they are not learning by doing. They're just sitting and watching each other be pretty. Like my vases.”
Guity Novin (born 1944) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Etelaat-e-Banoovan,(1971) no 755, Year Fifteenth,Wednesday 15th December.
“I'm reading Kristin Lavransdatter again - it's one of the greatest poetic books, and the most powerful portrayal of medieval Christendom I know....I must admit that it makes me cry every time - because it's so real, so true , reaching to the depths of human nature, touching one to the quick.”
Ida Friederike Görres (1901–1971) first seen 1951 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Broken Lights Letters 1951-59.
“I am a writer today because I learned to love reading as a child — and mostly on account of the Oz books.”
Elizabeth Gilbert (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I should as soon think of swimming across Charles River when I wish to go to Boston, as of reading all my books in originals when I have them rendered for me in my mother tongue.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From a Child I was fond of Reading, and all the little Money that came into my Hands was ever laid out in Books.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) said by 1790 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reading should be encouraged at all times, with an effort to promote books that are worthwhile and that enlarge the recruit's facility to encounter the world of letters and great national problems”
Che Guevara (1928–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A man may as well expect to grow stronger by always eating, as wiser by always reading. Too much over-charges nature, and turns more into disease than nourishment. 'Tis thought and digestion which makes books serviceable, and gives health and vigour to the mind.”
Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In reading some books we occupy ourselves chiefly with the thoughts of the author; in perusing others, exclusively with our own.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I asked him what, if anything, got him down about teaching. He said he didn't think that anything about it got him exactly down, but there was one thing, he thought, that frightened him: reading the pencilled notations in the margins of books in the college library.”
J. D. Salinger (1919–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So have I loitered my life away, reading books, looking at pictures, going to plays, hearing, thinking, writing on what pleased me best. I have wanted only one thing to make me happy, but wanting that have wanted everything.”
William Hazlitt (1778–1830) first seen 1822 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: My First Acquaintance with Poets" (1822)
“The pleasure of all reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books.”
Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) first seen 1922 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Ottoline Morrell (January 1922)
“The great inconvenience of new books is that they prevent us from reading the old ones.”
Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) said by 1824 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading.”
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) first seen 1842 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to his Niece (15 September 1842)
“If people get into the habit of using their free time for reading books, our society will greatly advance and the country's culture will progress.”
Ali Khamenei (1939–2026) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Yvette Hovsepian-Bearce, The Political Ideology of Ayatollah Khamenei: Out of the Mouth of the Supreme Leader of Iran, London: Routledge, 2016, p. 136.
“I have given up reading books; I find it takes my mind off myself.”
Oscar Levant (1906–1972) said by 1972 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Memorable Quotations: Jewish Writers of the Past (2005) edited by Carol A. Dingle.
“Whoever said "Wagner's music isn't as bad as it sounds" was as wrong as he was funny, but there is surely a case for saying that the story of Captain Ahab's contest with the great white whale is one of those books you can't get started with even after you have finished reading them.”
Clive James (1939–2019) said by 2019 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I got very frustrated when I was reading so-called classic books or films, or listening to underground music which is trying to tell you something. it´s all nonsense, and it´s disillusioning. So it would be a paradox for me to then decide I´m going to communicate something. (Sounds, August 24, 1985)”
Robert Smith (musician) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is also a magic in reading. Books have taken me to places I never thought I would visit, introduced me to people I never thought I would meet, and transported me to times past and futures imagined I never though I would experience.”
Joe Lieberman (1942–2024) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In Roxanne J. Coady and Joy Johannessen (eds.) The Book That Changed My Life (2006), , p. 104
“One of the main purposes of university is to encourage people to think. But education for its own sake is a bit dodgy, too. The idea that you can learn about the world sitting in your study just reading books is not quite right... If we had less people studying philosophy, that would be unfortunate. I feel very less occupied by classics.”
Charles Clarke (born 1950) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview with The Sunday Times, quoted in 'Clarke criticised over classics' (31 January 2003), bbc.co.uk and Helen Ward, 'Students confront Clarke over classics comments', Tes Magazine (13 June 2003)