Quotes about read
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“I've always said that Watership Down is not a book for children. I say: it's a book, and anyone who wants to read it can read it.”

Richard Adams (1920–2016) English novelist best known as the author of Watership Down

Children, Books, Reading

“They could read him, they could study him, they could pick him apart, but they couldn't laugh or be sad with him….”

Roberto Bolaño book 2666

Source: 2666

Sadness, Study, Reading

“What occurs to people when they read Kurt [Vonnegut] is that things are much more up for grabs than they thought they were. The world is a slightly different place just because they read a damn book. Imagine that.”

Mark Vonnegut (1947) American physician and writer

People, Books, World, Imagination

“Yeah. Floyd is his batman."
His what?"
Batman, like in the British army, each officer had a batman, a personal servant."
You spend too much time reading, Spenser. You know more stuff that don't make you money than anybody I know.”

Robert B. Parker Mortal Stakes

Source: Mortal Stakes

Money, Time, Reading, Personality

“It's important to read a book, but also to hold the book, to smell the book… it's perfume, it's incense, it's the dust of Egypt…”

Ray Bradbury (1920–2012) American writer

Books, Reading

“No one wants to read poetry. You have to make it impossible for them to put the poem down--impossible for them to stop reading it, word after word. You have to keep them from closing the book.”

Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980) poet and political activist

Books, Reading

“Write the book you want to read, the one you cannot find.”

Carol Shields (1935–2003) American author

Books, Reading

“There are worse things than finding your wife and child dead. You can watch the world do it. You can watch your wife get old and bored. You can watch your kids discover everything in the world you've tried to save them from. Drugs, divorce, conformity, disease. All the nice clean books, music, television. Distraction. These people with dead children, you want to tell them, go ahead. Blame yourself. There are worse things you can do to the people you love than kill them. The regular way is just to watch the world do it. Just read the newspaper.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3

Love, Children, People, Books

“I'd like to thank readers. Every time you open a book, it is a strike against ignorance. Unless you're reading Sarah Palin.”

Libba Bray (1964) American teen writer

Books, Time, Reading

“Even at the end of the road, read the first sentence, there is a road. Even at the end of the road, a new road stretches out, endless and open, a road that may lead anywhere. To him who will find it, there is always a road.”

D.J. MacHale (1955) American television director and producer

Source: Pendragon Before The War: Book Two Of The Travelers (Pendragon

Reading

“Scientists estimate the universe unfolded from its state of infinite destiny* - a moment commonly referred to as "the big bang" - approximately 1.3-2 x 10^10 years ago.

*Typo: "destiny" should read "density.”

Mark Z. Danielewski book House of Leaves

Source: House of Leaves

Universe, Reading

“Just give me a comfortable couch, a dog, a good book, and a woman. Then if you can get the dog to go somewhere and read the book, I might have a little fun.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

Books, Dogs, Reading, Cute

“Reading is the creative center of a writer's life." -”

Stephen King (1947) American author

Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Life, Reading

“Right," Sadie said. "And Set will just stand there calmly while I read him to death.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

Death, Reading

“The importance of reading, for me, is that it allows you to dream.

Reading not only educates, but is relaxing and allows you to feed your imagination - creating beautiful pictures from carefully chosen words.”

Eric Ripert (1965) French chef

Education, Beauty, Dreams, Imagination

“I really like Septimus Heap. he is my favorite guy in the story. I should make you all read it.”

Angie Sage (1952) English author and illustrator

Guy, Reading

“I poke around in the pile, about to settle on some cod chowder, when Peeta holds out a can to me. “Here.”
I take it, not knowing what to expect. The label reads LAMB STEW.”

Suzanne Collins book Mockingjay

Source: Mockingjay

Reading

“Reading, conversation, environment, culture, heroes, mentors, nature – all are lottery tickets for creativity. Scratch away at them and you’ll find out how big a prize you’ve won.”

Twyla Tharp (1941) American choreographer

Source: The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life

Nature, Reading

“I've forgotten most of what I've read and, frankly, it never seemed very important to me or to the world.”

Leonard Cohen book Beautiful Losers

Source: Beautiful Losers

World, Reading

“It's in being read that a book becomes a book, and in each of a million different readings a book become one of a million different books…”

Mohsin Hamid book How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

Source: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

Books, Reading

“Well, all I know is what I read in the papers.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

Nationally syndicated column number 42, Blames All Ills on Earthquake (1923). This became a remark Rogers often used in his public appearances.
Weekly columns

Reading

“If you don't know the exact moment when the lights will go out, you might as well read until they do.”

Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist

Light, Reading

“it makes such differenceyou read”

Walt Whitman (1819–1892) American poet, essayist and journalist

Reading

“Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.”

Arnold Lobel (1933–1987) American children's illustrator and writer

Love, Books, Time, Reading

“He read it for the same reason an animal tears at a wounded foot: to hurt the pain.”

Nathanael West book Miss Lonelyhearts

Source: Miss Lonelyhearts

Pain, Tear, Reading, Animals

“I have consistently loved books that I've read when I've been sick in bed.”

Tracy Chevalier (1962) American writer

Love, Books, Reading

“You want to know about anybody? See what books they read, and how they've been read…”

Keri Hulme book The Bone People

Source: The Bone People

Books, Reading

“If I couldn't sleep, I could read.”

Gail Carson Levine Ella Enchanted

Source: Ella Enchanted

Sleep, Reading

“There are books that I own that somehow even without reading them they mean something to me. So I think people have a relationship with books in a library whether you’ve come specifically to read them or not.”

Rem Koolhaas (1944) Dutch architect (b.1944)

People, Books, Thinking, Reading

“Books have to be read (worse luck it takes so long a time). It is the only way of discovering what they contain. A few savage tribes eat them, but reading is the only method of assimilation revealed to the West.”

E.M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist

Books, Way, Time, Reading

“So I learned to hold my tongue and to turn my features into an indifferent mask so that no one could ever read my thoughts.”

Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen, p. 5
Source: The Hunger Games trilogy, The Hunger Games (2008)

Learning, Reading, Indifference

“It was the kind of library
he had only read about in books.”

Alan Bennett book The Uncommon Reader

Source: The Uncommon Reader

Books, Reading

“I may not know how to fly but I know how to read, and that's almost the same thing.”

Gregory Maguire Out of Oz

Source: Out of Oz

Reading, Flying

“My Lord told me a joke. And seeing Him laugh has done more for me than any scripture I will ever read.”

Meister Eckhart (1260–1328) German theologian

Source: Selected Writings

Reading

“Oh, how I regret not having worn a bikini for the entire year I was twenty-six. If anyone young is reading this, go, right this minute, put on a bikini, and don’t take it off until you’re thirty-four.”

Nora Ephron (1941–2012) Film director, author screenwriter

Nora Ephron: I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman, Random House Incorporated, 2008
Source: I Feel Bad about My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

Reading

“Why can't people just sit and read books and be nice to each other?”

David Baldacci book The Camel Club

Source: The Camel Club

People, Books, Reading, Peaceful

“There are three kinds of men: The ones that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

The Manly Wisdom of Will Rogers (2001)
Variant: There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

Men, Learning

“I love reading another reader’s list of favorites. Even when I find I do not share their tastes or predilections, I am provoked to compare, contrast, and contradict. It is a most healthy exercise, and one altogether fruitful.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

Love, Exercises, Reading

“He’s not your typical prince, more like a square peg in a round hole, kind of like me. He’s the sort of guy who wouldn’t mind reading side by side on a date.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Between the Lines

Guy, Reading

“The stars we are given. The constellations we make. That is to say, stars exist in the cosmos, but constellations are the imaginary lines we draw between them, the readings we give the sky, the stories we tell.”

Rebecca Solnit (1961) Author and essayist from United States

Wanderlust: A History of Walking (2001)
Source: Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics
Context: Walking has been one of the constellations in the starry sky of human culture, a constellation whose three stars are the body, the imagination, and the wide-open world, and though all three exist independently, it is the lines drawn between them—drawn by the act of walking for cultural purposes—that makes them a constellation. Constellations are not natural phenomena but cultural impositions; the lines drawn between stars are like paths worn by the imagination of those who have gone before. This constellation called walking has a history, the history trod out by all those poets and philosophers and insurrectionaries, by jaywalkers, streetwalkers, pilgrims, tourists, hikers, mountaineers, but whether it has a future depends on whether those connecting paths are traveled still.

Star, Reading, Drawing

“What kind of scholar was I? Or was I a scholar at all? My ignorance was enormous. Beside it my knowledge was nothing. My hunger for learning, not so much to improve my lot as to understand my world, had led me to study and to thought. Reading without thinking is as nothing, for a book is less important for what it says than for what it makes you think.”

Louis L'Amour book The Walking Drum

Source: The Walking Drum (1984), Ch. 25

Hunger, Books, World, Understanding

“The sum of things to be known is inexhaustible, and however long we read, we shall never come to the end of our story-book."

(, 3 October 1892)”

A.E. Housman (1859–1936) English classical scholar and poet

Source: Selected Prose

Books, Reading

“In time you shall see Fate approach you
In the shape of your own image in the mirror;
Or you shall sit alone by your own hearth,
And suddenly the chair by you shall hold a guest,
And you shall know that guest,
And read the authentic message of his eyes.”

Edgar Lee Masters book Spoon River Anthology

Lyman King
Source: Spoon River Anthology

Fate, Time, Reading

“When writing the constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, John Adams wrote:
I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading.”

John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd President of the United States

Reading

“I've read that if an avalanche buries you and you're lying there underneath all that snow, you can't tell which way is up or down. You want to dig yourself out but pick the wrong way, and you dig yourself to your own demise.”

Khaled Hosseini book And the Mountains Echoed

Source: And the Mountains Echoed

Way, Lying, Reading

“Every book in the world is out there waiting to be read by me.”

Roberto Bolaño book The Savage Detectives

Source: The Savage Detectives

Books, World, Waiting, Reading

“Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.”

Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …

Books, Reading

“There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book.”

Frank Serafini (1945) American politician

Hate, Children, Books, Reading

“Nothing was truly unbearable if you had something to read.”

Jincy Willett American writer

Source: The Writing Class

Reading

“Wartihog put up his hand. "What happens if we can't read, sir?"

"No boasting, Wartihog!" boomed Gobber. "Get some idiot to read it for you.”

Cressida Cowell book How to Train Your Dragon

Source: How to Train Your Dragon

Reading

“Antonio-
"Just in time, Pete. Five more minutes of reading this and she'd have been in a coma."
Peter-
"Are we such bad company that you'd rather hide out in here reading that old thing?”

Kelley Armstrong book Bitten

Source: Bitten

Time, Reading

“Anything we need to know, we can learn it from a book. Reading, careful study, a little practice, and we’re throwing knives expertly, overhauling engines, speaking Esperanto like natives.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Source: The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story

Books, Study, Learning, Reading

“Reading is more important than writing.”

Roberto Bolaño (1953–2003) Chilean author

Source: The Last Interview and Other Conversations

Reading

“Of course reading and thinking are important but, my God, food is important too.”

Iris Murdoch book The Sea, the Sea

Source: The Sea, the Sea

God, Food, Thinking, Reading

“I wanted to read immediately. The only fear was that of books coming to an end.”

Eudora Welty (1909–2001) American author

Books, Fear, Reading

“That which others hear or read of, I felt and practised myself; they get their knowledge by books, I mine by melancholizing.”

Robert Burton book The Anatomy of Melancholy

Source: The Anatomy of Melancholy

Books, Knowledge, Reading

“On my way here I passed a local cinema and it turns out you were expecting me after all, for the billboards read: The Mummy Returns.”

Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician

Speech to Conservative Election Rally in Plymouth (22 May, 2001) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/speeches/displaydocument.asp?docid=108389 <br class="br">Post-Prime Ministerial

Way, Reading

“My behavior is nonetheless, deplorable. Unfortunately, I'm quite prone to such bouts of deplorability--take for instance, my fondness for reading books at the dinner table.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Books, Behavior, Reading

“The fact is I am quite happy in a movie, even a bad movie. Other people, so I have read, treasure memorable moments in their lives…”

Walker Percy book The Moviegoer

Source: The Moviegoer

Happiness, People, Reading

“I love the solitude of reading. I love the deep dive into someone else's story, the delicious ache of a last page.”

Naomi Shihab Nye (1952) American writer

Love, Solitude, Reading

“Loads of children read books about dinosaurs, underwater monsters, dragons, witches, aliens, and robots. Essentially, the people who read SF, fantasy and horror haven't grown out of enjoying the strange and weird.”

China Miéville (1972) English writer

Children, People, Books, Reading

“The test of literature is, I suppose, whether we ourselves live more intensely for the reading of it.”

Elizabeth Drew (1935) American journalist

Literature, Reading

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman

Learning, Reading

“You've done so many things and read so many books. Do you still believe in happy endings?"
"Oh my Lord, yes." Bernadette's hands were pressed against each other like a book, like a prayer. "I guess I would. I've had about a hundred of them.”

Karen Joy Fowler The Jane Austen Book Club

Source: The Jane Austen Book Club

Happiness, Books, Reading

“Reading can take you places you have never been before.”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books

Reading

“She took out a shiny folded pamphlet, the kind they kept stacked in clear plastic stands in hospital waiting rooms. "How to Come Out to Your Parents," she read out loud. "LUKE. Don't be ridiculous. Simon's not gay, he's a vampire.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Parent, Waiting, Reading

“What I love most about reading: It gives you the ability to reach higher ground. And keep climbing.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Source: What I Know For Sure

Love, Reading

“When we read, it is not ours to absorb all that is written. Our thoughts are jealous and they constantly blank out the thoughts of others, for there is not room enough in us for two scents at one time.”

Milorad Pavić (1929–2009) Serbian writer

Source: Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel in 100,000 Words

Time, Reading

“Anyone who reads a book with a sense of obligation does not understand the art of reading.”

Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living

Source: The Importance of Living

Books, Art, Understanding, Sense

“sometimes after I finished a particularly good book, I had the urge to get the library card, find out who else had read the book, and track them down to talk about it”

Jeannette Walls book Half Broke Horses

Source: Half Broke Horses

Books, Reading

“School made us 'literate' but did not teach us to read for pleasure.”

Ambeth R. Ocampo (1961) Filipino historian

Pleasure, School, Reading

“Don't do anything that you wouldn't feel comfortable reading about in the newspaper the next day.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

Feeling, Reading

“What good are laws that cannot be read or understood, or a tongue that spews only hatred or ignorance? What good is the written word to an illiterate man?”

Delores Phillips (1950–2014) American writer

Source: The Darkest Child

Law, Reading

“When one reads hurriedly and nervously, having in mind written tests and examinations, one's brain becomes encumbered with a lot of bric-a-brac for which there seems to be little use.”

Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist

Reading

“A man is known by the books he reads.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Books, Reading

“We believe in the wrong things, that's what frustrates me the most. Not the lack of belief, but the belief in the wrong things. You want meaning? Well, the meanings are out there. We're just so damn good at reading them wrong.”

David Levithan (1972) American author and editor

Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Reading

“Why didn’t you tell me there was danger? Why didn’t you warn me? Ladies know what to guard against, because they read novels that tell them of these tricks; but I never had the chance of discovering in that way; and you did not help me!”

Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English novelist and poet

Source: Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Way, Chance, Reading, Help

“My life is a reading list.”

John Irving book A Prayer for Owen Meany

Source: A Prayer for Owen Meany

Life, Reading

“It's hopeless! Tomorrow there'll be even more books I should have read than there are today.”

Ashleigh Brilliant (1933) American author and cartoonist

Books, Reading

“Every book, remember, is dead until a reader activates it by reading. Every time that you read you are walking among the dead, and, if you are listening, you just might hear prophecies.”

Kathy Acker (1947–1997) American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet

"On Delany the Magician", a foreword to Trouble on Triton (1996) by Samuel R. Delany, and reprinted in Acker's collection Bodies of Work (1996)
Source: Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia
Context: Every book, remember, is dead until a reader activates it by reading. Every time that you read you are walking among the dead, and, if you are listening, you just might hear prophecies. Aeneas did. Odysseus did. Listen to Delany, a prophet.

Books, Time, Reading, Dead

“WARNING
If you dare to read this story, you become part of the Experiment”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Reading, Parting

“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

First attributed to Johnson 15 years posthumously in a footnote in William Seward's Biographiana (1799), but written in slightly different form in 1764, in a profile in The Scots Magazine of Charles Churchill. The Scots Magazine, Volume 26 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=y14AAAAAYAAJ&q=%22without+effort%22&redir_esc=y&hl=en#v=snippet&q=%22without%20effort%22&f=false <br class="br"> Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/11/08/without-effort/, retrieved 17 May 2016 <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Source: Johnsonian Miscellanies - Vol II

Pleasure, Effort, Reading