Quotes about read
page 11

“People disagreeing everywhere you look
Makes you wanna stop and read a book”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Song lyrics, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II (1971), Watching the River Flow

“Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody can read.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

As quoted in "Literary Censorship in England" in Current Opinion, Vol. 55, No. 5 (November 1913), p. 378; this has sometimes appeared on the internet in paraphrased form as "Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads"
1910s
Context: Any public committee man who tries to pack the moral cards in the interest of his own notions is guilty of corruption and impertinence. The business of a public library is not to supply the public with the books the committee thinks good for the public, but to supply the public with the books the public wants. … Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody can read. But as the ratepayer is mostly a coward and a fool in these difficult matters, and the committee is quite sure that it can succeed where the Roman Catholic Church has made its index expurgatorius the laughing-stock of the world, censorship will rage until it reduces itself to absurdity; and even then the best books will be in danger still.

Books, Reading

“One breath taken completely; one poem, fully written, fully read - in such a moment, anything can happen.”

Jane Hirshfield (1953) Poet

Source: Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry

Reading

“I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.”

Toni Morrison (1931–2019) American writer

Reading

“I want leisure to read—an immense amount.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American novelist and screenwriter

Source: The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Reading

“That was one thing about books: once you read them they couldn’t be unread.”

Lev Grossman book The Magician's Land

Source: The Magician's Land

Books, Reading

“She'd become an English major for the purest and dullest of reasons: because she loved to read.”

Jeffrey Eugenides book The Marriage Plot

Source: The Marriage Plot

Love, Reading

“The book she had been reading was under her pillow, pressing its cover against her ear as if to lure her back into its printed pages.”

Cornelia Funke Inkheart trilogy

Source: Inkheart

Books, Reading

“Reading is awesome and flexible and fits around chores and earning money and building the future and whatever else I’m doing that day. My attitude towards reading is entirely Epicurean—reading is pleasure and I pursue it purely because I like it.”

Jo Walton (1964) Welsh Canadian writer

Money, Pleasure, Reading, Future

“There's no better way to inform and expand you mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature.”

Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Source: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

Way, Literature, Reading

“Some people read books for fun.”

Richelle Mead Shadow Kiss

Source: Shadow Kiss

People, Books, Reading

“Who wants to be used? I love to read, so books are my main friends. They're always available, always friendly, and always interesting, and they never make me choose sides.”

Lurlene McDaniel (1944) American writer

Love, Books, Reading

“I am a part of all I have read.”

John Kieran (1892–1981) American sportswriter

Reading, Parting

“It’s in Latin.”
“So? What does it say?”
“I don’t read Latin!”
“You’re kidding. I thought all geniuses read Latin. Isn’t that the international language for smart people?”

Rachel Caine book Glass Houses

Source: You're kidding. I thought all geniuses read Latin. Isn't that the international language for smart people?"-Shane (Glass Houses)

People, Reading

“Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.”

Arthur Schopenhauer book Parerga and Paralipomena

Vol. 2, Ch. 23, § 296a
Parerga and Paralipomena (1851), Counsels and Maxims
Source: Counsels and Maxims (The Essays of Arthur Schopenhauer)

Books, Time, Reading

“the Bible is only as good and decent as the person reading it.”

Dan Savage (1964) American sex advice columnist and gay rights campaigner

Source: American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics

Reading, Personality

“Reading is the basics for all learning.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

Learning, Reading

“Reading is thinking with someone else's head instead of ones own.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Source: The Art of Literature

Thinking, Reading

“By reading this message you are denying its existence and implying consent.”

Gary Shteyngart Super Sad True Love Story

Source: Super Sad True Love Story

Reading

“Some say life is the thing, but I prefer reading.”

Ruth Rendell book A Judgement in Stone

Source: A Judgement in Stone

Life, Reading

“If men should read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by its chains.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Final Empire

Men, Reading

“When I begin to doubt my ability to work the word, I simply read another writer and know I have nothing to worry about. My contest is only with myself, to do it right, with power, and force, and delight, and gamble.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Reading

“This is why I read novels: so I can escape my own unrelenting monologue.”

Carol Shields Unless

Source: Unless

Reading

“Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that a single book is not. A book is not an isolated entity: it is a narration, an axis of innumerable narrations. One literature differs from another, either before or after it, not so much because of the text as for the manner in which it is read.”

Jorge Luis Borges book Other Inquisitions

"Note on (toward) Bernard Shaw"
Variant translation: A book is not an autonomous entity: it is a relation, an axis of innumerable relations. One literature differs from another, be it earlier or later, not because of the texts but because of the way they are read: if I could read any page from the present time — this one, for instance — as it will be read in the year 2000, I would know what the literature of the year 2000 would be like.
Other Inquisitions (1952)

Books, Literature, Reading

“Digestion of words as well; I often read aloud to myself in my writing corner in the library, where no one can hear me, for the sake of better savouring the text, so as to make it all the more mine.”

Alberto Manguel (1948) writer

Source: The Library at Night

Reading

“I read in self-defense.”

Woody Allen (1935) American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician

Reading

“You wouldn't know a clue if it danced in front of you with a T-Shirt that read 'I'm a clue”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Reading, Dance

“I finally got around to reading the dictionary. Turns out the Zebra did it.”

Steven Wright (1955) American actor and author

Reading

“A book burrows into your life in a very profound way because the experience of reading is not passive.”

Erica Jong (1942) Novelist, poet, memoirist, critic

Life, Books, Way, Reading

“Once she read a book but found it distasteful because it contained adjectives.”

Lois Lowry (1937) American writer

Source: The Willoughbys

Books, Reading

“If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books.”

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) British novelist, short story writer, poet, fighter pilot and screenwriter

Life, Books, Reading

“Tell me what you read and I'll tell you who you are" is true enough, but I'd know you better if you told me what you reread.”

Francois Mauriac (1885–1970) French author

Reading

“My definition of good literature is that which can be read by an educated reader, and reread with increased pleasure.”

Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) American science fiction and fantasy writer

Pleasure, Education, Literature, Reading

“Reading is like thinking, like praying, like talking to a friend, like expressing your ideas, like listening to other people's ideas, like listening to music, like looking at the view, like taking a walk on the beach.”

Roberto Bolaño book 2666

Source: 2666

People, Music, Idea, Thinking

“Believe what you like, but don't believeyou read without questioning it.”

Pauline Baynes (1922–2008) English illustrator of children's books

Source: Questionable Creatures: A Bestiary

Question, Reading

“Character, I think, is the single most important thing in fiction. You might read a book once for its interesting plot—but not twice.”

Diana Gabaldon (1952) American author

Books, Thinking, Reading

“I snatched the paper away from Dopey.
"Hey," he yelled. "I was reading that!"
"Let somebody who can pronounce all the big words have a try," I said.”

Meg Cabot book Darkest Hour

Source: Darkest Hour

Reading

“And if you decide not to read anymore, hey, no problem, because you're not the one I was waiting for anyway. But if you decide to read on, then guess what? You're my kind of time being and together we'll make magic!”

Ruth Ozeki book A Tale for the Time Being

Source: A Tale for the Time Being

Problem, Time, Waiting, Reading

“taught that literacy is the path from slavery to freedom. There are many kinds of slavery and many kinds of freedom, but reading is still the path.”

Carl Sagan (1934–1996) American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science educator

Freedom, Reading

“I cannot imagine a sorrier pursuit than struggling for years to write a book that attempts to appeal to people who do not read in the first place.”

Annie Dillard (1945) American writer

Source: The Writing Life

People, Books, Imagination, Reading

“I like reading in a pub rather than a library or study, as it's generally much easier to get a drink.”

Pete McCarthy (1951–2004) British travel writer

Source: McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland

Drink, Study, Reading

“I do not read advertisements. I would spend all of my time wanting things.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

Time, Reading

“Reading is more important to me than eating.”

John Piper (1946) American writer

Reading

“Even today, I hunt for the fabulous books that will change me utterly. I find myself happiest in the middle of a book which I forget that I am reading, but am instead immersed in a made-up life lived at the highest pitch.”

Pat Conroy (1945–2016) American novelist

Source: My Reading Life

Life, Books, Change, Reading

“What are books but tangible dreams? What is reading if it is not dreaming? The best books cause us to dream; the rest are not worth reading.”

Rikki Ducornet (1949) American writer and artist

Source: The Fan-Maker's Inquisition: A Novel of the Marquis de Sade

Books, Dreams, Reading

“I merely say that all reading for pleasure is escape, whether it be Greek, mathematics, astronomy, Benedetto Croce, or The Diary of the Forgotten Man. To say otherwise is to be an intellectual snob, and a juvenile at the art of living.”

Raymond Chandler book The Simple Art of Murder

Source: The Simple Art of Murder

Pleasure, Art, Mathematics, Reading

“Back at his chair he cannot remember what he was reading. He feels the books beside him to find the one that is warm.”

Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs

Source: The Silence of the Lambs

Books, Feeling, Reading

“Oh, here’s a clever one. Do you remember this question from the first test? It reads, ‘What’s wrong with this statement?’ And do you know what Constance wrote in reply? She wrote, ‘What’s wrong with you?”

Trenton Lee Stewart The Mysterious Benedict Society

Source: The Mysterious Benedict Society

Question, Reading

“We are reading the story of our lives
As though we were in it
As though we had written it.”

Mark Strand (1934–2014) Canadian-American poet, essayist, translator

Reading

“A country that does not know how to read and write is easy to deceive.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

Reading, Country

“Immersed in solitude, he would dream or read far into the night. By protracted contemplation of the same thoughts, his mind grew sharp, his vague, undeveloped ideas took on form.”

Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907) French novelist and art critic

Source: Against Nature

Dreams, Idea, Solitude, Reading

“The stars know everything,
So we try to read their minds.
As distant as they are,
We choose to whisper in their presence.”

Charles Simic (1938) American poet

Star, Distant, Reading

“By the time you read this, you'll be older than you remember.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Rant

Source: Rant

Time, Reading

“The days weren't long enough for the reading she wanted to do.”

Alan Bennett book The Uncommon Reader

Source: The Uncommon Reader

Reading

“I know because I read. Might I suggest you try it?”

Libba Bray A Great and Terrible Beauty

Source: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Reading

“Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed.”

Anne Rice The Witching Hour

Source: The Witching Hour (1990)

Books, Reading

“I can't read fiction without visualizing every scene. The result is it becomes a series of pictures rather than a book.”

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British filmmaker

Books, Reading

“No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn't understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets.”

Stanisław Lem (1921–2006) Polish science fiction author

Understanding, Reading, Forgetting

“There are too many books I haven’t read, too many places I haven’t seen, too many memories I haven’t kept long enough.”

Irwin Shaw (1913–1984) American politician

Variant: There are too many books I haven't read, too many places I haven't seen, too many memories I haven't kept long enough

Books, Memory, Reading

“As it was, I couldn't escape the feeling that I was out of my element. I found myself thinking of a book I'd left half-read at home and wishing I'd stuck it in my purse so I could pull it out now.”

Charlaine Harris (1951) American writer

Source: Last Scene Alive

Books, Feeling, Home, Thinking

“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.”

Groucho Marx (1890–1977) American comedian

This may be original with Groucho, but the Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/category/jim-brewer/ mentions the earliest report found in a 1958 issue of Boy's Life magazine where it is attributed to Jim Brewer. <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. <br class="br">Source: The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx

Books, Dogs, Reading, Funny

“If I could always read I should never feel the want of company.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Feeling, Reading

“[Harry] had always suffered from a vague restlessness, a longing for adventure that she told herself severely was the result of reading too many novels when she was a small child.”

Robin McKinley book The Blue Sword

Source: The Blue Sword

Suffering, Reading

“We have seen the best minds of our generation destroyed by boredom at poetry readings.”

Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919) American artist, writer and activist

Source: Wild Dreams of a New Beginning

Reading

“Look," said Janet, irritated, "if the thing you liked best to do in the world was read, and somebody offered to pay you room and board and give you a liberal arts degree if you would just read for four years, wouldn't you do it?”

Pamela Dean Tam Lin

Source: Tam Lin

World, Art, Reading

“If you have read 6,000 books in your lifetime, or even 600, it's probably because at some level you find 'reality' a bit of a disappointment.”

Joe Queenan (1950) American writer

Source: One for the Books

Books, Disappointment, Reality, Reading

“He had on a funny T-shirt, as usual. Today's featured acartoon figure running from a giant T. rex, and it read EXERCISE: SOME MOTIVATIONREQUIRED.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Ghost Town

Exercises, Reading

“those of us who read because we love it more than anything, who feel about bookstores the way some people feel about jewelers…”

Anna Quindlen (1952) journalist, Novelist

Source: How Reading Changed My Life

Love, People, Way, Feeling

“She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.”

Annie Dillard book The Living

Source: The Living

Books, Reading

“When was the last time you read a book? The truth now. And picture books don't count-I mean something with print in it.”

William Goldman book The Princess Bride

Source: The Princess Bride

Truth, Books, Time, Reading

“What can we see, read, acquire, but ourselves. Take the book, my friend, and read your eyes out, you will never find there what I find.”

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

Books, Reading

“The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

April 6, 1775
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. Vol 2

Books, Time, Reading, Parting

“I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Thinking, Reading

“… If I don't have twenty or thirty books right here, waiting to be read, I start jonesing. That's my compulsion.”

Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer

Source: Key of Knowledge

Books, Waiting, Reading

“You never read Spider-Man? Accepting your true identity means understanding that you are a stranger to this world. A freak, ostracized by the very people you want to help.”

Ted Dekker book Saint

Source: Saint

People, World, Understanding, Reading

“If you truly love a book, you should sleep with it, write in it, read aloud from it, and fill its pages with muffin crumbs.”

Anne Fadiman (1953) American essayist, journalist and magazine editor

Love, Books, Sleep, Reading

“As he bent closer, he realized they were words -- words his wife had carved into the cave ice with the last of her dying strength. As he read them, he felt them like three hard blows in the stomach.
KILL THE CHILD”

Holly Black book The Iron Trial

Source: The Iron Trial

Reading

“I fell asleep reading a dull book, and I dreamed that I was reading on, so I awoke from sheer boredom.”

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic

Books, Dreams, Reading

“The art of reading is to skip judiciously.”

Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804) Founding Father of the United States

Art, Reading

“There is no such thing as a happy ending. Every culture has a maxim that makes this point, while nowhere in the Universe is there a single gravestone that reads 'He Loved Everything About His Life, Especially the Dying Bit at the End'.”

Eoin Colfer book And Another Thing...

Source: And Another Thing...

Love, Life, Happiness, Universe

“Life is like Sanskrit read to a pony.”

Lou Reed (1942–2013) American musician

Life, Reading

“She always carried a book, though, in case she needed to read a few pages to avoid unwanted conversation.”

Charles Frazier (1950) American writer

Source: Nightwoods

Books, Reading

“Listen you have to read a book three times before you know it.”

Sherman Alexie book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Source: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Books, Time, Reading

“Every new book I read comes to be a part of that overall and unitary book that is the sum of my readings… if you need little to set the imagination going, I require even less: the promise of reading is enough.”

Italo Calvino (1923–1985) Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels

Source: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Books, Imagination, Reading, Parting

“Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain and if you don't believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it.”

John Steinbeck (1902–1968) American writer

Learning, Reading

“Reading can be dangerous.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

Reading

“I'd had years of practise looking dumb when people threw out Greek names I didn't know. It's a skill of mine. Annabeth keeps telling me to read a book of Greek myths, but I don't see the need. It's easier just to have folks explain stuff.”

Rick Riordan book The Demigod Diaries

Variant: Cacus.” I’d had years of practice looking dumb when people threw out Greek names I didn’t know. It’s a skill of mine. Annabeth keeps telling me to read a book of Greek myths, but I don’t see the need. It’s easier just to have folks explain stuff.
Source: The Demigod Diaries

People, Books, Reading

“Readers, censors know, are defined by the books they read.”

Alberto Manguel (1948) writer

Source: The Library at Night

Books, Reading