Quotes about read
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Richard Burton photo
José Martí photo
Prem Rawat photo
Voltaire photo
Mao Zedong photo

“The more books you read, the more stupid you become.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Speech (26 June 1965), quoted in Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, Mao: The Unknown Story (2005), p. 507
1960s

Eckhart Tolle photo
Peter I of Russia photo

“BO NOT READ THIS”

Peter I of Russia (1672–1725) Tsar and 1st Emperor, founder of the Russian Empire
William Faulkner photo

“That's a very good way to learn the craft of writing — from reading.”

William Faulkner (1897–1962) American writer

Faulkner in the University, p. 117
Faulkner in the University (1959)

Tessa Thompson photo

“I had all but decided to take a break and do some plays, and to see plays and read books and not work – literally not work – until I was going to burn for something.”

Tessa Thompson (1983) American actresse

On turning down the roles Hollywood was offering to her in “Tessa Thompson: ‘I decided not to work until I burned for something’” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/16/tessa-thompson-interview-decided-not-to-work-until-i-burned-for-something in The Guardian (2018 Feb 16)

“When people asked what I wanted to be, I'd tell them a writer. They were surprised or indifferent. If people don't read, what is a writer?”

Tomás Rivera (1935–1984) American academic

On his wanting to become a writer at an early age in " From Poverty to Power: The Inspiring Story of Tomas Rivera http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/academic/article/778847/From-Poverty-to-Power-The-Inspiring-Story-of-Tomas-Rivera" (TeenInk)

Tupac Shakur photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Eckhart Tolle photo
Kanye West photo
William Shakespeare photo

“O learn to read what silent love hath writ: To hear with eyes belongs to love´s fine wit.”

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet

Source: Sonnet XXIII
Context: As an unperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put besides his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength’s abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love’s right,
And in mine own love’s strength seem to decay,
O’ercharged with burthen of mine own love’s might.
O, let my books be then the eloquence
And dumb presagers of my speaking breast;
Who plead for love, and look for recompense,
More than that tongue that more hath more express’d.
O, learn to read what silent love hath writ:
To hear with eyes belongs to love’s fine wit.

George Raymond Richard Martin photo
Samuel Johnson photo

“You can never be wise unless you love reading.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

Source: Life of Johnson, Vol 4

Jacqueline Wilson photo
James A. Michener photo
Stanley Kubrick photo
Gail Carson Levine photo
Thich Nhat Hanh photo

“Usually when we hear or read something new, we just compare it to our own ideas. If it is the same, we accept it and say that it is correct. If it is not, we say it is incorrect. In either case, we learn nothing.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation

John Steinbeck photo
Ray Bradbury photo
Max Barry photo
Walt Whitman photo

“What is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.”

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

Variant: What is that you express in your eyes? It seems to me more than all the words I have read in my life.

Susan Sontag photo
Philip Larkin photo

“I am always trying to 'preserve' things by getting other people to read what I have written, and feel what I felt.”

Philip Larkin (1922–1985) English poet, novelist, jazz critic and librarian

Source: Philip Larkin: Letters to Monica

John Adams photo

“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”

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

1760s, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law (1765)
Source: The Works Of John Adams, Second President Of The United States

Eudora Welty photo
Nicole Krauss photo
Cassandra Clare photo

“How to Come Out to Your Parents," she read out loud. "LUKE. Don't be ridiculous. Simon's not gay, he's a vampire.”

Clary to Luke, pg. 213
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Ashes (2008)

Eudora Welty photo
Elizabeth von Arnim photo
Swami Vivekananda photo

“Keep reading. It's one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.”

Lloyd Alexander (1924–2007) American children's writer

Interview with Scholastic students http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/lloyd-alexander-interview-transcript (1999)

Gabrielle Zevin photo
Rick Riordan photo
Patrick Rothfuss photo

“It’s hard to be wrongfully accused, but it’s worse when the people looking down on you are clods who have never read a book or traveled more than twenty miles from the place they were born.”

Variant: It’s hard to be wrongfully accused, but it’s worse when the people looking down on you are clods who have never read a book or traveled more than twenty miles from the place they were born.
Source: The Name of the Wind (2007), Chapter 8, “Thieves, Heretics, and Whores” (p. 63)

Edward Albee photo
Brandon Sanderson photo
Roald Dahl photo
Brandon Sanderson photo
John Wooden photo
James Patterson photo

“Here's a freebie: Don't play poker with a kid who can read minds.”

James Patterson (1947) American author

Source: The Final Warning

George Gordon Byron photo
Walter Dean Myers photo
Haruki Murakami photo

“I'm an average person. Is just that I like reading.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

IQ84 (2009-2010)
Variant: I'm a very ordinary human being; I just happen to like reading books.
Source: 1Q84 BOOK 1

William Faulkner photo
Bell Hooks photo
Gabrielle Zevin photo
Donna Tartt photo
Howard Zinn photo
Will Rogers photo
Stephen Chbosky photo
Markus Zusak photo
Ngaio Marsh photo

“Above all things -- read. Read the great stylists who cannot be copied rather than the successful writers who must not be copied.”

Ngaio Marsh (1895–1982) New Zealand writer

Source: Death on the Air and Other Stories

André Gide photo
Lyndon B. Johnson photo
Mary Doria Russell photo
Walker Percy photo
John Waters photo
Jonathan Swift photo
John Adams photo
Italo Calvino photo

“Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be.”

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

Source: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Don Marquis photo
Steven Erikson photo
Laurie Halse Anderson photo

“I'd treat myself to a reading marathon all weekend. All the ice cream I could eat, all the pages I could read..”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

Nick Hornby photo
Jane Austen photo
Alberto Manguel photo
Jonathan Safran Foer photo
Mitch Albom photo

“A well-read woman is a dangerous creature.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: A Wallflower Christmas

Ellen DeGeneres photo
Susan Sontag photo

“Most of my reading is rereading.”

Susan Sontag (1933–2004) American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist

Source: Conversations with Susan Sontag

Louisa May Alcott photo
Annie Dillard photo
Dr. Seuss photo

“The more you read, the more things you will know.”

Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Agatha Christie photo
Maria Dahvana Headley photo