75+ Inspiring Quotes to Ignite Your Literary Passion
Screens dominate our lives, right? But for me, reading is still the thing that brings me the most joy. I know I’m not alone. The timeless joy of reading will always be an unparalleled source of knowledge, escape, and inspiration.
Are you a voracious bookworm? A casual reader? Either way, there’s something truly magical about immersing yourself in the world of books, right? Books transport us. They provide profound insights into the human condition. They have the power to transform our minds and enrich our lives.
I love to celebrate reading. That’s what this page is about. It’s a list of 75+ quotes about reading that resonate with me, and with every bibliophile.
These quotes come from authors, philosophers, and thinkers who have eloquently captured the essence of what it means to lose oneself in a good book. So dive into these quotes and you’ll find that each one is a testament to the enduring impact of reading on our hearts and minds.
Why Reading Matters
Reading is more than just a pastime, isn’t it? For me, it’s a gateway to understanding the world and ourselves. It cultivates empathy, sharpens our intellect, and broadens our perspectives. As Mary McLeod Bethune said, “The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.”
The Power of Words
As Stephen King puts it, “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” That’s because words transport us to different times and places. They let us experience lives beyond our own, and to evoke a spectrum of emotions. Whether it’s the thrill of a mystery novel (yay if it’s mine!) or the profound reflections found in a classic, every book holds a unique spell that captivates its reader.
A Journey Through Quotes
Enjoy these quotes–from the funny musings of Mark Twain to the insights of J.K. Rowling, these quotes will remind you why picking up a book is one of the BEST THINGS YOU CAN DO!
“The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.” — Mary McLeod Bethune
“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
“Reading is an active, imaginative act; it takes work.” — Khaled Hosseini
“A well-read woman is a dangerous creature.” — Lisa Kleypas
“Woke up this morning with a terrific urge to lie in bed all day and read.” — Raymond Carver
“The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.” — Malcolm X
“Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you.” — Harold Bloom
“Just because you’re a slow reader doesn’t mean you’re a bad one.” — Joe Walters
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” — Haruki Murakami
“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting.” — Mary Wortley Montagu
“Reading is a conversation. All books talk. But a good book listens as well.” — Mark Haddon
“It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.” — S.I. Hayakawa
“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” — Ray Bradbury
“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” — Jhumpa Lahiri
“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.” — Lemony Snicket
“Wear the old coat and buy the new book.” — Austin Phelps
“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” — Ernest Hemingway
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” — Mortimer J. Adler
“Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled ‘This could change your life.’” — Helen Exley
“If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” — J.K. Rowling
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” — Carl Sagan
“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” — Cicero
“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.” — Ernest Hemingway
“She read books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live.” — Annie Dillard
“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, and in its place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall.” — Roald Dahl
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” — Stephen King
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” — Joan Didion
“The best books… are those that tell you what you know already.” — George Orwell
“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.” — Sir Francis Bacon
“Books may well be the only true magic.” — Alice Hoffman
“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” — John Green
“The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.” — Joseph Joubert
“Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.” — Louisa May Alcott
“Books are humanity in print.” — Barbara Tuchman
“People who ask for book recommendations don’t read.” — Sahil Lavingia
“Great books teach you something every time you read them.” — Angela Jiang
“Beware of the person of one book.” — Thomas Aquinas
“Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.” — Henry Ward Beecher
“A house is no home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as for the body.” — Margaret Fuller
“I would rather read the 100 best books over and over again until I absorbed them, rather than read all the books.” — Naval Ravikant
“The right book at the right time will speak to you in a way the right book at the wrong time just won’t.” — Naval Ravikant
“My library is an archive of longings.” — Susan Sontag
“Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” — Mark Twain
“Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” — Maya Angelou
“If a book is well written, I always find it too short.” — Jane Austen
“The dearest ones of time, the strongest friends of the soul – books.” — Emily Dickinson
“Classic – a book which people praise and don’t read.” — Mark Twain
“I was raised by books. Books, and then my parents.” — Elon Musk
“Independent inquiry is needed in your search for truth, not dependence on anyone else’s view or a mere book.” — Bruce Lee
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” — Dr. Seuss
“A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” — C.S. Lewis
“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” — Ernest Hemingway
“I was with book, as a woman is with child.” — C.S. Lewis
“Your face is a book, where men may read strange matters.” — William Shakespeare
“Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.” — Vladimir Nabokov
“Throw away your books; stop letting yourself be distracted.” — Marcus Aurelius
“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” — Desiderius Erasmus
“It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“One always tends to overpraise a long book, because one has got through it.” — E. M. Forster
“Anyone who reads a book with a sense of obligation does not understand the art of reading.” — Lin Yutang
“There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.” — Bertrand Russell
“Sleep is good, he said, and books are better.” — George R. R. Martin
“A lawyer without books would be like a workman without tools.” — Thomas Jefferson
“A book worth reading is worth buying.” — John Ruskin
“Some books leave us free and some books make us free.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I water my mind with books.” — Susan Sontag
“Words are life.” — Markus Zusak
“Books are absent teachers.” — Mortimer J. Adler
“When I had nothing, I had books.” — Jola Tankoka
“Read more books and fewer articles.” — Morgan Housel
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” — Stephen King
“The quality of your thoughts is determined by the quality of your reading.” — James Clear
“Reading: One of the best ways to upgrade human software.” — Shane Parrish
“Remember: reading is a journey to find the great books for you.” — Johnny Uzan
“Reading the whole book is not important, understanding what you are reading is.” — AmuseChimp
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela
“Books are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind.” — Barbara Tuchman
“Great books teach you something every time you read them.” — Angela Jiang
“Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.” — Henry Ward Beecher
“Books may well be the only true magic.” — Alice Hoffman