Reading is one of the most rewarding activities there is, full of transformative and inspirational power. Books have forever been a window to the unknown and a gateway to new and distant lands and adventures, as well as a source of both pleasure and knowledge. To celebrate the richness and beauty of reading, here is a selection of the best quotes to honor the pleasure of a book.
The Benefits of Reading
The power of books to move, inspire, and educate can’t be overestimated. The greatest authors and thinkers unanimously agree that reading provides a plethora of invaluable benefits, both practical and aesthetic:
“A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.” – Neil Gaiman
“A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it or offer your own version in return.” – Salman Rushdie
“A good book can change your life.” – Mary Schmich
“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” – Ray Bradbury
“You learn something every time you read a book.” – Dr. Seuss
“A library is a hospital for the mind.” – Anonymous
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” – Mason Cooley
“Read, read, read. Read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” – William Faulkner
“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” – Ernest Hemingway
“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.” – Sir Francis Bacon
Motivational Quotes on Reading
To further encourage readers and make people realize the true power of reading, here are some of the best motivational quotes of famous writers and authors in history:
“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” – Oscar Wilde
“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” – Malorie Blackman
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” – Stephen King
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” – C.S. Lewis
“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” – Groucho Marx
“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.” – Lemony Snicket
“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” – Frederick Douglass
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
The Pleasure of Reading
Books are a source of entertainment, learning, and escape from the real world. As such, reading plays a privileged role in terms of both pleasure and emotion:
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” – Stephen King
“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 world and making up your own mind.” – Suzanne Collins
“You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.” – Paul Sweeney
“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
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
“Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it’s a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it’s a way of making contact with someone else’s imagination after a day that’s all too real.” – Nora Ephron
“Books are a glorious atlas of discovery that we can unfold—from ancient myth through brilliant philosophy to the 20th century’s mighty clashes between civilizations. All of the world, past and present, is contained in them.” – Carlos Fuentes
“Reading is that fruitful miracle of a communication in the midst of solitude.” – Marcel Proust
The Power of Reading
From encouragement to pleasure, there’s no underestimating the power of reading. People have the potential to unlock greatness when the pages of a book open in front of them:
“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
“The capacity of the human mind must not be limited to the narrow horizons of our own age and nation, but electricity of intellectual sympathy and intelligence.” – George Eliot
“Reading is essential for those who seek to rise above the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn
“A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.” – Neil Gaiman
“When you read a book as a child, it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.” – Anna Quindlen
“For books are more than books, they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men lived and worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives.” – Amy Lowell
“A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man’s mind can get both provocation and privacy.” – Edward P. Morgan
“Reading challenges us, to think, to like and to love. It’s a magical journey where the reader discovers unexpected places.” – Fabiana Attanasio
Reading is one of the greatest gifts of the human experience, one through which the world has been made larger, richer, and more complex. Even in the digital age, books remain a source of immense pleasure, entertainment, knowledge and personal growth. In the words of American judge and politician Booker T. Washington: “Books are the actualized imaginations which have become factories to spin the ideas of successful men.” Reading is the key to unlock the doors to exploration and growth, and the best way to celebrate the pleasure and power of reading is through these timeless quotes.
