#reading

"There is nothing more wonderful than a book. It may be a message to us from the dead, from human souls we never saw who lived perhaps thousands of miles away, and yet these little sheets of paper speak to us, arouse us, teach us, open our hearts and in turn open their hearts to us like brothers. Without books, God is silent, justice dormant, philosophy lame."

"This is no book. Whoever touches this touches a man."

"A good book is always on tap; it may be decanted and drunk a hundred times, and it is still there for further imbibement."

"You have to remember that it is impossible to commit a crime while reading a book."

"A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips; -- not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself."

"But the main reason you should read this is that I don't see why I should have to know all these terrible, terrible things and you should get off scot free."

"In fact, in many ways my mother was quite hippy-dippy, serving macrobiotic food and reading 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.'"

"Sit in a room and read--and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time."

"To prohibit the reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves."

"I read the fuck out of every book I can get my hands on."

"Create your world with God's Word in your mouth just say it and it will be accomplished!"

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

"The world exists to end up in a book."

"Sometimes they would sit in the parlor together, both reading – in entirely separate worlds, to be sure, but joined somehow. When this happened, other people in the family couldn't bring themselves to disturb them. All that could be heard in the parlor was the sound of pages, turning."

"I love the place; the magnificent books; I require books as I require air."

"Only a generation of readers will spawn a generation of writers."

"The books we read should be chosen with great care, that they may be, as an Egyptian king wrote over his library,'The medicines of the soul."

"I think imagination is at the heart of everything we do. Scientific discoveries couldn't have happened without imagination. Art, music, and literature couldn't exist without imagination. And so anything that strengthens imagination, and reading certainly does that, can help us for the rest of our lives."

"People don't read any more. It's a sad state of affairs. Reading's the only thing that allows you to use your imagination. When you watch films it's someone else's vision, isn't it?"[Interview in The Independent, 15 October 2005]"

"My reading list grows exponentially. Every time I read a book, it'll mention three other books I feel I have to read. It's like a particularly relentless series of pop-up ads."