You can never read the same book twice. It’s not the same book because the reader isn’t the same. Reading is an adventure for the heart. It expands your mind and gives life more LIFE. You’ll enjoy these quotes about reading if you, too, think a good book is the best kind of journey to be on.

40 Quotes about Reading to Inspire Your Love for a Good Book

1. “One of the joys of reading is the ability to plug into the shared wisdom of mankind.” — Ishmael Reed

2. “To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.” — W. Somerset Maugham

3. “To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend; to read it for a second time is to meet an old one.” — Chinese Saying

4. “Always look on the bright side of life. Otherwise it'll be too dark to read.” — Unknown

5. “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” — Richard Steele

6. “There are books in which the footnotes, or the comments scrawled by some reader’s hand in the margin, are more interesting than the text.” — George Santayana

7. “To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.” — Edmund Burke

8. “An hour spent reading is one stolen from paradise.” – Thomas Wharton

9. “The art of reading is in great part that of acquiring a better understanding of life from one’s encounter with it in a book.” — André Maurois

10. “There is reading, and there is reading. Reading as a means to an end, for information, to cultivate oneself; reading as an end in itself, a process, a compulsion.” — Sven Birkerts

11. “When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than was there before.” — Clifton Fadiman

12. “Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you.” — Harold Bloom

13. “I’m old-fashioned and think that reading books is the most glorious pastime that humankind has yet devised.” — Wisława Szymborska

14. “I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go into the library and read a good book.” — Groucho Marx

15. “Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.” – Lloyd Alexander

16. “The wise man reads both books and life itself.” — Lin Yutang

17. “Nothing is worth reading that does not require an alert mind.” — Charles Dudley Warner

18. “When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.” — Maya Angelou

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

17. “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” — Mason Cooley

21. “No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” — Confucius

22. “Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter. Reading gives me something to talk about later on. Reading is the unbelievably healthy way my attention deficit disorder medicates itself. 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. Reading is grist. Reading is bliss.” — Nora Ephron

23. “We read to know that we are not alone.” — C.S. Lewis

24. “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

25. “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” — Victor Hugo

26. “Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.” — Joyce Carol Oates

27. “Reading brings us unknown friends.” — Honoré de Balzac

28. “The man who doesn’t read has no advantage over the man who can’t read.” — Unknown

29. “The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.” – Mary Mcleod Bethune

30. “A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.” – Will Rogers

31. “There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book.” – Frank Serafini

32. “Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.” – Kofi Annan

33. “Reading is a way for me to expand my mind, open my eyes, and fill up my heart.” – Oprah

34. “A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.” – Samuel Johnson

35. “Knowing you have something good to read before bed is among the most pleasurable of sensations.” — Vladimir Nabokov

36. “I am a part of everything that I have read.” – Theodore Roosevelt

37. “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R. R. Martin

38. “The first thing that reading teaches us is how to be alone.” – Jonathan Franzen

39. “Acquiring literacy is an empowering process, enabling millions to enjoy access to knowledge and information which broadens horizons, increases opportunities and creates alternatives for building a better life.” – Kofi Annan

40. “It’s one of the greatest gifts that reading can give a person: easy access to peace inside, even when the world outside is in shambles.” – Jennifer Williamson

. . .

Tell me:

Which of these quotes is your favorite?

Tell me in the comments. I read every single one, and I’d love to know!

With love,

Jen

P.S. Fuel your mornings with hope and purpose. Get my book Morning Affirmations: 200 Phrases for an Intentional and Openhearted Start to Your Day. Your head and your heart (and everyone around you) will thank you.

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