I thought… that we could at least talk about books.

Real life is physical. Give me books instead. Give me the invisibility of the contents of books, the thoughts, the ideas, the images. Let me become part of a book. . . . an intertextual...

Having to amuse myself during those earlier years, I read voraciously and widely. Mythic matter and folklore made up much of that reading—retellings of the old stories (Mallory, White, Briggs), anecdotal collections and historical investigations...

When asked, “How do you write?” I invariably answer, “One word at a time,” and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider...

Mr Pinch accordingly, after turning over the leaves of his book with as much care as if they were living and highly cherished creatures, made his own selection, and began to read.

Nobody ever talks about the pyramids that weren’t built, the books that weren’t written, the songs that weren’t sung. Stop letting your fear condemn you to mediocrity. Get out of your own way. Your dreams...

Books are to the mind as the whetstone for the knives.

All that mankind has done, thought, gained, or been; it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books.

Books are readable drugs.

I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief… I’m not in the business of offending people. I find the books upholding certain values that I think are important, such as life is immensely valuable...

Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.

I love walking into a bookstore. It’s like all my friends are sitting on shelves, waving their pages at me.

I wanted to write the most beautiful poem but that is impossible; the world has written its own.

It’s red hot, mate. I hate to think of this sort of book getting in the wrong hands. As soon as I’ve finished this, I shall recommend they ban it.

Too often, feelings arrive too soon, waiting for thoughts that often come too late.

The fate of the singers who, like my songs, went up in flame was also the fate of the books which I later wrote. All of them went up in flame to Heaven in a...

There are no winners in real games.

My library is an archive of longings.

Rare-book people have this in common with poets: they too are born, not made.

You’re never alone when you’re reading a book.

What is it about us lady authors and our fascination for the exclamation mark?

I didn’t even notice that my shoes were full of mud by the time I reached the rocky shore. There was ragged yellow police tape tied to some branches, dancing in the wind. It was...

Remember that the book which bores you when you are twenty or thirty will open doors for you when you are forty or fifty.

Fools have a habit of believing that everything written by a famous author is admirable. For my part I read only to please myself and like only what suits my taste.

You’re beautiful, Jenna. i’m a man and I’m afraid to admit when I’m lucky enough to look at someone as beautiful as you.

I have an idea that the only thing which makes it possible to regard this world we live in without disgust is the beauty which now and then men create out of the chaos. The...

Books… are like lobster shells, we surround ourselves with ’em, then we grow out of ’em and leave ’em behind, as evidence of our earlier stages of development.

Una biblioteca raffinata è come un intestino. Bisogna stare molto attenti a cosa ci si mette dentro. Si prende in considerazione soltanto ciò che è opportuno. Se in una biblioteca di questo genere dovesse capitare...

Books pull you to other worlds … let them, and enjoy the adventure.

Books are in the mind, Grandfather Alessandro said. Too many books and you forget your body is in the world.

Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.

Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.

Such are contrasts we see every day in the world. Joy and Sorrow! But Joy is an exile from Heaven who does not remain in any one place. Sorrow is a son of Hell who...

Only fiction has the power to cross the mental barricades, to make strangers intelligible to each other, because it moves people’s hearts as well as engaging their minds.

Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book.

Todo éxito es una apología de lo vulgar. Cualquier libro que rebasa los cien ejemplares es un fracaso para el buen gusto. ,O qué habría de pensarse de un mismo libro leído simultáneamente por cien...

Al cielo non chiedo altro che una casa piena di libri e un giardino pieno di fiori

A knowledgeable citizen is a powerful citizen because knowledge is power! Make your nation a powerful one… Keep reading to acquire more knowledge! Let books be your friends; never disappoint them by not studying them...

It’s my contention that each book creates its own structure and its own length. I’ve written three or four slim books. It may be that the next novel is a big one, but I don’t...

When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes.

Lots of people say that everything that we possess, experience and want; like books, music, films and holidays are all just a big distraction from death. But I think differently. I think it’s the exact...

Little Women,” what, is that about midgets? I freaking love midgets.

On my list of things to be when I grew up was a character in a Gary Larson comic. With one of his books in my hands, I would spend hours and hours laughing. And...

This book taught me, once and for all, how easily you can escape this world with the help of words! You can find friends between the pages of a book, wonderful friends.

The book exists for us perchance which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered. These same questions that disturb and puzzle and confound us...

I never understood people who don’t have bookshelves

I had an unconventional birth. I popped out of a vending machine, precisely like books don’t. But you shouldn’t read too much into it.

If you`re wondering how you`ll find time, it means you don`t really want to read. Because nobody`s ever got time. Children certainly haven`t, nor have teenagers or grown-ups. Life always gets in the way. Time...

To limit the press is to insult a nation; to prohibit reading of certain books is to declare the inhabitants to be either fools or slaves: such a prohibition ought to fill them with disdain.

They were…no ordinary group, gathering together to kill an evening, to seek refuge from critical husbands and demanding children while idly discussing their new best-seller. They met because literature was their shared passion. Books were...