40 Reading Quotes That Will Make You Crave a Good Book
Updated: Sep. 01, 2023Get ready to feel all warm and bookwormy inside.
Curl up with these quotes
You can find all sorts of beautiful, inspirational quotes in the books that you read—but there are no shortage of great quotes about reading itself, too. Bibliophiles will love these reading quotes from everyone from writers to former presidents and first ladies. They’ll leave you longing to find a new great read. Plus, check out our favorite quotes from books.
Reading is paradise
“I have always imagined paradise as a kind of library.” —Jorge Luis Borges. Maybe one of the most impressive libraries in every state fits the bill!
Reading is friendship
“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.
Reading is addictive
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.” —Diane Duane. All different kinds of books can be addicting, but these are the 20 true crime books you won’t be able to put down.
Reading is immortality
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one.” —George R. R. Martin. Speaking of, here are the 100 books everyone should read before they die.
Reading is education
“My alma mater was books, a good library…. I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.” —Malcolm X. Here are 15 essential books for learning about race relations and anti-racism.
Reading is necessary
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” —Joseph Brodsky. And don’t forget, your brain needs you to read every day.
Reading is eternal
“A good book has no ending.” —R. D. Cumming. These reading quotes definitely apply to these 41 highest-rated books on Goodreads.
Reading is discovery
“No one ever reads a book. He reads himself through books.” —Romain Rolland.
Reading is teaching
“There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.” —Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. These are the 25 best children’s books ever written.
Reading is hard to resist
“Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?” —Henry Ward Beecher. Find out the best-loved bookstore in every state.
Reading is a window to the soul
“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 collaboration
“A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.” —Samuel Johnson. Have you read these 25 bestselling books of the decade?
Reading is easy to mess up
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read.” —Mark Twain
Reading is formative
“I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson. Read these 25 uplifting quotes that will stay with you.
Reading is never enough
“I read my eyes out and can’t read half enough… The more one reads the more one sees we have to read.” —John Adams. In addition to reading quotes, Commanders-in-Chief are responsible for some of these funny president quotes.
Reading is a fashion statement
“Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” —P. J. O’Rourke
Reading is a mental statement
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” —Haruki Murakami. For something different, pick up one of the works of these 23 contemporary authors you should have heard of by now.
Reading is a light in the dark
“Fairytales don’t tell children that dragons exist… Fairytales tell children that dragons can be killed.” —Gilbert K. Chesterton. Check out the most popular fairytale stories of all time.
Reading is worth looking forward to
“Just the knowledge that a good book is awaiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier.” —Kathleen Norris
Reading is relaxation
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” —C. S. Lewis. Sounds great! Just like these reading quotes, these calming photos will instantly make you feel warm and cozy.
Reading is rereading
“If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads, but what he rereads.” —François Mauriac.
Reading is power
“A beggar’s book out-worths a noble’s blood.” —William Shakespeare. We bet you didn’t know that these common expressions were coined by Shakespeare.
Reading is a gift
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” —Emilie Buchwald. In fact, here are some of the best books for grandparents to read to their grandchildren.
Reading is dangerous
“People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.” —Saul Bellow
Reading is the end-all
“Everything in the world exists in order to end up as a book.” —Stéphane Mallarmé
Reading is up to you
“If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.” —Toni Morrison. These reading quotes encourage writing, too—imagine creating something that someone else will love to read! Next, read 35 life-changing quotes you won’t forget.
