Posted by When she’s not writing, Neymat Raboobee is a copy editor. Her special skills include running in the opposite direction of deadlines and cooing over cats like she’s paid to do it. Neymat was born and raised in Durban, South Africa and her dream is to one day move to a place where winter occurs for more than three (3) business days a year. To yell over cats with Neymat, email n.raboobee@gmail.com
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I have no idea what I’d do with myself if there were no books to read — they’re an essential part of work and play for me, and without them, I’d probably be a very different person.
Still, when people ask why I love books or reading, or why I brighten up every time I spy a bookstore or library, I can’t always find the right words to express myself. Thankfully, several people have already done it for me.
This is a list of 36 book lover quotes that sum up all the mushy gushy feelings within me about books and reading — and hopefully they resonate with you too!
“A good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read.”
―Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
“Books were safer than other people anyway.”
―Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
“Reality doesn’t always give us the life that we desire, but we can always find what we desire between the pages of books.”
―Adelise M. Cullens
“Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.”
―Alberto Manguel, A Reading Diary
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
―Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
“You can get lost in any library, no matter the size. But the more lost you are, the more things you’ll find.”
―Millie Florence, Lydia Green Of Mulberry Glen
“Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities.”
―Ben Okri
“I love the sound of the pages flicking against my fingers. Print against fingerprints. Books make people quiet, yet they are so loud.”
―Nnedi Okorafor
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
―Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
“That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.”
―Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake
“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”
―Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind
“The whole world opened to me when I learned to read.”
―Mary McLeod Bethune
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”
―George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
“Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.”
―Anne Herbert
“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
―Jorge Luis Borges
“I believe there is power in words, power in asserting our existence, our experience, our lives, through words.”
―Jesmyn Ward, The Fire this Time
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
―Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
“I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.”
―Orhan Pamuk, The New Life
“No. I can survive well enough on my own — if given the proper reading material.”
―Sarah J. Maas, Throne of Glass
“Once I began to read, I began to exist. I am what I read.”
―Walter Dean Myers, Open a World of Possible
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
―Diane Duane, So You Want to Be a Wizard
“Books don’t offer real escape, but they can stop a mind scratching itself raw.”
―David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
“I love the solitude of reading. I love the deep dive into someone else’s story, the delicious ache of a last page.”
―Naomi Shihab Nye
“Reading is an active, imaginative act; it takes work.”
―Khaled Hosseini
“It is well known that reading quickens the growth of a heart like nothing else.”
―Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
“A well-read woman is a dangerous creature.”
―Lisa Kleypas, A Wallflower Christmas
“The problem with books is that they end.”
―Caroline Kepnes, You
“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature.”
―Maya Angelou
“In principle and reality, libraries are life-enhancing palaces of wonder.”
―Gail Honeyman, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
“I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles.”
―Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes
“When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”
―Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“The ability to read awoke inside of me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.”
―Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X
“You see, unlike in the movies, there is no THE END sign flashing at the end of books. When I’ve read a book, I don’t feel like I’ve finished anything. So I start a new one.”
―Elif Shafak, The Bastard of Istanbul
“Read. Read. Read. Just don’t read one type of book. Read different books by various authors so that you develop different style.”
―R.L. Stine
“In the end, we’ll all become stories.”
―Margaret Atwood, Moral Disorder and Other Stories
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”
―Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
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