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Great Book Quotes

What separates a great book from a merely good one is rarely just plot. These quotes describe the feeling of escapism a great book provides, the way it can leave a reader exhausted after living several lives in its pages, and the harder truth that a genuinely great book can still be ignored in its own time. One quote even measures a graphic novel against the standard of great prose literature and finds it wanting, a reminder that greatness in books is judged by demanding, shifting standards.

A great book asks something of its reader beyond passive attention, offering escapism, exhaustion, and the sense of having lived more than one life by the final page.

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.

Quotes by William Styron

You can write a great book and be ignored. Literary history is full of classics that were under-appreciated in their own time.

Quotes by William Landay

A great book provides escapism for me. The artistry and the creativity in a story are better than any drugs.

Quotes by Wentworth Miller

I think Maus I is better than Maus II. The standard here is whether or not it's as good as a great book of prose literature and by that standard, no, it's not that great.

Quotes by Ted Rall

Emotion Quotes

I found a great book called 'Slang Through the Ages' by Jonathon Green. It's basically a thesaurus of historical slang, and had lots of great old uses.

Quotes by Scott Westerfeld

The great book for you is the book that has the most to say to you at the moment when you are reading. I do not mean the book that is most instructive, but the book that feeds your spirit....

Quotes by Robertson Davies

A truly great book should be read in youth, again in maturity and once more in old age, as a fine building should be seen by morning light, at noon and by moonlight.

Quotes by Robertson Davies

I think my background in film taught me that a great book adaptation is not always slavishly faithful to the source material.

Quotes by Ransom Riggs

The books that help you most are those which make you think that most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep...

Quotes by Pablo Neruda

Escape Quotes

The truly great books are always novels: 'Anna Karenina,' 'The Brothers Karamazov,' 'The Magic Mountain.' Just as with 'Shahnameh,' I browse these books from time to time to remember how a great book works on us or to teach my...

Quotes by Orhan Pamuk

Virginia Woolf's great novel, 'Mrs. Dalloway,' is the first great book I ever read. I read it almost by accident when I was in high school, when I was 15 years old.

Quotes by Michael Cunningham

For me, one of the hallmarks of a really great book is that I'm seeing it in my head while I'm reading.

Quotes by Marcus Sakey

I think that the mark of a great book is that it will meet you wherever you're at and you'll feel and experience something new and different each time you read it.

Quotes by Josh Radnor

There's a book that I read, really a great book - it's called 'Lone Survivor' and I think they're trying to make it into a movie. I would love to play Marcus Luttrell, who was the author and the 'lone...

Quotes by Jared Padalecki

Inspiration Quotes

My idea of the perfect day is nothing to do and a great book on the go.

Quotes by Jane Fallon

The first drafts of my novels have all been written in longhand, and then I type them up on my old electric. I have resisted getting a computer because I distrust the whole PC thing. I don't think a great...

Quotes by J. G. Ballard

I like to read and dream and create music that is based on the imagery of text. If you have the combination of a great book and a great filmmaker, what could be better for the composer?

Quotes by Howard Shore

He who looks the higher is the more highly distinguished, and turning over the great book of nature (which is the proper object of philosophy) is the way to elevate one's gaze.

Quotes by Galileo Galilei

I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all...

Quotes by Ezra Taft Benson

Knowledge Quotes

Sometimes I get jealous when I'm reading a great book by a younger writer. But 'White Tiger' is so good, I almost forgot to hate Aravind Adiga.

Quotes by David Benioff

Frequently Asked Questions

What do these great book quotes say a book should give a reader?
They describe escapism and creativity that can outdo other distractions, plus the sense of living several lives and feeling pleasantly exhausted after finishing a truly great book.
Can a great book go unnoticed, according to these quotes?
Yes, one quote points out that the record of great literature is filled with works that went overlooked when they first appeared, meaning a great book can still be written and ignored.
Is there a quote comparing a graphic novel to great prose?
Yes, one quote judges a graphic novel against the standard of great prose literature and concludes it falls short of that higher bar, showing how demanding the word great can be.
Do the quotes talk about the emotional experience of reading?
Yes, several quotes emphasize how a great book can leave you with many experiences and a feeling of exhaustion, treating reading as an immersive, almost physical experience.
Where can I find more quotes about learning from books?
Our Knowledge collection pairs well with this page for more on what reading gives back to us.

For more on where reading takes the mind, see our Inspiration and Knowledge collections.