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Reading Quotes

On books, ideas, and a lifelong reading habit.

This collection includes a musician's case for teaching reading and dictation before an instrument, alongside a simple, almost self-deprecating admission of feeling born reading. See Book quotes for more.

No one ever committed suicide while reading a good book, but many have tried while trying to write one.

Quotes by Robert Byrne

'All Our Yesterdays' was unquestionably the best work I have ever done. And the reading public stayed away in droves.

Quotes by Robert B. Parker

Personally, I like reading adventures which really have happened to people, because they show what kind of things might happen to oneself, and they teach one how to 'Be Prepared' to meet them.

Quotes by Robert Baden-Powell

There are distinct duties of a poet laureate. I plan a reading series at the Library of Congress and advise the librarian. The rest is how I want to promote poetry.

Quotes by Rita Dove

If they don't read, if they don't love reading; if they don't find themselves compulsively reading, I don't think they're really a writer.

Quotes by Rita Dove

I have a great deal of sympathy for reluctant readers because I was one. I would do anything to avoid reading. In my case, it wasn't until I was 13 and discovered the 'Lord of the Rings' that I learned...

Quotes by Rick Riordan

I can't actually wrap my mind around it easily - I can't really visualize what 2 million books looks like... So I try to keep it real for myself by focusing on individual anecdotes of how my books have helped...

Quotes by Rick Riordan

It seems like just yesterday my son was hiding under the table to avoid reading. Now, he's writing books longer than mine!

Quotes by Rick Riordan

I judged about a zillion awards this year so I've been reading a lot of books that just came out.

Quotes by Rick Moody

My grandfather was a newspaper publisher and his paper had all the comics in NYC, so some of my earliest memories are of reading the family paper and heading straight for the comics insert.

Quotes by Rick Moody

Reading is to the mind what exercising is to the body.

Quotes by Richard Steele

I keep a quotes journal - of every sentence that I've wanted to remember from my reading of the past 30 years.

Quotes by Richard Powers

The thing that makes reading and writing suspect in the eyes of the market economy is that it's not corrupted.

Quotes by Richard Powers

Reading is the last act of secular prayer.

Quotes by Richard Powers

When I was about thirteen, the library was going to get 'Calculus for the Practical Man.' By this time I knew, from reading the encyclopedia, that calculus was an important and interesting subject, and I ought to learn it.

Quotes by Richard P. Feynman

There's a pattern in Bush 43's presidency of being attracted to the big and the bold, and my whole reading of him is that he was instinctively uncomfortable with what you might call a modulated foreign policy - a foreign...

Quotes by Richard N. Haass

If I could offer but one helpful hint to young Hoosiers hoping to better their odds for success in life, I would simply note the importance of thoughtful reading.

Quotes by Richard Lugar

Do your bit to save humanity from lapsing back into barbarity by reading all the novels you can.

Quotes by Richard Hughes

I started reading literature at 17 or 18, and I felt this extra beat to life.

Quotes by Richard Ford

Reading is probably what leads most writers to writing.

Quotes by Richard Ford

Frequently Asked Questions

Is reading described as a lifelong love in these quotes?
Definitely — one speaker puts it about as strongly as possible: "I seemed to have been born reading." It suggests reading isn't just a hobby for them, but something that feels innate. For more on passions like this, see our Love quotes.
Do these quotes connect reading to other interests?
Yes — one speaker lists it alongside several passions, "gardens, art, music and reading," adding they have "eclectic taste and read a huge variety of books." Reading here is one part of a broader curious mind.
Is reading described as important in a child's education?
Yes, quite strongly. One quote warns that skipping it has real consequences: teaching an instrument "without developing singing, reading and dictating to the highest level along with the playing is to build upon sand." For more on personal growth themes like this, see our Book quotes.
Where do good ideas come from, according to these quotes?
For one speaker, mostly from reading: "Ninety percent of my ideas come to me either when I'm reading or watching a show." It's a reminder that consuming stories and information can directly fuel creativity.
Where can I find more content about the joy of reading?
Our Like and Always collections both touch on the everyday habits people love, reading included.

Others note how eclectic taste in books runs alongside other passions, and how most new ideas tend to surface while reading or watching something else entirely. Browse Love and Always quotes for related themes.