Books & Reading Quotes

“The intellect is a diœcious plant, and books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind.”

“This will never be a civilized country until we expend more money for books than we do for chewing gum.”

“Christie loved books... This amusement lightened many heavy hours, peopled the silent house with troops of friends, and, for a time, was the joy of her life.”

“There is no friend as loyal as a book.”

“Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

“I remember childhood as a wonderfully sunny and happy time, free of all shadows and insecurity. One of the happiest of memories is that of bringing armfuls of books home from the library and reading them in an old, stuffed, lumpy chair in the attic.”

“To read means to borrow; to create out of one's readings is paying off one's debts.”

“I hear of many a "latest book"; I note what zealous readers say; Through columns critical I look, With their decisive "yea" and "nay"! At times I own I'm half inclined O'er some new masterpiece to pore; Yet in the end I always find I choose the book I've read before!”

“A book that is shut is but a block.”

“I was raised among books, making invisible friends in pages that seemed cast from dust and whose smell I carry on my hands to this day.”

“Slantwise one long starbeam finds Access through the jealous blinds, Lingeringly, lance at rest On the Poet loved the best, Feeling softly down the shelves Where my books reveal themselves; And, beneath its trembling glow, Faint, fine blooms, like plum-mist show— Dust o' Books, I love you so!”

“Dust? Nay, their own ashes rest On the works their love caressed: Out of linen and levant Thoughts of masters emanant, From the outer wash of air Their sweet ashes settled there! This is creed to all of us And dust of earth, unluminous, Hath no gold like this we know Of an otherworldly glow— Dust o' Books, we love you so!”