“To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.” 

^{- A C Grayling, Financial Times (in a review of A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel)}

“A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.” 

^{- Abraham Lincoln}

“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.” 

^{- Abraham Lincoln}

“To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company.” 

^{- Andre Gide}

“Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring to a novel, anything you read, all your experience of the world. You bring your history and you read it in your own terms.” 

^{- Angela Carter}

“Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed.” 

^{- Anne Rice, The Witching Hour}

“If you can read this, thank a teacher.” 

^{- Anonymous teacher}

“The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade.” 

^{- Anthony Trollope}

“All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality -- the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.” 

^{- Arthur Christopher Benson}

“Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought.” 

^{- Arthur Helps}

“Wear the old coat and buy the new book.” 

^{- Austin Phelps}

“The ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.” 

^{- Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1964}

“He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes.” 

^{- Barrow}

“Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books.” 

^{- Bell Hooks}

“We read to know we are not alone.” 

^{- C.S. Lewis}

“The fluent reader sounds good, is easy to listen to, and reads with enough expression to help the listener understand and enjoy the material.” 

^{- Charles Clark, "Building Fluency: Do It Right and Do It Well!" (1999)}

“You're the same today as you'll be in five years except for the people you meet and the books you read.” 

^{- Charlie "Tremendous" Jones}

“When you sell a man a book you don't sell him just 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life.” 

^{- Christopher Morley}

“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance.” 

^{- Confucius}

“I used to walk to school with my nose buried in a book.” 

^{- Coolio}

“It is better to read a little and ponder a lot than to read a lot and ponder a little.” 

^{- Denis Parsons Burkitt}

“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of the past centuries.” 

^{- Descartes}

“The connection between reading speed and comprehension; a film is made up of still images flashed in rapid succession to simulate movement. Slow down the film, and the movement and meaning slows and the film's impact is diminished. Viewers won't learn as much about the film as if it were shown at normal speed. With reading the same thing can happen. When a person reads word by word, like frame by frame, they are not reading on the level of ideas. You need to read on some level that's more conversational and allows things to coalesce into ideas themselves.” 

^{- Doug Evans, Institute of Reading Development}

“The more 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!"}

“Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.” 

^{- Edmund Burke}

“A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy.” 

^{- Edward P. Morgan}

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

^{- Elbert Hubbard}

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading.” 

^{- Elizabeth Hardwick}

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” 

^{- Emilie Buchwald}

“How my life has been brought to undiscovered lands, and how much richer it gets - all from words printed on a page.... How a book can have 560 pages, but in only three pages change the reader's life.” 

^{- Emoke B'Racz, Writing in Malaprop's Newsletter}

“Reading has given me more satisfaction than really anything else.” 

^{- Fashion designer Bill Blass, quoted in Worth (September 1999)}

“Reading will give you lasting pleasure.” 

^{- First Lady Laura Bush (quoted in U.S. News & World Report)}

“Some people will lie, cheat, steal and back-stab to get ahead... and to think, all they have to do is READ.” 

^{- Fortune}

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested.” 

^{- Francis Bacon}

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” 

^{- Frederick Douglass}

“To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry.” 

^{- Gaston Bachelard}

“The nonreading children are the greatest problem in American education.” 

^{- Glenn Doman, "How to Teach Your Baby to Read"}

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” 

^{- Groucho Marx}

“Read in order to live.” 

^{- Gustave Flaubert}

“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” 

^{- Harry S. Truman}

“All evidence points to the seemingly illogical conclusion that the faster most people read, the better they understand.” 

^{- Harry Shefter, Faster Reading Self-Taught}