50 motivating quotes about books and reading
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The quotes about books you’ll see below are not the most famous ones. All of them, however, are highly motivating to rediscover the pleasure of reading.
You may ask, what book quotes have to do with the ebook site. Ebook sites are still mostly focused on the issues related to technology rather than pleasures of reading.
We believe that a reader has to learn only as much technology as it’s needed to fully enjoy the magic of reading. Reading in times of digital content is changing, but it doesn’t mean it gives less pleasure. Just the opposite.
There is absolutely no difference between a hardcover book or an audiobook or a multimedia book application. There is no difference between a high-quality paper and e-ink screen or a high-resolution Retina display.
The biggest pleasure comes from what we read, not from on what we read.
The real difference, though, lies in our attitude to reading. Gilbert K. Chesterton once said: “There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.”
If you believe there are great quotes that should be added to the list, don’t hesitate to reach us on social media with your recommendations. Thanks!
50 best quotes about books and reading
1
Books are a uniquely portable magic.
– Stephen King
This beautiful book quote was beautifully visualized by Risa Rodil. You can get the artwork from Redbubble, on a variety of products. Besides a number of posters, you can have iPad and iPhone cases, mugs, wall clocks, and even a duvet cover! And, yes, apparel is here, too.
2
No two persons ever read the same book.
– Edmund Wilson
3
Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.
– Vera Nazarian
4
If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
5
I would never read a book if it were possible for me to talk half an hour with the man who wrote it.
– Woodrow Wilson
6
Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.
– Mason Cooley
This famous quote by Mason Cooley is visualized to look like a handwritten text on a page from a dictionary. Artwork by My Printable Art Shop, available as an instant download in a quality good enough for an 8×10-inch poster.
7
Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
– P.J. O’Rourke
8
Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.
– Author Unknown
9
I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.
– Harold Kushner
10
There is no friend as loyal as a book.
– Ernest Hemingway
A minimalist design from Instant Quotes features one of the most famous quotes about books. There is no better friend than a book, and there is no better way to express it than on a wall.
11
There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.
– Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
12
Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.
– Maya Angelou
13
You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy books and that’s kind of the same thing.
– Anonymous
You can’t buy happiness but you can buy a book poster, and that’s kind of the same thing.
14
The book you don’t read won’t help.
– Jim Rohn
15
Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.
– John Green
16
If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.
– Haruki Murakami
A minimalist and stylish visualization of Murakami’s bright thought on how reading makes us exceptional.
17
A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
– Gilbert K. Chesterton
18
There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.
– Gilbert K. Chesterton
19
A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.
– Neil Gaiman
This inspiring quote by Neil Gaiman is worth repeating every day. What about placing it in your bedroom right in front of your bed? You’ll see it when you open your eyes, or right before you’ll close them.
20
A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it or offer your own version in return.
– Salman Rushdie
21
In a good book the best is between the lines.
– Swedish Proverb
22
Are we not like two volumes of one book?
– Marceline Desbordes-Valmore
23
We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there too.
– Anonymous
This anonymous book quote became extremely popular thanks to the famous illustrator Risa Rodil. Just like other designs she offers on Redbubble, this brilliant artwork is offered on several accessories and clothes.
24
Keep reading books, but remember that a book is only a book, and you should learn to think for yourself.
– Maxim Gorky
25
It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.
– Oscar Wilde
26
So many books, so little time.
– Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa is the author of one of the most famous quotes about books. It’s been featured on a large number of designs. We picked the one created by Abbie Imagine, and you can get as a poster printed on high quality 192 gsm archival matte paper.
27
There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.
– Marcel Proust
28
The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.
– Oscar Wilde
29
Beware of the person of one book.
– Thomas Aquinas
30
Between the pages of a book is a wonderful place to be.
– Anonymous
A lovely flower typographic poster designed by Stella Bookish Arts is available on t-shirts, iPhone cases, travel mugs, tote bags and over thirty other items.
31
A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it.
– Edward P. Morgan
32
If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.
– Oscar Wilde
How do you enjoy this book quote poster designed by Blue Poppy Gallery? Oscar’s Wilde quotes is printed on a randomly selected page from a vintage dictionary, and it fits in 8 × 10-inch frames.
33
The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.
– W. Somerset Maugham
34
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
– Dr. Seuss
Isn’t it one of these quotes that made our childhood a happy and inspiring time? A passage from I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss was visualized by Dune Studio, and you can download it from Etsy in a quality matching posters from 5 × 7 to 16 × 20 inches.
35
Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself.
– Angela Carter
36
There’s nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over.
– Gail Carson Levine
37
Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled “This could change your life.”
– Helen Exley
This typographic art print was designed by Sacred and Profane and features a bold quote by Helen Exley on how a book can change people’s lives. The poster is available in two sizes, A4 or A3, but you can also order a custom size.
38
It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.
– C.S. Lewis
39
Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.
– George Bernard Shaw
40
Some books leave us free and some books make us free.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
One of the book quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson on a beautifully bright artwork created by Poster Inspired.
41
Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.
– Abraham Lincoln
42
I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.
– C.S. Lewis
43
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.
– C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis is the author of several meaningful quotes about books and reading, and we feature a few of them in this list. The one shown above is beautifully designed by Violet and Alfie. You can get it in one of four colors.
44
Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?
– Henry Ward Beecher
45
A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.
– William Styron
46
Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.
– Henry David Thoreau
Printable Wisdom offers on Etsy a stylishly designed quote by Henry David Thoreau, which will be a perfect decor for a home library.
47
One always has a better book in one’s mind than one can manage to get onto paper.
– Michael Cunningham
48
I divide all readers into two classes; those who read to remember and those who read to forget.
– William Lyon Phelps
49
In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.
– Oscar Wilde
50
There comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page and closing the book.
– Josh Jameson
When there comes a time you decide to hang your favorite book quote on a wall, make sure to check out the artwork from The Writing Craft. This quote by Josh Jameson is available on over 40 products: apparel, home decor, personal accessories, and more.
51
There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.
– Joseph Brodsky
52
What you don’t know would make a great book.
– Sydney Smith
53
You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.
– Paul Sweeney
54
I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.
– Jorge Luis Borges
55
We read to know that we are not alone.
– William Nicholson
A quote from William Nicholson’s play Shadowlands was turned by Three Gypsy Souls into a catchy artwork. Available as an instant download.
56
Men do not understand books until they have a certain amount of life, or at any rate no man understands a deep book, until he has seen and lived at least part of its contents.
– Ezra Pound
57
That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.
– Amos Bronson Alcott
58
Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.
– Frederick Douglas
A motivational book poster with a quote by Frederick Douglas. The typographic layout was designed by Prints & Designs. You can get it as an instant download so that you could print and frame it the way you want.
59
Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.
– J.K. Rowling
60
A book is a device to ignite the imagination.
– Alan Bennett
61
I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.
– Neil Gaiman
Don’t say you wouldn’t like this beautiful quote on a t-shirt, throw pillow or a mug. Yes, this highly recognizable design comes from Risa Rodil.
62
It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read.
– Judy Blume
63
If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.
– Toni Morrison
64
A good book has no ending.
– R.D. Cumming
And the last beautiful quote about books turned into a beautiful visual. Hand-lettered by Teri Lea Wright, this 8×10 typographic poster is printed on high-quality matte photo paper.
• • •
Where to buy posters with book quotes
There are many sites where you can order your favorite book quote printed on a poster, mug, t-shirt, and tons of other products.
Below you’ll find our recommendations – the sites that offer high-quality book quote designs on a large selection of items.
Amazon Handmade – if you don’t want to sign up to other online stores, you can start exploring Amazon’s own section with handcrafted items. It’s quickly growing, and you’ll find here posters, home decor, and stationery – also with book quotes.
Redbubble – a marketplace for custom-designed items, including prints, stationery, cases & covers, or t-shirts. Opposite to other sites, such as CafePress, the quality of artwork is very high.
Zazzle – the site offers a huge variety of merchandise, from clothing, to home decor, to personal accessories. What’s more, users can upload their own image and create their own design.
Etsy – it’s the top destination for anyone who wants to express the love for books. The largest marketplace with handcrafted goods offers thousands of literary quotes – on posters, jewelry, personal items, electronic accessories, and clothes.
• • •
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Vintage composition notebook iPhone case
This unique, intensive, pseudo-marbling composition notebook pattern with a preworn label is available on the latest iPhone cases in several colors, including green, brown, and purple.
Compact and innovative reading light
From a German brand Nachteule comes a clever book light that you attach not to a book but your reading glasses. It’s so light that you can also clip it to your earphones or hair accessories! The built-in battery will let you read 200 pages.
Hands-free pillow stand – great for e-readers and print books
An improved version of a popular Lamicall tablet pillow comes now with a side pocket for a pen or small accessories. The grooves are deep enough to hold a print book. It’s made of durable materials and is available in five fashionable colors.
