Reading Good Books Quotes

A book may be compared to your neighbor: if it be good, it cannot last too long; if bad, you cannot get rid of it too early.

Our hope is that the elementary reading of comics will lead to the joy of reading good books.

Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books.

Stretching [and] yoga [are] very helpful. All of these things - they really do help. Good food and a lot of sleep. And reading - reading good books. Sometimes movies - although a lot of the movies are difficult.

Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good: Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow.

The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short.

I can think of no habit, kept up through the years, that binds a married couple more than that of reading good books together. Domestic problems and personal problems are for the time forgotten, and an intellectual intimacy is established that can be maintained in few other ways.

My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter.

An acquaintanceship with the literature of the world may be won by any person who will devote half an hour a day to the careful reading of the best books. The habit of reading good books is one that gives great comfort in all the stages and among all the vicissitudes of life. The man who has learned to love good reading is never alone. His friends are the great ones of human history, and to them he may always go for stimulating and helpful communion. -GQ 71

I always considered myself a loner. I mean, not like a poor-me, Byron-esque, I-should-have-brought-a-swimming-buddy loner. I mean the sort of person who doesn’t feel too upset about the prospect of a weekend spent seeing no one, and reading good books on the couch. It wasn’t like I was a people hater or anything. I enjoyed activities and the company of friends. But they were a side dish. I always thought I would be happy without them.

Books cannot always please, however good; Minds are not ever craving for their food.

A good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life, and as such it must surely be a necessary commodity.

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.

Finishing a good book is like leaving a good friend.

Just the knowledge that a good book is waiting one at the end of a long day makes that day happier.

Good books, like good friends, are few and chosen; the more select, the more enjoyable.

Tis the good reader that makes the good book; in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakenly meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart.

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.

In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.

I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.

Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

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.

That is a good book which is opened with expectation, and closed with delight and profit.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.

Tis the good reader that makes the good book.

A good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.

He who destroys a good book kills reason itself.

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.

All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

Reading good books implants good ideas in the mind, develops good aspirations, and leads to the cultivation of good friends.

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

Turn off your radio. Put away your daily paper. Read one review of events a week and spend some time reading good books. They tell too of days of striving and of strife. They are of other centuries and also of our own. They make us realize that all times are perilous, that men live in a dangerous world, in peril constantly of losing or maiming soul and body. We get some sense of perspective reading such books. Renewed courage and faith and even joy to live.

If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

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