“Remember that people are only guests in your story – the same way you are only a guest in theirs – so make the chapters worth reading.”

“Being a reader has brought me much joy, laughter, and rich experience. But reading has also wounded me. The sacrament of reading has plowed me open and sown seeds of empathy that have taken root in deep soil. Over the years, reading has caused me to grow from a shallow, self-absorbed youth to one who seeks out the pain of the world. Reading has burdened me with the welfare of my fellow human, but sometimes the burden proves too heavy for my narrow shoulders.”

“Read. You can always talk with another reader.”

“An attentive reader will always learn more, and more quickly, from good authors than from life.”

“I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot of time to read in the next few days or weeks.” She thought about it and said, “Jesus. How long do you think things will go on like this?”

“Sitting here I glance over my right shoulder at the little row of books, red and green and blue, which stand waiting for my hand, offering their accumulated riches. I think of the years that may be in store for me, and of all the pages I may turn.”

“Hard life… write more! Life sucks… write more! No matter what don’t stop. Keep to the grind and don’t let up. Somewhere out there is your ramp to success. Forget about the exits or the shortcuts along the way. Stay on the highway and when the ramp comes… take it and go!”

“Confronted with the choice between having time and having things, we’ve chosen to have things. Today it is a luxury to read what Socrates said, not because the books are expensive, but because our time is scarce.”

“[When] he’s here, he’s always reading. He says books stop time. I myself think he’s crazy…Don’t tell anyone, but when he reads something that he likes he gets real happy, turns on the music, and dances by himself, or with a broom sometimes.”

“The great opposition to reading is what I allow to fill my time instead of reading. To say we have no time to read is not really true; we simply have chosen to use our time for other things, or have allowed our time to be filled to the exclusion of reading. So don’t add reading to your to-do list. Just stop doing the things that keep you from doing it. But read.”

“Having come to the conclusion that there was so much to do that she didn’t know where to start, Mrs Fowler decided not to start at all. She went to the library, took Diary of a Nobody from the shelves and, returning to her wicker chair under the lime tree, settled down to waste what precious hours still remained of the day.”

“Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time.”

“She had the bizarre feeling of time bending all around her, as though she was from the past reading about the future, or from the future reading about the past.”

“The days weren’t long enough for the reading she wanted to do.”