People like reading for a plethora of reasons. Some like the connections they form with the characters, some love to learn new things, and others just enjoy the chance to escape from reality for a little bit.

Numerous wise, humorous, and inspiring things have been said about reading. Hopefully, these 16 will motivate you to read more.

“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.”

–William Styron

“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.” –Abraham Lincoln

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” –Harper Lee

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”

–Stephen King

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies…The man who never reads lives only one.” –George R.R. Martin

“My alma mater was books, a good library…I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity.” –Malcom X

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away

–Emily Dickinson

“The person who deserves the most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read.” –Benjamin Franklin            

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

“Books to the ceiling, Books to the sky, My pile of books is a mile high. How I love them! How I need them! I’ll have a long beard by the time I read them.

–Arnold Lobel

“Reading brings us unknown friends.” –Honoré de Balzac

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” –Cicero

“Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.”

–Jane Smiley

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

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” –Victor Hugo

“So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your tv set away, and in its place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall.”
–Roald Dahl

Do you have a favorite quote that inspires you?