Beverly Cleary, on books:

My favorite books are a constantly changing list, but one favorite has remained constant: the dictionary.

Is the word I want to use spelled practice or practise?

The dictionary knows.

The dictionary also slows down my writing because it is such interesting reading that I am distracted.

- Beverly Cleary.

Stephen King, on reading:

 

Few things are as lovely as having an uninterrupted hour with a good book.

- Stephen King.

Eudora Welty, on reading, writing and imagination:

Both reading and writing are experiences – lifelong – in the course of which we who encounter words used in certain ways are persuaded by them to be brought mind and heart within the presence, the power, of the imagination.

– Eudora Welty.

Thomas Jefferson, on books:

I cannot live without books.

- Thomas Jefferson.

Francine Prose, on reading:

With so much reading ahead of you, the temptation might be to speed up.

But in fact it’s essential to slow down and read every word.

Because one important thing that can be learned by reading slowly is the seemingly obvious but oddly underappreciated fact that language is the medium we use in much the same way a composer uses notes, the way a painter uses paint.

I realize it may seem obvious, but it’s surprising how easily we lose sight of the fact that words are the raw material out of which literature is crafted.

– Francine Prose.

Henry Ward Beecher, on books:

Books are not made for furniture,

but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher, on books:

Books are not made for furniture,

but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.

- Henry Ward Beecher.

Charles de Lint, on writing:

 

Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do,
so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.
- Charles de Lint.

J. K. Rowling, on books and reading:

 

Wherever I am, if I've got a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy.

– J. K. Rowling.
 

Joseph Addison, on reading:

 

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
- Joseph Addison.

Ann Patchett, on reading fiction:

Reading fiction not only develops our imagination and creativity,
it gives us the skills to be alone.
It gives us the ability to feel empathy for people we've never met, living lives we couldn't possibly experience for ourselves, because the book puts us inside the character's skin.
- Ann Patchett

David Quammen, on books:

Of course, anyone who truly loves books buys more of them than he or she can hope to read in one fleeting lifetime.
A good book, resting unopened in its slot on a shelf, full of majestic potentiality, is the most comforting sort of intellectual wallpaper.
- David Quammen.
 

Sarah Dessen, on writing:

 

I'm just writing what I know.
I've never been much of a reader of fantasy,
and I think you write what you, personally, enjoy reading.
- Sarah Dessen.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, on books:

A room without books is like a body without a soul.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Alice Hoffman, on books:

 

Books may well be the only true magic.
- Alice Hoffman.

Plato, on books:

 

A library of wisdom, is more precious than all wealth,

and all things that are desirable cannot be compared to it.
Whoever therefore claims to be zealous of truth, of happiness, of wisdom or knowledge, must become a lover of books.
– Plato.

Jane Austen, on reading:

 

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!
How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! --
When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.
– Jane Austen.

William Wordsworth, on writing:

 

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

- William Wordsworth.

Virginia Woolf, on writing:

The way to write well is to live intensely.

- Virginia Woolf.

R. A. Salvatore, on writing:

 

If you can quit, then quit.

If you can't quit, you're a writer.
- R. A. Salvatore.