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50 Paulo Coelho Quotes That Will Soothe Your Aching Soul

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24 'Stranger Things' Quotes To Help Hold You Over Until The Second Season

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107 Of The Greatest Single Sentences In Literature

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All Quotes tagged Books(412)

There’s a market for diverse books, and readers are hungry for a broader spectrum of lived experience in their literature. Women want to read about themselves, and domestic thrillers represent an opportunity to dig deeply into the lives of women in a way that counters misogynistic trends in fiction, but the genre is falling short as it fails to dig deeper into the full spectrum of what it means to be a woman living in a man’s world.

— s.e. smith, Who Gets Left Behind in the “Gone Girl” Craze?

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I certainly enjoy a good business book often, but lately I’ve been really loving a book that kind of goes beyond just work into all parts of your life.

— Emma Chapman, My Favorite Self-Help and Happiness Books

Books Reading Happiness Self-Help

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Aesthetics in literature are important, but literature as aesthetics makes me nervous. When did a candle-topped pyramid of paperbacks become a symbol of depth?

— Sloane Crosley, The Virtues Of Shelf-lessness

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I mean, publicity is hard. Publicists LOVE books and they LOVE their authors, but... Imagine you've got 30 sled dogs to feed and not enough food. You give each dog the bare minimum to keep it alive and sneak extra food to the strongest pullers. You've got to keep pulling.

— Delilah S. Dawson, via twitter.com

publicity Marketing selling books Books Publishing publishing industry

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The really important point here is that your debut book/series/year DOES NOT PREDICT YOUR CAREER. It's not any indicator of future success. Publishers know and understand this. Just keep writing the best books you can. Keep innovating without fear. Keep that hope.

— Delilah S. Dawson, via twitter.com

Writing Writing A Book writing a novel Writing Advice Writer's Truth author Books selling books Publishing publishing industry publishing a book

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If I could change 1 thing about my debut year as an author, I wish someone in power had looked me in the eye and said, 'You wrote a good book, and you're a good writer, but we are not pushing your book. There is no way it will hit list. Just have fun.' Truth > disappointment.

— Delilah S. Dawson, via twitter.com

Books selling books publishing a book Publishing publishing industry author Writing

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When I wake up in the morning I’m still miserable, so being prestigious is beside the point.

— Lynne Tillman, A Conversation Between Nell Painter And Lynne Tillman

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Just because it's a small town doesn't mean we're all rubes. Believe it or not, some of us read. We even write.

— Camille Preaker (Amy Adams), Sharp Objects, Season 1: Dirt

Small Towns Reading Books

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While self-help and wellness culture may be a $3.7 trillion industry, the narrators of these books don’t buy the idea that it will save us.

— Maris Kreizman, Self-Destruction Beats Self-Help In Two Of The Most Exciting Books Of The Year

Self-Help Mental Health Wellness Books Reading

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A deserted library in the morning—there's something about it that really gets to me. All possible words and ideas are there, resting quietly.

— Haruki Murakami, Kafka On The Shore

library Libraries Books Knowledge Signaling Ideas

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I have always felt that I owe it to books (my longest and greatest love) to hear them out, especially when it’s one recommended by someone whose opinion I value.

— Katie Heaney, Why It’s So Hard to Stop Reading Books You Don’t Even Like

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Whether it’s Pride month or not, there’s always a fabulous slew of LGBTQ+ books on the available to read.

— Judith Utz, 10 Best LGBTQ Books You Need To Be Reading

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Bob: Your book? You mean like a bible?

Rebecca: Kind of, but less sci-fi.

— Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Season 3: Getting Over Jeff.

Bible life advice Books

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You want weapons? We’re in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world!

— The Doctor (David Tennant), Doctor Who, Series 2: Tooth and Claw

Knowledge Is Power Books Reading In Praise of Books library

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On its sunny surface, The Pisces is indeed a beach read. Take one step further, and it’s a sort of magical realism-style romance.

— Jenni Avins, There’s so much more to “The Pisces” than hot merman sex

Books Reading Melissa Broder

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Paul Tremblay's new novel is equal parts gripping, horrifying, and mesmerizing.

— Brennan Carley, The New Horror Novel That Will Totally Fuck You Up

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Slowly, like a movie fade out, the real world evaporates. I'm alone, inside the world of the story. My favorite feeling in the world.

— Haruki Murakami, Kafka On The Shore

Reading Novels Books reading novels immersion with books Stories Bookworm Book Lover

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Seriously, though, not buying a book until the series is complete because you're mad at some authors for not finishing theirs is a great way to ensure there won't be any more books.

— Sam Sykes, via twitter.com

supporting writers supporting authors Writers Authors Books Novels buying books

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Books are the windows through which the soul looks out. A house without books is like a room without windows.

— Horace Mann, The Duty of Owning Books

Book Nerd Examples of Similes Books book Reading

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If you read a book, rate it.
If you loved a book, share it.
If you care about a book, talk it up.

I cannot tell you the strength of word-of-mouth. It is vast. You have power.

— V.E. Schwab, via twitter.com

Reading Books supporting writers supporting authors supporting books supporting novels Novels Writers

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Books and writers give such immense and unexpected comfort, it really is something else. Grateful, as ever.

— Lisa Lucas, via twitter.com

Books Stories Novels Writers Authors comfort in books comfort in reading Reading

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Any rational society would either kill me or give me my books.

— Hannibal Lector, Red Dragon

Books civilization

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My father loved The Old Man and the Sea, so I tried to love it. It left me unmoved. Mostly, I kept hoping the fish would get away.

— GQ, The 21 Most Overrated Books Ever

LOL Books Reading Classic Lit Overrated

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If you pirate a book and enjoy it, you’ll want more from that author, right? But you stole it, so the writer didn’t get paid. The publisher didn’t see sales. No more books from that author. You hurt writer, publisher, AND readers. Get it from a library if you can’t afford to buy.

— Alan Baxter, via twitter.com

book piracy Books reading novels Reading books Authors Publishers

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One day's exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books. See how willingly Nature poses herself upon photographers' plates. No earthly chemicals are so sensitive as those of the human soul.

— John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir,

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These writers, and their works, inspire us to keep pushing towards a truly intersectional, inclusive feminism that can truly topple the patriarchy once and for all.

— The Rumpus, What to Read When You Want to Celebrate Feminism

Writing Reading Books Feminist Literature feminism Feminist

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Books make up no small part of human happiness.

— Frederick the Great, via www.bartleby.com

Books Reading Happiness Youth

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My books are excellent man repellent.

— Roxane Gay, Roxane Gay's books are man repellent

Roxane Gay feminism Books

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One of the great epiphanies of my lifetime was realizing that I disliked so many female characters because they were created by men who didn’t like women.

— Rainbow Rowell, via twitter.com

characters Books Novels female characters

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Books feed and cure and chortle and collide.

— Gwendolyn Brooks, Selected Poems

Poetry Books Reading beauty Beautiful Words

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Ew, books are gross.

— Gretchen Cutler (Aya Cash), You're the Worst, Season 3: The Last Sunday Funday

Anti-Reading Illiteracy Gross Books

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Like any good pie, some revenge plots rise above the rest.

— Kim Savage, Reading With A Vengeance — 11 YA Books About Revenge

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If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.

— Charles Darwin, Life and Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume 1: By Charles Darwin - Illustrated

Reading Importance of Reading Books

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Writers aren’t (always) creating Easter egg hunts for readers, hiding references for them to find. But generally, you can assume that if you DO find something, it was put there on purpose for you.

— Celeste Ng, via twitter.com

Writers Writing Literature Novels Books

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Books are often far more than just books.

— Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays

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Don’t label yourself a bad reader. You have a normal condition called “brain chatter” and I have found the best way to settle my brain down and pay attention to the text is to simply acknowledge when my brain is being extra noisy and has lots to “say” about what it’s reading. I literally tell my brain to quiet down and let me read.

— Stephanie St.Claire, How to Read One Book a Week

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I honestly had no fucking clue what I was doing, I just made it up as I went along.

— Amy Kaufman, 'There's Something They Want to Hide': A Conversation With Bachelor Nation Author Amy Kaufman

Writing How to be a writer Books How to write a book

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I prefer to get my news from books.

— Ryan Holiday, What is your preferred news source?

News Media Books Quote of the Moment

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Books are like seeds: they come to life when you read them & grow spines & leaves. I need trees around me as I need books around me, so building bookshelves is something like planting trees.

— Roger Deakin, Notes From Walnut Tree Farm

Books Book Lover Bookworm Reading bookshelf library Libraries

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Libraries are time-machines. Libraries are wildwoods. Libraries are galaxies. Libraries are magic portals into learning & dreaming. Libraries are vital for social mobility.

— Robert Macfarlane, via twitter.com

library Libraries libraries are important Knowledge Books Wisdom

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Read more books, I guess, is what I’m trying to say. Read stories about other people, other emotions. Get emotions that you can’t get from daily life just now.

— Sam Sykes, via twitter.com

emotions Feelings Books Stories Empathy Reading

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The only updates you need to send an agent reading your query is if you've received an offer of representation or the Nobel Prize. Everything else irrelevant.

— Kate McKean, via twitter.com

Writing Books publishing a book Book Publishing Book Publishing Tips publishing industry finding an agent querying your manuscript manuscript

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Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.

— Carl Sagan, Cosmos

Books Inspiring Magic

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Nothing is more impotent than an unread library.

— John Waters, Role Models

Knowledge Books

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Being rich is not about how much money you have or how many homes you own; it’s the freedom to buy any book you want without looking at the price and wondering if you can afford it.

— John Waters, Role Models

Wealth Knowledge Books

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If the 1st Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.

— Thurgood Marshall, via thurgoodmarshall.com

First Amendment Reading Books Films Business Freedom Democracy

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DO read books with compelling characters whose choices drive the plot.

DON’T tape hornet nests to your hands and call yourself Hornethands Jones.

— Sam Sykes, via twitter.com

Books Novels preferences characters

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I feel like 'fun' is frequently dismissed as a quality of a book, usually played down as escapism or, usually, just as a side note. Few people actually talk about what a fun book means.

For me, it’s never meant escapism. 'Fun' means joy. It means the prose is exciting, the characters are great, the action is delightful. All of this translates to reader investment.

People who sneer at the concept of a fun book as mindless escapism may understand reader investment, but they rarely understand that you have to earn it.

That’s not to say fun is the ONLY way to earn reader investment. But it’s a good way. And it’s harder to do than it looks. Hence why there is a not insignificant number of dry, joyless fantasy novels out there.

— Sam Sykes, via twitter.com

Books Novels Readers reader's preference books as entertainment fun in reading

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I never bailed on a book when I was a kid. Like, once I started, I was along for the ride. And I don't remember thinking critically along the way.

— Rainbow Rowell, via twitter.com

Books Reading books bailing books Bookworm

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You know what would make a great coffee table book? A coffee table book about coffee tables! Get it?

— Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), Seinfeld, Season 5: The Cigar Store Indian

Coffee Tables Books Coffee Table Books

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What is this obsession people have with books? They put them in their houses—like they're trophies. What do you need it for after you read it?

— Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld), Seinfeld, Season 2: The Ex-Girlfriend

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I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.

— Anna Quindlen, Public & Private; Enough Bookshelves

Bookshelves Books Books As Decor Decorating With Books Quote of the Moment

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Books can be as long as they need to be. A tweet should be short and sweet.

— Stephen King, via twitter.com

Books Tweet Twitter Millennial

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That’s why I write the kind of books I do! To help girls know they have worth, and will be okay in the end - like me!

— Meg Cabot, via twitter.com

Writer's Truth Writing Books Feminist feminism Women Empowerment

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...her dearest friends are characters in books.

— Sarah J. Maas, Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass)

Books Stories books' characters characters in a story Book Lover Bookworm

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No. I can survive well enough on my own— if given the proper reading material.

— Celaena Sardothien, Throne of Glass

Reading Books Knowledge Intellect

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Book sales are important because that’s how writers try to make a living. But no one can or should buy every book. Libraries are vital.

— Roxane Gay, via twitter.com

Books book sales Writers writers' earnings Writer's Truth libraries are important Libraries

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To me the best books are the ones that make me SO ANGRY because like what gives you the right to write this well, you know? Beautiful sentences make me want to throw books and that's how I know the writer is killing it.

Like, this may be just me because I write, but when I read so called "good" writing that soothes me, I later realize it was maybe just mediocre and the soothing feeling I felt deep down was calm because I figured out how it worked. The writing that makes me burn inside is the real shit

— rachel syme, via Twitter

Books good books Good writing Novels Stories

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Yes, books are spendy. BORROW IT FROM A LIBRARY. Libraries buy more copies if they're in demand. Ta-da! Paper trail, happy publishers.

— Maggie Stiefvater, via Twitter

Books Publishers publishing industry Piracy

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I read to see myself in other people's lives.

— Stephen Sondheim, Passion

Reading Books People Life Perspective Seeing Differently

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Kath perfectly depicts how we want all of our mornings to start — with a good book that encourages our hearts, and a warm cup of frothy coffee.

— Bianca Sparacino, 17 Aesthetically-Pleasing Bookstagram Photos From 2017

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I was attending the American Society of Animal Science meetings when the flood occurred. I first learned about it when I read about it on the front page of USA Today, a national newspaper. I grieved for the "dead" books, the same way most people grieve for a dead relative. The destruction of books upset me because "thoughts died." Even though most of the books are still in other libraries, there are many people at the (Colorado State) university who will never read them. To me, Shakespeare lives if we keep performing his plays. He dies, when we stop performing them. I am my work. If the livestock industry continues to use equipment I have designed, then my "thoughts live" and my life has meaning. If my efforts to improve the treatment of cattle and pigs make real improvements in the world, then life is meaningful.

— Temple Grandin, via en.wikiquote.org

Books Thoughts Ideas Work Life Meaning

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I am on a curiosity voyage, and I need my paddles to travel. These books are my paddles. I need my paddles!

— Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Stranger Things, Season 2: Chapter Three: The Pollywog

Books Curiosity Learning

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Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.

— John Wesley, Letter to Joseph Benson

Books Reading Knowledge Love

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If you have read this whole thing, I hope you have plenty of time. You could have been reading the stories.

— John D. Macdonald, Night Shift

Good writing Books Stories

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As a youngster I was a great dreamer, reading many books of adventure and walking lonely miles with my head in the clouds.

— Edmund Hillary, View from the Summit: The Remarkable Memoir by the First Person to Conquer Everest

Dreamer Youth Books Reading Adventure

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I have stolen ideas from every book I have ever read.

— Phillip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass

Literature Ideas Creativity Books

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Their house had real hard-cover books in it, and you often saw them lying open on the sofa, the words still warm from being read.

— David Sedaris, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

Books Reading library Words

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Real life doesn’t have many happy endings. Why shouldn’t books make up the difference?

— Scott Westerfeld, Afterworlds

Life Perspective Books

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Her reputation for reading a great deal hung about her like the cloudy envelope of a goddess in an epic.

— Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Reputation Reading Books Knowledge

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I read a lot. I love books. If they came in a bottle, I’d be a drunk too.

— Alyxandra Harvey, Bleeding Hearts (Drake Chronicles)

Books Reading Bibliophile Novels Literature

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Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather and a little music played out of doors, played by somebody I do not know.

— John Keats, Selected Letters of John Keats: Revised Edition

Books Wine Fruits Passion Music

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When life wears us down, great fiction gives us back our human shape.

— Kevin Hartnett, Reading 1Q84: The Case for Fiction in a Busy Life

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I believe we have an obligation to read for pleasure, in private and in public places. If we read for pleasure, if others see us reading, then we learn, we exercise our imaginations. We show others that reading is a good thing.

— Neil Gaiman, Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming

Obligation Responsibility Reading Books Imaginations

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Every word leaves a memory in your heart – and it the sum of these memories that form sentences, paragraphs, books.

— Paulo Coelho, The act of writing – the reader

Words Writing Memory heart Books Reading Literature

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In any case, rather like priests who have forgotten the meaning of the prayers they chant, we shall go on for quite a long time talking of books and writing books, pretending all the while not to notice that the church is empty and the parishioners have gone elsewhere to attend other gods, perhaps in silence or with new words.

— Gore Vidal, Matters of Fact and of Fiction

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Lonely children often have imaginary playmates but I was never lonely; rather, I was solitary, and wanted no company at all other than books and movies, and my own imagination.

— Gore Vidal, Screening History

Loneliness Imagination solitary Books Movies

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They say in every library there is a single book that can answer the question that burns like a fire in the mind.

— Lemony Snicket, "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" (All the Wrong Questions)

library Knowledge information Books

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How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.

— Gore Vidal, Julian

Books Places Time Ignorance

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Books don’t change the world, people change the world, books only change people.

— Mario Quintana, A quote by Mario Quintana

Books People human Change Making A Difference

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For books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them.

— John Milton, Areopagitica

Books Life Soul Intellect

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Maybe this is why we read, and why in moments of darkness we return to books: to find words for what we already know.

— Alberto Manguel, A Reading Diary: A Passionate Reader's Reflections on a Year of Books

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I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.

— Robert Louis Stevenson, Essays By Robert Louis Stevenson

Books Reading Writing On Writing Writing Tips

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I often hear people say that they read to escape reality, but I believe that what they’re really doing is reading to find reason for hope, to find strength. While a bad book leaves readers with a sense of hopelessness and despair, a good novel, through stories of values realized, of wrongs righted, can bring to readers a connection to the wonder of life. A good novel shows how life can and ought to be lived. It not only entertains but energizes and uplifts readers.

— Terry Goodkind, via GoodReads

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There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.

— Beatrix Potter, How Not To Write A Book: An insider’s guide to successful writing and publishing

Writing Books Story Words Imagination Adventure

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She had always wanted words, she loved them; grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape.

— Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

Words Passion literary Books Love Interest

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Every reader, as he reads, is actually the reader of himself. The writer's work is only a kind of optical instrument he provides the reader so he can discern what he might never have seen in himself without this book. The reader's recognition in himself of what the book says is the proof of the book's truth.

— Marcel Proust, Time Regained

Reader Reading writer Books Truth

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The magical thing about Stephen King is he just keeps writing.

— Caroline Kepnes, How Stephen King Scared a Generation of Storytellers Into Existence

Good writing Stephen King Books Writing Writers Artists

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I’ve always had trouble with the notion of ‘respectable’ work. I understand the human need to categorize, but I love the reality that he’s in his own stratosphere.

— Caroline Kepnes, How Stephen King Scared a Generation of Storytellers Into Existence

Good writing Stephen King Books Writing

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What he created shaped us.

— Nikolaj Arcel, How Stephen King Scared a Generation of Storytellers Into Existence

Good writing Stephen King Books On Writing Writing

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I think that book has helped so many of us stick to our guns and keep at it. That’s a book that was so empowering. He was so eloquent and incisive in that book. Here he is, larger-than-life Stephen King, and yet there he is across from you, telling you to chill out and work.

— Caroline Kepnes, How Stephen King Scared a Generation of Storytellers Into Existence

Good writing Stephen King Books On Writing Writing

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The characters felt real, the world felt like our own, and there was no safety net — you weren’t safe in the daylight, your family could turn on you, and children weren’t safe from the monster. In fact, sometimes they were its favorite food.

— Mike Flanagan, How Stephen King Scared a Generation of Storytellers Into Existence

Horror Good writing Stephen King Books Why things scare us

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My jaw hit the floor at the realization that stories like The Shining or The Dead Zone or those from Night Shift could actually exist. Characters from and of our world faced with horrors and challenges from somewhere else.

— J.J. Abrams, How Stephen King Scared a Generation of Storytellers Into Existence

Horror Good writing Stephen King Books

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The one thing I regret is that I will never have time to read all the books I want to read.

— Françoise Sagan, French literary icon Sagan dies

Regret Books Not enough time Reading books Bibliophile Desire

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This is how you read a novel: you inhale the experience. So start breathing.

— Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Reading novel reading novels Learning Learning from Others Books learning from books Reading Quotes Living Life

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I think it’s the books that you read when you’re young that live with you forever.

— J. K. Rowling, A quote by J.K. Rowling

Books Lovers of Books wandering Imagination

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Throughout the years I’ve had many careers, but even when I was working a million jobs to make ends meet, I always made time to write and haunt the library — I could not stop doing either.

— Warren Adler, Never Let Go of a Childhood Dream

Libraries Books Reading Making time

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Some books you read. Some books you enjoy. But some books just swallow you up, heart and soul.

— Joanne Harris, Joanne Harris on Tumblr

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That’s the beauty of books. In so many ways, they never really end.

— Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

Bibliophile Book Lover Literary Love Books

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