Books Quotes

You cannot open a book without learning something.

We do not consider our principles as dogmas contained in books that are said to come from heaven. We derive our inspiration, not from heaven, or from an unseen world, but directly from life.

Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today. I'm looking forward to shifting more of my media diet towards reading books.

Fine buildings, fine pictures and books and everything that is beautiful are certainly signs of civilization. But an even better sign is a fine man who is unselfish and works with others for the good of all. To work together is better than to work singly, and to work together for the common good is best of all.

Books for general reading always smell bad; the odor of common people hangs around them.

We do not belong to those who only get their thought from books, or at the prompting of books. It is our custom to think in the open air, walking, leaping, climbing, or dancing on lonesome mountains by preference, or close to the sea, where even the paths become thoughtful.

The so-called paradoxes of an author, to which a reader takes exception, often exist not in the author's book at all, but rather in the reader's head.

A book is made better by good readers and clearer by good opponents.

One receives as reward for much ennui, despondency, boredom-such as a solitude without friends, books, duties, passions must bring with it-those quarter-hours of profoundest contemplation within oneself and nature. He who completely entrenches himself against boredom also entrenches himself against himself: he will never get to drink the strongest refreshing draught from his own innermost fountain.

The value of many men and books rests solely on their faculty for compelling all to seek out the most hidden and intimate things.

So far no one had had enough courage and intelligence to reveal me to my dear Germans. My problems are new, my psychological horizon frighteningly comprehensive, my language bold and clear; there may well be no books written in German which are richer in ideas and more independent than mine.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss who I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park,listened carefully to me, and finally said, "That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job."

I read 'The High Frontier' in high school. I read it multiple times, and I was already primed. As soon as I read it, it made sense to me. It seemed very clear that planetary surfaces were not the right place for an expanding civilization inside our solar system.

The book is not really the container for the book. The book itself is the narrative. It's the thing that people create.

You're not going to make Hemingway better by adding animations.

I'm skeptical that the novel will be 're-invented.'

Today I continue with my science-fiction reading habit and find it very mind-expanding. Always makes me think.

I think the definition of a book is changing.

The heroes of the books I read, The Lord of the Rings and the Foundation series, always felt a duty to save the world.

Some women have a weakness for shoes...I can go barefoot if necessary. I have a weakness for books.