Norman Cousins Quotes

A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all.

One of the greatest gifts my brother and I received from my mother was her love of literature and language. With their boundless energy, libraries open the door to these worlds and so many others. I urge young and old alike to embrace all that libraries have to offer.

When you sell a man a book, you don't sell him 12 ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life.

Books have become our dearest companions, yielding exquisite delights and inspiring lofty aims.

Reading has been the fuel of my motivation: it has changed the direction in which I have traveled, and it has enhanced my creative imagination more than any other activity I have ever pursued.

A book is a gift you can open again and again.

Knowledge comes from the past, so it's safe. It is also out of date. It's the opposite of originality... Experience is the opposite of being creative.

Reading is an act of civilization; it's one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the mind and builds castles of possibilities.

I like to have books around to give me ideas-to get the verbal part of my brain to start working.

Books are challenging and inspirational to me.

A love of books has opened so many doors for me. Stories have inspired me and taught me to aspire.

Books always help.

Read a lot, live your life, and listen and watch, so that your mind fills up with millions of images.

I do believe that books can change lives and give people this kind of language they wouldn't have had otherwise.

When I was in fourth grade... this wonderful teacher said you didn't have to write a book report, you could just talk about the book, you could do a drawing of the book, you could write a play inspired by the book, and that's what I did. I got to be so famous. I had to go around to every school and perform it. It was just so natural and fun.

All I know for certain is that reading is of the most intense importance to me; if I were not able to read, to revisit old favorites and experiment with names new to me, I would be starved - probably too starved to go on writing myself.

My parents, and librarians along the way, taught me about the space between words; about the margins, where so many juicy moments of life and spirit and friendship could be found. In a library, you could find miracles and truth and you might find something that would make you laugh so hard that you get shushed, in the friendliest way.

There is that romanticized idea of what a bookstore can be, what a library can be, what a shop can be. And to me, they are that. These are places that open doors into other worlds if only you're open to them.

Paris is an ideal place to become informed, while Venice is a place to think and write.

Each additional idea is a gift to the future. Each additional idea producer is a source of wealth for future generations.

Books, the children of the brain.

A library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life.

Books stay with me and have shaped me and made huge impacts on my life.

A room without books is like a body without a soul.