Anna Quindlen Quotes

My grandfather says that's what books are for," Ashoke said, using the opportunity to open the volume in his hands. "To travel without moving an inch.

And books, they offer one hope -- that a whole universe might open up from between the covers, and falling into that universe, one is saved.

Hold a book in your hand and you're a pilgrim at the gates of a new city.

She wanted a book to take her places she couldn't get to herself.

You can cover a great deal of country in books.

I read a lot of highly unsuitable books for an 11-year-old. I was desperate to read as widely as possible. I thought, 'There are so many places I am never going to get the chance to visit, but I can if I read them.' And I did. I could go anywhere in the world - and off it - by reading.

There's books that are about places we will never go, and then there's books that inspire us to go.

Books were my window on the world. Growing up at the Elephant and Castle, which was very rough, my paradise was the library.

For me, books have been a life-long resource-to learning, laughter, solace, excitement, inspiration. At your library, the world awaits you, free for the asking.

There are some who say that sitting at home reading is the equivalent of travel, because the experiences described in the book are more or less the same as the experiences one might have on a voyages, and there are those who say that there is no substitute for venturing out into the world. My own opinion is that it is best to travel extensively but to read the entire time, hardly glancing up to look out of the window of the airplane, train, or hired camel.

Through the use of books I had the whole world at my feet: could travel anywhere, meet anyone, and do anything.

It is very risky. But each time a child opens a book, he pushes open the gate that separates him from Elsewhere.

That's what books are for... to travel without moving an inch.

Yes, the stories are dangerous, she was right. A book is a magic carpet that flies you off elsewhere. A book is a door. You open it. You step through. Do you come back?

For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.

When I go on vacation, I take very few clothes and a whole lot of books. It's the most soothing thing in the world. Reading 'Moby-Dick' is like being in a time machine. I almost feel as excited as the first time I read it and I always find something new.

I grew up in a small town in India, but through books I knew the world.

Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere.

If you have a book, you have a friend.

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.

We never had books at home, but my dad, seeing how keen I was to read, took me to Islington Library when I was about eight and we pulled out two - a Biggles and a science fiction novel. I never got the ace fighter pilot but fell in love with all things to do with the future and space. Isaac Asimov soon became my guiding star.

Books are magic: you never know where they're going to end up.

One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.

When I was about eight, I decided that the most wonderful thing, next to a human being, was a book.