James Thurber Quotes

If I'm reading a book and it seems truly interesting, I tend to start reading back to front in order not to be too deeply under the sway of progress.

Listen you have to read a book three times before you know it.

It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.

He objected, though, to indiscriminate reading. 'One must have some question,' he wrote, 'addressed to the book one is going to read.

One of my brothers read a lot. His head was forever in some book.

I was always furious because you couldn't take out more than three books in one day. You would go home with your three books and read them and it would still be only five o'clock. The library didn't shut till half past, but you couldn't change the books till the next day.

I had hundreds of books under my skin already. Not selected reading, all of it. Some of it could be called trashy. I had been through Nick Carter, Horatio Alger, Bertha M. Clay and the whole slew of dime novelists in addition to some really constructive reading. I do not regret the trash. It has harmed me in no way. It was a help, because acquiring the reading habit early is the important thing. Taste and natural development will take care of the rest later on.

The chief knowledge that's man on from reading books is the knowledge that very few of them are worth reading.

I suppose books mean more than people to me.

There's no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books.

I have a couple of thousand books in my personal library. Choosing a favorite is next to impossible. But I do love the written word.

When I was a kid and a young man I read everything. When I was about 23, I was incredibly lucky in that I wound up with several book review columns, which meant that I had to read huge amounts of stuff that was outside my experience and outside my comfort zone. I think every young writer should be forced to read the kind of stuff they would not normally read for pleasure.

Joseph Campbell, who when asked what spiritual practice he followed said, "I underline books." Me too.

Any book is better than no book. Slowly, surely, one will lead you to another, which will lead you to the best.

Some read books only with a view to find fault, while others read only to be taught; the former are like venomous spiders, extracting a poisonous quality, where the latter, like the bees, sip out a sweet and profitable juice.

Our hope is that the elementary reading of comics will lead to the joy of reading good books.

I learned to write by reading the kind of books I wished I'd written.

I read books. Avidly, ardently! As if my life depended upon it.

If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.

A little known fact: I read all the time. books were the one thing that got me out of Gatlin, even if it was only for a little while.

In fact, every day I'll read a chapter of some art book. I don't know why. It's just a habit.

Reading is sometimes an ingenious device for avoiding thought.

I have always loved reading. Ever since I was a young girl I had a book by my bed and would get lost in the world of make believe.

In reading, one should notice and fondle details.

Reading is my favourite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read.