Joyce Carol Oates Quotes

When I was younger, I was full of smart things to say about all my books.

I'm not comfortable being preachy, but more people need to start spending as much time in the library as they do on the basketball court.

Books guided my life from high school, and the greatest, most interesting, most provocative, funniest, smartest people who ever lived in the last 200 or 300 years wrote those books. I would fall in love with Victor Hugo and read not just 'Les Miserables,' but 'Bug-Jargal' and 'The Toilers of the Sea' and so forth.

He had read much, if one considers his long life; but his contemplation was much more than his reading. He was wont to say that if he had read as much as other men he should have known no more than other men.

Yes! the books - the generous friends who met me without suspicion - the merciful masters who never used me ill! The only years of my life that I can look back on with something like pride... Early and late, through the long winter nights and the quiet summer days, I drank at the fountain of knowledge, and never wearied of the draught.

Time passed solely in the pursuit of pleasure leaves no solid enjoyment for the future; but from the hours you spend in reading and studying useful books, you will gather a golden harvest in future years.

Read, read, read, read and then read some more.

The biggest impact my father had on my life was teaching the importance of literacy.

Books have always been an important part of my life.

I will say I am the sum of my books.

Miss a meal if you have to, but don't miss a book.

I have always advised men to read.

I was on my own at Wellesley, surrounded by a lot of young women who were motivated and intellectually curious. I started to read because I was required to do so for class, but I soon found myself enjoying the seclusion of the library. I came to see reading as an important way to learn about people, including myself.

My father's mother really had a profound influence on me. She literally began her day with an hour of reading. But the most fundamental impact was education.

Education is equally important in one's life.

Tupac loved to read! Books were a constant part of his life.

My passion for books has changed my life.

The more you read, the more things you will know.

The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them. It is said that leaders are readers. However if they read trashy magazines for the majority of their time and they never run with the information that they glean from resourceful books, then they may as well have not taken any time to read at all. It is easier to stay out than get out.

Keep reading books, stay in school. I encourage kids to read as much as they can, I challenge you to read a book every two weeks, like I try to.

Reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life. Reading shaped my dreams, and more reading helped me make my dreams come true.

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

If we commit ourselves to reading thus increasing our knowledge, only God limits how far we can go in this world.

The man who seeks to educate himself must first read and then travel in order to correct what he has learned.

Books are what you step on to take you to a higher shelf. The higher your stack of books, the higher the shelf you can reach. Want to reach higher? Stack some more books under your feet! Reading is what brings us to new knowledge. It opens new doors. It helps us understand mysteries. It lets us hear from successful people. Reading is what takes us down the road in our journey. Everything you need for a better future and success has already been written.