Gordon B. Hinckley Quotes

[Books] may sleep for a while and be neglected; but whenever the desire of information springs up in the human breast, there they are with mild wisdom ready to instruct and please us.

In this job, there are some simple pleasures that really help you cope. One is books, I mean, books are a great escape. Books are a way to get your mind on something else.

When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book.

Some people act as if it were demeaning to their manhood to wish to be well-read but you can no more be a healthy person mentally without reading substantial books than you can be a vigorous person physically without eating solid food. Books should be chosen, not for their freedom from evil, but for their possession of good. Dr. Johnson said: "Whilst you stand deliberating which book your son shall read first, another boy has read both."

Books are solitudes in which we meet.

Good books are to the young mind what the warming sun and the refreshing rain of spring are to the seeds which have lain dormant in the frosts of winter. They are more, for they may save from that which is worse than death, as well as bless with that which is better than life.

One can only snort so many ants and have so much sex before one starts to long for the comfort and companionship of a good book.

Reading gives one something to think about other than one's self.

Sleep is good, he said, And books are better.

A day out-of-doors, someone I loved to talk with, a good book and some simple food and music - that would be rest.

Give me a bed and a book and I am happy.

Here’s to books, the cheapest vacation you can buy.

Let us assume that entertainment is the sole end of reading; even so I think you would hold that no mental employment is so broadening to the sympathies or so enlightening to the understanding. Other pursuits belong not to all times, all ages, all conditions; but this gives stimulus to our youth and diversion to our old age; this adds a charm to success, and offers a haven of consolation to failure. Through the night-watches, on all our journeyings, and in our hours of ease, it is our unfailing companion.

I’ve always found that the better the book I’m reading, the smarter I feel, or, at least, the more able I am to imagine that I might, someday, become smarter.

I’d much rather pretend I’m somewhere else, and any time I open the pages of a book, that happens.

What is indispensable to inspiration? ...sound sleep and the provocation of a good book or a companion.

I find reading to be a delight, a source of comfort, a way to explore.

There's no better way to inform and expand you mind on a regular basis than to get into the habit of reading good literature.

Clearly one must read every good book at least once every ten years.

The highest branch of solitary amusement is reading; but even in the choice of books the fancy is first employed; for in reading, the heart is touched, till its feelings are examined by the understanding, and the ripening of reason regulate the imagination. This is the work of years, and the most important of all employments.

If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries.

How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!

I just started reading lots of books and then called the United Nations and asked if they could educate me. The more I got involved, the more I suddenly began to feel useful as a human being and felt like I was finally living as I should be.

Drink deeply from good books.

I enjoy the idea that even though I'm resting, I'm accomplishing something by reading a book.