John Milton, 1608-1674
was an English poet
Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them.
Bible
Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862
was an US Transcendentalist author
How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.
Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007
was an US novelist
I am eternally grateful.. for my knack of finding in great books, some of them very funny books, reason enough to feel honored to be alive, no matter what else might be going on.
( “Timequake”, 1997 )
(Julius Henry) "Groucho" Marx, 1890-1977
was an American comedian and film star
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, 1804-1881
was a British politician
The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it.
Oscar (Fingall O'Flahertie Wills) Wilde, 1854-1900
was an Irish dramatist, novelist, and poet
He has never written a single book, so you can imagine how much he knows.
( “The Importance of Being Earnest”, 1895 )
Augustine Birrell, 1850-1933
was an English politician, barrister, academic and author
There were no books in Eden, and there will be none in heaven.
( “Gossip in a Library” )
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
was an US essayist and poet
Tis the good reader that makes the good book.
Ezra (Weston Loomis) Pound, 1885-1972
was an US poet
Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive. The book should be a ball of light in one's hand.