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75 Quotes About Books and Reading Your Child Will Love

When we start a new topic with my students, I like introducing it with quotes about books and reading. I believe that they work brilliantly, because they invite kids to pause, smile, and wonder, then open a page. Below you’ll find famous, short, funny, and inspirational picks I like most and also strongly encourage you to use at home.

Key points

• Reading inspiration drives results. That’s why motivational quotes about books and reading help children form positive reading habits and boost comprehension.
• Besides, regular exposure to reading motivation quotes strengthens curiosity, empathy, and lifelong learning skills.
• Guided practice multiplies impact. The Brighterly reading program integrates reflection, discussion, and reading worksheets to turn inspiration into measurable progress.

75 best quotes about reading and books

• Famous quotes
• Short quotes
• Funny quotes
• Inspirational quotes

Why do quotes about reading and books work so well with children? Because they compress wisdom into a memorable line that’s easy to repeat and apply. Shared aloud, a good quote becomes a ritual: the bell rings, we read a line together, we breathe, and we begin.

In practice, I ask a child to choose a line, unpack vocabulary together, and connect it to life (“When did a book help you feel brave?”). Parents can tape a favorite line to a lunchbox, write it on a whiteboard, or use it as a prompt at dinner.

How does Brighterly use quotes about books and reading in its teaching?

Brighterly uses quotes about books and reading as short motivational starters that spark curiosity, discussion, and emotional connection before every reading activity. Reading tutors often begin lessons by unpacking a quote together, helping kids link inspiring words to the stories they read and the skills they build. 

What is Brighterly, in fact?

The Brighterly math and reading platform is an online learning space where expert tutors make math and reading engaging, structured, and personalized for every child. It combines one-on-one tutoring and interactive lessons to strengthen comprehension, vocabulary, and confidence. Every session encourages reflection, proving that learning grows best when guided by curiosity.

By the way, you can also train on quotes and other reading-related topics at home by using comprehensive and free materials from Brighterly. Thus, the platform offers quick reading tests for students in grades 1–9 to identify areas for improvement. These state-aligned assessments cover comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills. 

One can also master the selected topics with tailored reading worksheets for steady progress.

20 famous quotes about books and reading

These best quotes about books and reading remind kids that stories shape who we are and how we see the world.

• “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” — Cicero
• “I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” — J. K. Rowling
• “The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” — Albert Einstein
• “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” — Jorge Luis Borges
• “There is no friend as loyal as a book.” — Ernest Hemingway
• “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” — C. S. Lewis
• “A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.” — Neil Gaiman
• “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” — Joseph Addison
• “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” — Jane Austen
• “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island.” — Walt Disney

• “A book is a device to ignite the imagination.” — Alan Bennett
• “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” — Frederick Douglass
• “No two persons ever read the same book.” — Edmund Wilson
• “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” — Francis Bacon
• “There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away.” — Emily Dickinson
• “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” — Mark Twain
• “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends.” — Charles W. Eliot
• “Books serve to show a man that his original thoughts aren’t very new at all.” — Abraham Lincoln
• “The best books… are those that tell you what you know already.” — George Orwell
• “Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.” — Fernando Pessoa

20 short quotes about books and reading

Perfect for posters, morning meetings, or sticky notes. Short quotes about books and reading help children practice fluency and phrasing.

• “Read the best books first.” — Henry David Thoreau
• “To learn to read is to light a fire.” — Victor Hugo
• “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” — Stephen King
• “I am a part of everything that I have read.” — Theodore Roosevelt
• “I cannot live without books.” — Thomas Jefferson
• “Wear the old coat and buy the new book.” — Austin Phelps
• “Reading brings us unknown friends.” — Honoré de Balzac
• “We read to know we are not alone.” — William Nicholson
• “There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.” — May Ellen Chase
• “Books are the plane, and the train, and the road.” — Anna Quindlen

Whether you share deep quotes about books and reading or short playful quotes about books and reading for kids, gently inspire reflection and a lasting love for stories.

• “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” — Margaret Fuller
• “I guess there are never enough books.” — John Steinbeck
• “Books are the mirrors of the soul.” — Virginia Woolf
• “So many books, so little time.” — Frank Zappa
• “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” — J. K. Rowling
• “A book is a gift you can open again and again.” — Garrison Keillor
• “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” — Emilie Buchwald
• “The world was hers for the reading.” — Betty Smith
• “Reading changes your life.” — Kathi Appelt
• “Books are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time.” — E. P. Whipple

20 funny quotes about books and reading

Humor lowers stress and turns vocabulary practice into play. I often use funny quotes about books and reading as a quick warm-up before a reading task.

• “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” — Groucho Marx
• “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” — Oscar Wilde
• “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” — Groucho Marx
• “You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.” — Paul Sweeney
• “Books are not made for furniture, but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.” — Henry Ward Beecher
• “Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.” — Lemony Snicket
• “I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.” — Jorge Luis Borges
• “Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” — P. J. O’Rourke
• “My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter.” — Thomas Helm
• “I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve.” — Montesquieu

Many quotes about reading by famous authors carry voices, emotions, and history. These deep powerful book quotes and classic book sayings show why children fall in love with reading: they sense truth and imagination blending together. 

• “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” — Joseph Brodsky
• “Bookshops are time machines, spaceships, story generators, secret keepers, dragon tamers, dream catchers, fact finders, and safe places.” — Jen Campbell
• “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” — Mark Twain
• “People say life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” — Logan Pearsall Smith
• “The covers of this book are too far apart.” — Ambrose Bierce
• “A house without books is like a room without windows.” — Horace Mann
• “Books had instant replay long before televised sports.” — Bernard Williams
• “I’ve never known any trouble that an hour’s reading didn’t assuage.” — Arthur Schopenhauer 
• “A good book has no ending.” — R. D. Cumming
• “Books break the shackles of time — proof that humans can work magic.” — Carl Sagan

15 inspirational quotes about books and reading

These inspirational reading quotes help kids connect reading with courage, empathy, and long-term growth. I invite students to link each line to a character or real-life moment.

• “Once you have read a book you care about, some part of it is always with you.” — Louis L’Amour
• “I always kept two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
• “There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.” — Marcel Proust
• “Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” — Malorie Blackman
• “The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” — René Descartes
• “If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books.” — Roald Dahl
• “Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled ‘This could change your life.’” — Helen Exley

In these lines, famous quotes about reading and books remind us how stories shape understanding and spark imagination. Quotes about loving books and reading celebrate the joy that connects readers across generations.

• “A capacity, and taste, for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.” — Abraham Lincoln
• “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” — Franz Kafka
• “You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.” — Dr. Seuss
• “Books are the carriers of civilization.” — Barbara W. Tuchman
• “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.” — Victor Hugo
• “That’s the thing about books. They let you travel without moving your feet.” — Jhumpa Lahiri
• “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” — Mason Cooley
• “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.” — Albert Einstein

What is a good quote about books?

A good quote about books is one that captures imagination and purpose in a single breath. It nudges readers to explore, feel, and grow, proving that bookish quotes and sayings about books can open doors for every child.

Tiny routines that work for using quotes

• Quote of the week. Copy one quote about reading books into a notebook; add a one-sentence reflection.
• Poster talk. Choose two inspirational reading quotes to discuss at breakfast.
• Character connection. After reading, name a line from these quotes about books and reading for students that fits today’s character.
• Family shelf. Let kids curate a mini-display of book quotes about reading and “staff picks.”

Conclusion: Encourage kids with the power of reading quotes

In class, I treat good quotes about books and reading like small lanterns. We choose one, discuss it, and utilize it: speak it in a sentence, connect it to a character, or write it on a bookmark. That simple ritual blends quotes about reading books and learning with actual practice, so children build confidence step by step.

If you’re ready to turn inspiration into action, try a gentle skills check with our reading tutors. Explore the Brighterly math and reading platform, use printable reading worksheets, and when you’re set, book free reading lesson to see a joyful, personalized plan for your reader.