28 Bookish Quotes for Writers
If there is one hill I'll die on as a writer it's that you need to read more and read widely to be a better writer. A good book helps you pass the time and entertains you.
Great books make you think, and you don't have to enjoy the book overall to be changed by it.
For example, I read Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridianin grad school and I HATED it. It was violent, lewd, depressing. But it was such an incredible piece of writing that I think back to it often.
Some of the best quotes about reading are also about writing. Or human nature, which if you're a writer, you know that words are second nature to us all.
I hope these quotes will inspire you to challenge yourself, but also remind you why your work is so important. Especially on days when you may not be feeling your best. There is a life-giving power of literature, and all of our favorite authors read, write, and feel stuck sometimes.
If you catch yourself in a reading rut, which happens often for me, take a look through some of my favorite quotes.
Let a new book be a new friend, not something you have to size up your own writing against. The first thing we need to remember as writers is that there is room enough for all our stories, and all our stories deserve to be told.
Here are my favorite bookish quotes to inspire you to read more (and write more).
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28 Bookish Quotes for Writers
“Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions.” - Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
I’ve never thought or felt harder than after finishing a good book. One that leaves me staring at the back cover, blinking slowly, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.
“There’s no better teacher for writing than reading… Get a library card. That’s the best investment.” - Alisa Valdes
You can never have too many books. I firmly believe it–and I’ve moved enough times to know how annoying it is to pack books into boxes and carry them up several flights of stairs. They’re always worth it.
"To survive, you must tell stories." - Umberto Eco, The Island of the Day Before
We start to wither away when we feel unheard, ignored, unseen.
"You have to resign yourself to wasting lots of trees before you write anything really good. That's just how it is. It's like learning an instrument. You've got to be prepared for hitting wrong notes occasionally, or quite a lot. That's just part of the learning process. And read a lot. Reading a lot really helps. Read anything you can get your hands on." - J.K. Rowling
I do not condone Rowling’s choice to use her platform to speak out against transgender communities. I acknowledge that sometimes we can separate the art from the artist, and I recognize what she did give us with the world of Harry Potter.
"For a person who grew up in the '30s and '40s in the segregated South, with so many doors closed without explanation to me, libraries and books said, 'Here I am, read me.' Over time I have learned I am at my best around books." - Maya Angelou
I love this reminder that books can literally open doors for us. Never take that opportunity away from yourself or anyone else.
"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." - Toni Morrison
I remind myself this often, especially when I’m writing and feel like I don’t know how something is “supposed” to look like. We get to decide!
“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.” - Ernest Hemingway
A beautiful sentiment of what we do as writers, what we give, and what we gain.
“Nora.” He just barely smiles. “You’re in books. Of course you don’t have a life. None of us do. There’s always something too good to read.” - Emily Henry, Book Lovers
We’re in books. WE ARE IN BOOKS.
“Think before you speak. Read before you think.” - Fran Lebowitz
Imagine a world where everyone read before they spoke. Just imagine what your words could do for someone else.
“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.” - Malorie Blackman
You live a thousand lives and travel time and space when you read.
Reading is my inhale, and writing is my exhale. – Glennon Doyle
Reading and writing both feed and soothe the soul. If you’re feeling off balance, sit down to read, sit down to write.
“We read to know we're not alone.” - William Nicholson
I will never forget the first time I felt seen. I read Sarah Dessen’s Truth About Forever when I was twelve and knew myself in her pages. For that reason she will forever be my favorite author. Two decades have passed since I first felt that way. NINETEEN YEARS. Writers, never doubt the impact you have with your words.
“I only write when I’m inspired, so I see to it that I’m inspired every morning at nine o’clock.” - Peter De Vries
I laughed when I read this. And then remembered we are allowed to do anything and everything we can for ourselves to feel charged and inspired. It’s not a waiting game to be inspired, it’s an action plan to feel inspired.
"I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in." - Robert Louis Stevenson
With the advent of the smart phone I know carry hundreds of books and ways to write in my pocket. Never forget the access you have in today’s digital age. But also don’t let it overwhelm or consume you, either.
“Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.” - Barbara Kingsolver
If we all wrote without editing ourselves as we went or looking back at our fears for judgement, there would be so many more books in the world.
“Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world.” – Jeanette Winterson
And you can use them as a shield, or an umbrella, or a pillow…books are a real-life giving tree.
“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.” – Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Read that again. Any time you admire something in a book, you’re admiring something about yourself. Anytime you learn something in a book, you’re learning something about yourself.
"You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children." - Madeleine L'Engle
Children are our best audiences because they are our first believers.
“Books are both our luxuries and our daily bread.” – Henry Stevens
Don’t save a book for the perfect time to read. Start it now. Put one aside if it gets boring or tough and come back to it later. There is no right way to read.
"I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn." - Anne Frank
Not every word you write has to be “good” or meant for publishing. You are allowed to keep your writing for yourself.
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” - Stephen King
And we writers are merely wizards.
"Read, read, read. Read everything—trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it. Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window." - William Faulkner
Don’t be afraid to dive into a terrible book and finish it. Don’t be afraid to start a good book and stop halfway through. Read as a writer and write as a reader, and then reverse it.
Old books
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” - Neil Gaiman
They tell us dragons can be beaten.
“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
I can’t tell you how many times over my lifetime I’ve finished a book, closed the cover, and set quietly for an hour moved or shocked or broken by what I’ve read. Unable to fathom that it’s over, unable to let go of the people I’ve met. That’s why I love to re-read.
“Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.” - John Green
Write to understand yourself. Write to help others see themselves.
“If a book is well written, I always find it too short.” - Jane Austen
This is truer than true.
“Wear the old coat and buy the new book.” – Austin Phelps
As long as you’re warm-ish and full-ish, you have spare change for a new book. Or a used book
“Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter. Reading gives me something to talk about later on. Reading is the unbelievably healthy way my attention deficit disorder medicates itself. Reading is escape, and the opposite of escape; it’s a way to make contact with reality after a day of making things up, and it’s a way of making contact with someone else’s imagination after a day that’s all too real. Reading is grist. Reading is bliss.” ― Nora Ephron, I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
Reading is everything.
The best books for writers are the ones that become good friends. The ones that take us outside of ourselves but also give us a home.
You can never read too much, and you can never write too much. There's a young person today who needs the story you're writing–perhaps it's the story you needed when you were young, too.
That's the good thing about writing and reading. It's never too late, and there is always time for a little more.
