“It appears these days I don't have much of a life because my nose is often stuck in a book. But I discovered that reading builds a life inside the mind.”

“I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.”

“I often feel sorry for people who don't read good books; they are missing a chance to lead an extra life.”

“I don't know what else to tell you. I often think how different my life would have been - how much happier - if you'd been a part of it. One day.”

“I pity the people who don't like to read, because then they spend their whole lives stuck in this one world and dont get to discover any others.”

“What are we after when we open one of those books? What is it that makes a classic a classic? ... in old-fashioned terms, the answer is that it wll elevate your spirit. And that's why I can't take much stock in the idea of going through a list of books or 'covering' a fixed number of selections, or anyway striving for the blessed state of having read this, or the other. Having read a book means nothing. Reading a book may be the most tremendous experience of your life; having read it is an item in your memory, part of your receding past... Why we have that odd faith in the magic of having read a book, I don't know. We don't apply the same principle elsewhere: We don't believe in having heard Mendelssohn's violin concerto...I say, don't read the classics -- try to discover your own classics; every life has its own.”