These attention-catching quotes about libraries and librarians are best suited for school and public library walls.

Libraries matter more than ever before. And more than ever before, they deserve to be promoted.

Today, libraries are way more than just a place with free books. They are thriving community halls, cultural centers, and instant knowledge hubs. Librarians help local communities grow, adjust to the changing world, and survive hard times.

Library services are being constantly extended to new areas: from free access to the latest technology, to user-friendly workspaces, to digital literacy courses, to online book club groups.

We compiled a list of the best quotes about libraries and librarians before (by the way, it’s one of our most popular lists of all time). However, when it comes to promoting reading, books, and libraries, there is no such thing as “enough.”

Library quotes you will see below is a tribute to the classic book cover design, and the beginning of a new series of quotes for modern book lovers.

You are welcome to share the quotes with your friends and followers – not only during Library Lover’s Month or Library Card Sign-up Month.

If you’d like to get the quotes in a higher resolution, on a poster, magnet, or mug, I have made them available in popular online merch stores: Redbubble, Zazzle, and Society6.

Do you have a few minutes more? I’m delighted to present our monthly literary calendars. They include not only the most important dates and events, but also a reading challenge for each week, a fun fact, and a bookish quote.

⇢ Redbubble ⇢ Zazzle ⇢ Society6

Vintage-style quotes for library walls

1

An original idea. That can’t be too hard. The library must be full of them.

– Stephen Fry

2

Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.

– Marc Brown

3

I ransack public libraries, and find them full of sunk treasure.

– Virginia Woolf

4

There is no problem that a library card can’t solve.

– Eleanor Brown

5

We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.

– John Lubbock

6

Bookshops and libraries are a backstage of success.

– Piotr Kowalczyk

7

Nothing is pleasanter than exploring a library.

– Walter Savage Landor

8

Librarians are tour-guides for all of knowledge.

– Patrick Ness

9

Rule number one: Don’t shhh with librarians.

– Neil Gaiman (as heard in a library)

Keep exploring. Here are other popular lists:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]

The design of these vintage-style book quotes was inspired by title pages from 18th-century books.

One may say that, when it comes to book quotes, everything has been done.

All most interesting book and library quotes have been already discovered, and many book lovers know them by heart.

What’s more, the quotes have been visualized in numerous ways, making them easy to share in social media.

Most of the designs share the same style: cozy and somehow messy. They mix font faces and styles with bright colors, and fill the entire space. As a result, you see something that may be too overwhelming.

On the other side, it’s surprising that the iconic book design of 17th, 18th, or 19th century has not yet been picked as a style inspiration. It’s so beautiful, and – what’s most important – so very bookish!

That’s why I have decided to pick up some of my book quotes and design them in the vintage style of 18th century book titles, with a spacy layout, a decent use of ornaments, and the classic Baskerville font face as a style hero.

The quotes are available in my idea pool at Geek Updated. You can also find them on over 70 products in my Redbubble, Zazzle, and Society6 stores.

[ef-reco id=”140890″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]

Original vintage-style book quotes

1

Life is like a novel, with you being both its author and main character.

2

Reading is an act of selfless help to oneself.

3

My brain is proudly powered by books.

4

Movies are the keyhole. Books are the key.

5

Life is lighter with a heavy bookshelf.

6

I see a book, I see a coffee, I see a good day ahead.

7

A book is not an escape from life, but a shortcut to a better one.

8

A book is a first-aid box for the mind.

Vintage book quotes on Redbubble

All the designs are available in my Redbubble shop light or dark color. You can get them printed on over 70 products, both apparel and home decor, naming only essential t-shirts, throw pillows, laptop sleeves, phone cases, or stationery.

Redbubble is a leading online marketplace for print-on-demand products, offering artwork uploaded by over 700,000 artists from around the world.

⇢ Redbubble

Don’t stop exploring. Here are other gift lists:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”gifts”]

You may ask, what book quotes have to do with the ebook site. Ebook sites are still mostly focused on the issues related to technology rather than pleasures of reading.

We believe that a reader has to learn only as much technology as it’s needed to fully enjoy the magic of reading. Reading in times of digital content is changing, but it doesn’t mean it gives less pleasure. Just the opposite.

There is absolutely no difference between a hardcover book or an audiobook or a multimedia book application. There is no difference between a high-quality paper and e-ink screen or a high-resolution Retina display.

The biggest pleasure comes from what we read, not from on what we read.

The real difference, though, lies in our attitude to reading. Gilbert K. Chesterton once said: “There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.”

If you believe there are great quotes that should be added to the list, don’t hesitate to reach us on social media with your recommendations. Thanks!

50 best quotes about books and reading

1

Books are a uniquely portable magic.

– Stephen King

This beautiful book quote was beautifully visualized by Risa Rodil. You can get the artwork from Redbubble, on a variety of products. Besides a number of posters, you can have iPad and iPhone cases, mugs, wall clocks, and even a duvet cover! And, yes, apparel is here, too.

⇢ Redbubble

2

No two persons ever read the same book.

– Edmund Wilson

3

Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.

– Vera Nazarian

4

If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

5

I would never read a book if it were possible for me to talk half an hour with the man who wrote it.

– Woodrow Wilson

6

Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.

– Mason Cooley

7

Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

– P.J. O’Rourke

8

Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.

– Author Unknown

9

I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.

– Harold Kushner

10

There is no friend as loyal as a book.

– Ernest Hemingway

11

There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.

– Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

12

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.

– Maya Angelou

13

You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy books and that’s kind of the same thing.

– Anonymous

14

The book you don’t read won’t help.

– Jim Rohn

15

Great books help you understand, and they help you feel understood.

– John Green

16

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.

– Haruki Murakami

A minimalist and stylish visualization of Murakami’s bright thought on how reading makes us exceptional.

⇢ Etsy

17

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

– Gilbert K. Chesterton

18

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.

– Gilbert K. Chesterton

19

A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.

– Neil Gaiman

This inspiring quote by Neil Gaiman is worth repeating every day. What about placing it in your bedroom right in front of your bed? You’ll see it when you open your eyes, or right before you’ll close them.

⇢ Etsy

20

A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it or offer your own version in return.

– Salman Rushdie

21

In a good book the best is between the lines.

– Swedish Proverb

22

Are we not like two volumes of one book?

– Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

23

We lose ourselves in books. We find ourselves there too.

– Anonymous

24

Keep reading books, but remember that a book is only a book, and you should learn to think for yourself.

– Maxim Gorky

25

It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.

– Oscar Wilde

26

So many books, so little time.

– Frank Zappa

27

There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.

– Marcel Proust

28

The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.

– Oscar Wilde

29

Beware of the person of one book.

– Thomas Aquinas

30

Between the pages of a book is a wonderful place to be.

– Anonymous

A lovely flower typographic poster designed by Stella Bookish Arts is available on t-shirts, iPhone cases, travel mugs, tote bags and over thirty other items.

⇢ Redbubble

31

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it.

– Edward P. Morgan

32

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.

– Oscar Wilde

33

The only important thing in a book is the meaning that it has for you.

– W. Somerset Maugham

34

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

– Dr. Seuss

Isn’t it one of these quotes that made our childhood a happy and inspiring time? A passage from I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! by Dr. Seuss was visualized by Dune Studio, and you can download it from Etsy in a quality matching posters from 5 × 7 to 16 × 20 inches.

⇢ Etsy

35

Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself.

– Angela Carter

36

There’s nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over.

– Gail Carson Levine

37

Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled “This could change your life.”

– Helen Exley

This typographic art print was designed by Sacred and Profane and features a bold quote by Helen Exley on how a book can change people’s lives. The poster is available in two sizes, A4 or A3, but you can also order a custom size.

⇢ Etsy

38

It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.

– C.S. Lewis

39

Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.

– George Bernard Shaw

40

Some books leave us free and some books make us free.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

41

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.

– Abraham Lincoln

42

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.

– C.S. Lewis

43

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.

– C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis is the author of several meaningful quotes about books and reading, and we feature a few of them in this list. The one shown above is beautifully designed by Violet and Alfie. You can get it in one of four colors.

⇢ Etsy

44

Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?

– Henry Ward Beecher

45

A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading.

– William Styron

46

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.

– Henry David Thoreau

47

One always has a better book in one’s mind than one can manage to get onto paper.

– Michael Cunningham

48

I divide all readers into two classes; those who read to remember and those who read to forget.

– William Lyon Phelps

49

In old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.

– Oscar Wilde

50

There comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page and closing the book.

– Josh Jameson

When there comes a time you decide to hang your favorite book quote on a wall, make sure to check out the artwork from The Writing Craft. This quote by Josh Jameson is available on over 40 products: apparel, home decor, personal accessories, and more.

⇢ Redbubble

51

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

– Joseph Brodsky

52

What you don’t know would make a great book.

– Sydney Smith

53

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

54

I cannot sleep unless I am surrounded by books.

– Jorge Luis Borges

55

We read to know that we are not alone.

– William Nicholson

56

Men do not understand books until they have a certain amount of life, or at any rate no man understands a deep book, until he has seen and lived at least part of its contents.

– Ezra Pound

57

That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.

– Amos Bronson Alcott

58

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

– Frederick Douglas

59

Books are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.

– J.K. Rowling

60

A book is a device to ignite the imagination.

– Alan Bennett

61

I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.

– Neil Gaiman

62

It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read.

– Judy Blume

63

If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.

– Toni Morrison

64

A good book has no ending.

– R.D. Cumming

And the last beautiful quote about books turned into a beautiful visual. Hand-lettered by Teri Lea Wright, this 8×10 typographic poster is printed on high-quality matte photo paper.

⇢ Etsy

Keep exploring. Here are more lists and tips for book lovers:

There is no such thing as too many books. And there is no such thing as too many book quotes.

If you were looking for quotes about books and libraries, you must have discovered lists by Goodreads, BrainyQuote, or Good Housekeeping, already. We hope you’ve come across one of our tailored lists with book quotes lists as well.

The problem with these lists is that in most cases they highlight the most popular book quotes – the ones you already know and don’t find inspiring any longer.

Sometimes, a brilliant passage about the joy of reading can be found on the 10th or 20th page of the book quote directory on Goodreads, liked by “only” 100 users or 200 users. It’s not that this quote is not good enough. The point is that it has not yet been discovered.

That’s why we’ve come up with a new selection of book quotes. This time the rule is simple: you will find here only the quotes that highlight the benefits and importance of books and libraries.

As usual, multiple quotes are visualized so that you can easily share them across your social media channels – if you are determined enough to spread the love of books. See the highlights below.

Where to find inspiring book quotes?

From our experience, the best source of new thoughts about books, libraries, and reading is Twitter. And, thanks to popular daily hashtags (such as #MondayMotivation, #TuesdayThoughts, or #ThursdayThoughts), it’s easy to spot the most interesting ones.

The best book quotes are shared by a few Twitter profiles, and we are excited to recommend them to you:

NJ State Library – if you are looking for the constant stream of inspiring quotes on books and libraries, this single profile should make you more than happy. In fact, most quotes in this overview are coming from the NJ State Library’s Twitter account. At least one motivational book-related quote a day guaranteed!

The Paris Review – a Twitter profile of this influential literary magazine shares the most important passages from current articles and interviews. Following it is a must for anyone who is interested in seeing how literature evolves in the digital times.

Penguin Books UK – join almost 2 million Twitter followers to read not only the latest book releases but also timely quotes from your favorite authors. Want to find a quote from the author who is born today? You’ll find it in the Penguin Books UK account.

Maria Popova – on her Twitter profile, Maria Popova shares most interesting excerpts from articles (current and archive) she wrote on her popular Brain Pickings blog which is an “inquiry into what it means to live a decent, substantive, rewarding life.” Not all quotes are about books, but when you find one, you will be amazed.

Goodreads – the most popular Twitter profile for book lovers (3.7 million followers) delivers a perfectly balanced set of tweets that will keep you in the mood of reading books and talking about them. The quotes about books and reading are shared as images, and it’s hard to resist to repost them!

If you are looking for book quotes that are visualized and ready to share on social media, make sure to get in touch on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

50 best quotes on the importance of libraries and books

1

There is no problem that a library card can’t solve.

– Eleanor Brown

2

Reading allows us to see and understand the world through the eyes of others.

– Chris Riddell

3

Saying the Internet makes librarians obsolete is like saying the plague makes doctors obsolete.

– Cory Doctorow

4

If you wish to renew your mind, read.

– Lailah Gifty Akita

5

Libraries, in the past, the present, and the future, are the memory and workshop of humanity.

– Christian Lauersen

6

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.

– Mortimer J. Adler

7

The library is the place I go when I want to be in the know.

– Charmaine J. Forde

8

A library card is a powerful weapon to change lives. With it, we learn how to value what we have, to mourn what we have lost and to dream of what we might become.

– Val McDermid

9

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.

– Mary Ellen Chase

10

Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world.

– Jeanette Winterson

11

A book is a device to ignite the imagination.

– Alan Bennett

12

I can feel infinitely alive curled up on the sofa reading a book.

– Benedict Cumberbatch

13

One of the greatest gifts adults can give – to their offspring and to their society – is to read to children.

– Carl Sagan

14

A library doesn’t need windows. A library is a window.

– Stewart Brand

15

When you read a book, you hold another’s mind in your hands.

– James Burke

16

The only way to educate oneself is by making books a life companion.

– Michael Bassey Johnson

17

I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place.

– Anne Tyler

18

Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.

– Plato

19

Libraries are the ultimate restaurants for brain food. I sleep better knowing there are libraries.

– Simon Van Booy

20

One of the best things about reading is that you’ll always have something to think about when you’re not reading.

– James Patterson

21

A trip to the library is like coming home and going on an adventure at the same time.

– Megan Shepherd

22

Libraries are no longer archaic rooms of dusty books, but part of a global network that’s championing open access.

– Georgina Cronin

23

There’s no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books.

– James Patterson

24

A good book is an empathy engine.

– Chris Riddell

25

A great library is one nobody notices because it is always there, and always has what people need.

– Vicki Myron

26

If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance.

– Sherman Alexie

27

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

– Orhan Pamuk

28

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest men of past centuries.

– René Descartes

29

Maybe reading is like sex – best discovered on one’s own.

– J.D. McClatchy

30

I don’t have to look far to find treasures. I discover them every time I visit the library.

– Michael Embry

31

If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books.

– Roald Dahl

32

If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads, but what he rereads.

– François Mauriac

33

We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.

– John Lubbock

34

Reading is the finest teacher of how to write.

– Annie Proulx

35

A library card is the start of a lifelong adventure.

– Lilian Jackson Braun

36

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.

– Kate DiCamillo

37

You’ll never be alone if you’ve got a book.

– Al Pacino

38

For everyone, a book is a search and hopefully a discovery.

– Shelby Foote

39

The library is not only a diary of the human race, but marks an act of faith in the continuity of humanity.

– Vartan Gregorian

40

It is better to be shoeless than bookless.

– Icelandic Proverb

41

Books are like imprisoned souls until someone takes them down from a shelf and frees them.

– Samuel Butler

42

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.

– Charles William Eliot

43

To read is to voyage through time.

– Carl Sagan

44

The library is the temple of learning, and learning has liberated more people than all the wars in history.

– Carl T. Rowan

45

An hour spent reading is one stolen from paradise.

– Thomas Wharton

46

A bookstore is one of the many pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking.

– Jerry Seinfeld

47

Libraries aren’t in the real world. They’re places apart, sanctuaries of pure thought.

– Paul Auster

48

I read for pleasure and that is the moment I learn the most.

– Margaret Atwood

49

You live several lives while reading.

– William Styron

50

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.

– Albert Einstein

51

Books are… companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of mind.

– Barbara W. Tuchman

52

Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.

– Napoléon Bonaparte

53

Great books help you understand, and they help you to feel understood.

– John Green

54

Shout for libraries. Shout for the young readers who use them.

– Patrick Ness

55

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.

– Walt Disney

56

The school library may well be the most important room in any public school building.

– Chris Crutcher

57

A home without a book is darker than one without a lamp.

– Henryk Sienkiewicz

Keep exploring. Here are other popular lists and tips:

Internet users share hundreds of thousands of quotes every day. Not too many people know that many of these great thoughts come from books. Even fewer know which books.

A single iconic sentence from a classic novel is not only a shot of positive energy. It’s proof that reading the remaining thousands of sentences will give the same level of pleasure and inspiration.

Want great quotes direct you to great reads? We list our 50 favorites below. For more inspiration, you can explore two quote collections.

First of all, you should check out Goodreads Quotes catalog – a section of the popular book recommendation site where users add their favorite quotes found in books.

By default, the book quotes on Goodreads are sorted by popularity (and this means the number of likes), so right away you’ll get inspired by the most powerful thoughts.

If you are looking for well-researched and attributed quotes, make sure to visit Wikiquote. Literary quotes are grouped by title, so it’s the easiest way to research the most interesting thoughts from specific books. What’s also very helpful, each detail page includes info about which chapter the particular quote comes from.

If there is a quote you believe should be added to the list, please share it in the comments below.

And now, take your time and get inspired!

50 most inspirational quotes from books

1

There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.

– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

2

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.

– H.Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You

3

Well-behaved women seldom make history.

– Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History

4

It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.

– André Gide, Autumn Leaves

You can hang this wonderful quote from André Gide on the wall. The artwork designed by Quotes and Prose is available for instant download, 8 × 10 inch jpeg or pdf file.

⇢ Etsy

5

Who, being loved, is poor?

– Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

6

Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.

– J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

7

Get busy living, or get busy dying.

– Stephen King, Different Seasons

8

The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.

– Chuck Palahniuk, Diary

9

Travel far enough, you meet yourself.

– David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

A quote from David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas on a calligraphy print by Brenna Morris. The artwork is available in three sizes, from 4 × 6 to 8 × 10 inches.

⇢ Etsy

10

None of us really changes over time. We only become more fully what we are.

– Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat

11

Most people are nice when you finally see them.

– Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

12

Don’t panic.

– Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

13

All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.

– Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet In Heaven

14

When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is about to arrive.

– Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

15

It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.

– Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

The design by Sweetest Pie. You can get it from Etsy as an instant download, and print yourself in one of two sizes.

⇢ Etsy

16

The only limits for tomorrow are the doubts we have today.

–Pittacus Lore, The Power of Six

17

It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

– J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

18

If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.

– Lemony Snicket, The Ersatz Elevator

19

I don’t want to die without any scars.

– Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

20

Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up.

– Veronica Roth, Divergent

21

When you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worth while.

– Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

A quote beautifully visualized by Chasing Elephants. You can get a digital file of this green color version, but also ask the shop owner for a different set of colors.

⇢ Etsy

22

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.

– Sylvia Plath, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

23

Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

– Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist

24

I dream. Sometimes I think that’s the only right thing to do.

– Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart

25

Not all those who wander are lost.

– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

This beautiful design comes from The Love Shop. It’s available on as much as 38 different products, including wall art, home decor, apparel, and stationery.

⇢ Redbubble

26

If I got rid of my demons, I’d lose my angels.

– Tennessee Williams, Conversations with Tennessee Williams

27

It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.

– Philip K. Dick, Valis

28

If you’re making mistakes it means you’re out there doing something.

– Neil Gaiman, Make Good Art

29

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

– Paulo Coelho, Brida

30

If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.

– Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

31

To define is to limit.

– Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

32

Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.

– Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

33

If you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all.

– John Green, Paper Towns

34

Everything is possible. The impossible just takes longer.

– Dan Brown, Digital Fortress

35

So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible.

– Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

36

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

– Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan

37

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

– Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

38

Above all, don’t lie to yourself.

– Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

39

Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.

– John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

40

You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.

– Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men

41

We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.

– J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

A hand-lettered artwork by Simple Serene is available on posters, travel mugs, iPhone skins, and wall clocks, among others.

⇢ Amazon Handmade

42

Nothing that’s worthwhile is ever easy.

– Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle

43

It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.

– Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

44

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

– Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married

45

It is never too late to be wise.

– Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

46

Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.

– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

47

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

– Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

48

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.

– Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

49

Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for.

– Joseph Heller, Catch-22

50

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

– J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Don’t stop exploring. Here are other popular lists:

Famous quotes that creatively describe the benefits of books and libraries are among the most efficient tools to encourage people to rediscover the joy of reading.

The problem with the classic book quotes is that, when repeated too often, they become less and less inspiring. One could say: Beware of the person of one quote.

There are thousands of fascinating new books being published every year, yet we are still using a pool of well-known classic thoughts to promote them.

In the digital times, our lives are changing at unprecedented speed, so are the reasons we read books. Nowadays, books are not only about loneliness, imagination, or happiness. Technology creates a powerful new frame of reference, and is, in my opinion, the biggest challenge for book lovers.

In the recent years, I have jotted a few hundred quotes about books and reading. You will see the best ones below. I have visualized some of them to help you easier spread the word. Feel free to share them across your social media. You can also check out the original list that includes older (and crazier) visualizations.

For the newest book quotes, make sure to follow NJ State Library and The Paris Review on Twitter. Lesser-known quotes (but at least as inspiring as classic thoughts) can be found in the Goodreads’ quote directory. In a separate list, we picked and visualized the best Goodreads’ quotes about the importance of books and libraries.

You can also connect with us on Twitter to tap into a continuous flow of ready-to-share image quotes that motivate to read books and use libraries.

Note: The following quotes were coined and designed by Piotr Kowalczyk, the founder of Ebook Friendly, who is passionate about how books evolve in the digital times.

50 quotes about books, libraries, and reading in the digital times

1

There is only one thing that can replace a book: the next book.

2

Reading a book is like sitting in an autonomous car driving into an unknown paradise.

3

You can always read a book tomorrow, but make sure you will have started yesterday.

4

A day without a book is like a latte without coffee.

5

Choosing between print books and ebooks is like choosing between first and second sip of a coffee.

6

Think of your future as a list of books you want to read.

7

Books are your own stories served from another mind.

8

You can read one chapter and take a rest, or you can read one chapter and read the rest.

9

You either borrow books or money.

10

Reading is like installing a new operating system inside your brain without the need to make a backup.

11

Life is like a novel, with you being both its author and main character.

12

If you want to focus, start reading a book. If it’s a good book, you won’t be able to focus on anything else.

13

There are two kinds of books: read and missed opportunities.

14

My brain is proudly powered by books.

15

Start reading books, and you will stop complaining about your life. Or the other way around.

16

The web is full of wrong answers. Books are full of right questions.

17

Movies are the keyhole. Books are the key.

18

We have to improve books if we want books to improve us.

19

Prove you are a human. Read books.

20

A book is like a cold drink vending machine on an endless desert of information overload.

21

An audiobook is your mind reading a book in a nice voice.

22

Except books, no existing technology is capable of taking you through time and space.

23

If you want to move the world, move your finger to the book-reading app and tap once.

24

Reading is an act of selfless help to oneself.

25

A book is a login to an exciting world, no password required.

26

Nobody can force you to read, just like nobody can force you to breathe.

27

The only space you have to reserve for books should be inside your brain.

28

Bookshops and libraries are a backstage of success.

29

In the back garden of your mind, there should always be an opened book.

30

There are two kinds of magic: the one captured in sparks and the one captured in words.

31

If you want to hear a sound of happiness, turn the page of a book.

32

A book is a humble messenger from paradise to a daily life.

33

A library card is a gift card you can use to pay your brain for getting smarter.

34

A librarian is a shop assistant who sells you a better version of yourself.

35

If a brain were an app, books would be a programming language.

36

A library card is the only card in your wallet that costs you nothing and gives you everything.

37

Even a bad book can teach you something. For instance, how to avoid choosing bad books.

38

Delight the book to the last stop.

39

A book is not an escape from life but a shortcut to a better one.

40

Reading the wrong book doesn’t harm as hard as applying the wrong technology.

41

A book is a picturesque mountain road where your imagination chases that of the author.

42

Make books a part of your day, and they will make happiness a part of your life.

43

One picture is like a thousand words, and one book is like a million pictures.

44

A book is a thought-vending machine.

45

It’s better to have a small bookshelf and a big mind than the other way around.

46

I see a book, I see a coffee, I see a good day ahead.

47

Pretending you read books is worse than admitting you don’t.

48

Sometimes between the lines of a book you can find the meaning of your entire life.

49

Books are the deadliest enemies of your ignorance.

50

A book is a social network for your thoughts.

51

An algorithm to live a good life is coded between the lines of the books you have read.

52

Delete old files and read new books.

53

My world consists of two parts: places that are close to my library, and places that are not.

54

Read books before robots do.

55

Owning a Kindle and not reading books is like owning a theme park and sitting at home.

56

Book lover’s Sunday dream: to read in bed as if there were no Mondays.

57

Life is lighter with a heavy bookshelf.

58

A book is a first-aid box for the mind.

59

Reading is a lifetime pass to adventure.

Keep reading. Here are other lists and posts to explore:

Every year, a few books get new life thanks to their movie adaptations. And every time the next book is adapted to the big screen, we witness a heated discussion about what is better: the book or its adaptation.

We should not compare these two worlds. They are governed by different rules and aimed at reaching different goals. Many of the quotes presented below prove the comparison is pointless and leads nowhere.

Comparing a book to a movie is like comparing glasses to a mirror. The same ingredient doesn’t make them similar.

On the other hand, it’s good to keep in mind all the advantages of a book adaptation. The movie restores interest in the book and its author. It can increase or create an awareness of the book, making many people reach for it for the first time. It helps discover new meanings and a new context.

The more people talk, the better. For the movie or the book. Obviously, it doesn’t apply to a bad movie adaptation (a bad movie or a missed adaptation), or a bad book.

One of the best book-vs-movie quotes comes from J.W. Eagan (by the way, do you know who this person is?). “Never judge a book by its movie” is brilliant, because it encourages to form two different opinions: one about the book and the other about the movie.

Is this list missing a quote? Share your suggestions in the comments below.

Books vs. movies – 25 best quotes

1

Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit, but taste completely different.

–Stephen King

2

Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.

–John le Carre

3

Artists use frauds to make human beings seem more wonderful than they really are. Dancers show us human beings who move much more gracefully than human beings really move. Films and books and plays show us people talking much more entertainingly than people really talk, make paltry human enterprises seem important. Singers and musicians show us human beings making sounds far more lovely than human beings really make. Architects give us temples in which something marvelous is obviously going on. Actually, practically nothing is going on

–Kurt Vonnegut

4

I’m all for whatever transitions the book properly to a movie.

–Gillian Flynn

5

I’m not from the movie world. I’m from the book world.

–Daniel Woodrell

6

If you truly love film, I think the healthiest thing to do is not read books on the subject. I prefer the glossy film magazines with their big color photos and gossip columns, or the National Enquirer. Such vulgarity is healthy and safe.

–Werner Herzog

7

There are things in the book you could never do in a movie.

–Noah Hathaway

8

The summer movies are coming out. My advice: just stay home and burn a good book.

–Stephen Colbert

9

I have three kids who like Harry Potter so I was sort of aware of it. You can’t really move from it: it’s on buses, in stores, it’s everywhere. One of my kids has read the books; the other two are too small but they like the movies.

–Gary Oldman

10

I wanted to write and direct movies and not be forced to adapt them from a bestselling book.

–Francis Ford Coppola

11

What makes a good book and what makes a good movie are totally different things.

–Seth Grahame-Smith

12

I enjoy about 1 out of 100 movies, it’s about the same proportion to books published that I care to read.

–Jim Harrison

13

I love the movies, and when I go to see a movie that’s been made from one of my books, I know that it isn’t going to be exactly like my novel because a lot of other people have interpreted it. But I also know it has an idea that I’ll like because that idea occurred to me, and I spent a year, or a year and a half of my life working on it.

–Stephen King

14

As an author, you can’t expect a movie to be an illustration of the book. If that’s what you hope for, you shouldn’t sell the rights.

–Bernhard Schlink

15

I’ve had nine of my books adapted to film, and almost all were enjoyable. I’ve been very lucky with Hollywood, and look forward to more movies being adapted. But I don’t get involved in that process. I know nothing about making movies and I stay away from it and hope for the best.

–John Grisham

16

When you’re making a movie of a book, people are always waiting with their knives.

–Joel Edgerton

17

I couldn’t be happier about being a part of ‘Hunger Games’ and to play Katniss. I have a huge responsibility to the fans of this incredible book and I don’t take it lightly. I will give everything I have to these movies and to this role to make it worthy of Suzanne Collins’ masterpiece.

–Jennifer Lawrence

18

The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader. That’s why we go to movies and say, “Oh, the book is better.”

–Paulo Coelho

19

We want a book to be a book. We’ll have all the interactive bells and whistles but our intent is to engage young people in reading, not to show them a movie.

–LeVar Burton

20

Movies are not scripts – movies are films; they’re not books, they’re not the theatre.

–Nicolas Roeg

21

I’m obsessed with zombies. I like watching zombie movies and I read zombie books.

–Kevin Bacon

22

OK, publishing a book and releasing a movie is all very well, but Tottenham beating Man. U. 3-2… priceless.

–Salman Rushdie

23

I really believe that the movie will never be as good as the book, both because the book goes on longer – a movie is basically an abridgment of a book – and because books are internal. But they are incredibly powerful. The visual format is, you know, amazing.

–Scott Turow

24

It’s such a complicated thing to put a movie together. The book world is so much simpler.

–Arthur Slade

25

I’m always frustrated when somebody makes a movie out of a book and they leave the book behind, or the heart of it.

–Sean Penn

Sources of quotes: Brainy Quotes, Goodreads.

Books vs. movies – infographic

Feel free to share this infographic on your blog or on social media.

Keep reading. Here are other lists and posts to check out:

Libraries are essential in a process of giving citizens access to knowledge. In digital times they are needed more than ever before.

Get your library card, and you’ll be able to borrow a print or electronic book, use free internet, or attend a course that will improve your digital skills.

Most importantly, however, libraries are the places where you can expect smart and clear answers to even the most difficult questions.

Neil Gaiman perfectly describes what’s happening in digital times: “Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.”

In times of the internet, everyone can visit a library without leaving home. It’s just a matter of opening a library website, and you can not only borrow an ebook but also ask the librarian an online question.

Where are you heading with your life? Each direction is good if there is a library along the way.

Please share the library quotes that are still missing. We’d be more than happy to add them. You can use the comments section below, or reach us on social media. Thanks!

50 best quotes about libraries and librarians

1

When in doubt go to the library.

– J.K. Rowling

2

Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities.

– R. David Lankes

3

An original idea. That can’t be too hard. The library must be full of them.

– Stephen Fry

This vintage-style artwork is available on Zazzle on several products, including apparel, personal accessories, and wall decor.

⇢ Zazzle

4

To build up a library is to create a life. It’s never just a random collection of books.

– Carlos María Domínguez

5

When I got my library card, that’s when my life began.

– Rita Mae Brown

6

Without libraries what have we? We have no past and no future.

– Ray Bradbury

7

The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.

– Albert Einstein

Adorably illustrated by Simini Blocker, the quote by Albert Einstein would make a great welcome poster in every library!

⇢ Inprnt

8

Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.

– Anne Herbert

9

The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community.

– Paula Poundstone

10

When you absolutely positively have to know, ask a librarian.

– American Library Association

11

The most important asset of any library goes home at night – the library staff.

– Timothy Healy

12

In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with floaties and teach us to swim.

– Linton Weeks

13

I ransack public libraries, and find them full of sunk treasure.

– Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf’s famous quote about libraries is a part of our “Vintage Library Quotes” series. Available on Zazzle on over 50 items.

⇢ Zazzle

14

People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.

– Saul Bellow

15

The library card is a passport to wonders and miracles, glimpses into other lives, religions, experiences, the hopes and dreams and strivings of ALL human beings, and it is this passport that opens our eyes and hearts to the world beyond our front doors, that is one of our best hopes against tyranny, xenophobia, hopelessness, despair, anarchy, and ignorance.

– Libba Bray

16

I have found the most valuable thing in my wallet is my library card.

– Laura Bush

17

I’m really a library man, or second-hand book man.

– John le Carre

18

Libraries were full of ideas – perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.

– Sarah J. Maas

A quote by the NYT bestselling author Sarah J. Maas is available on almost 50 items, including home decor, stationery, cases and skins for phones and tablets, or clothes.

⇢ Redbubble

19

A library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life.

– Norman Cousins

20

Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life.

– Sidney Sheldon

21

If I was a book, I would like to be a library book, so I would be taken home by all different sorts of kids.

– Cornelia Funke

22

Libraries always remind me that there are good things in this world.

– Lauren Ward

This wonderful quote comes from Lauren Ward and is visualized beautifully by herself.

⇢ Society 6

23

Cutting libraries during a recession is like cutting hospitals during a plague.

– Eleanor Crumblehulme

24

If you want to get laid, go to college. If you want an education, go to the library.

– Frank Zappa

25

There is no problem that a library card can’t solve.

– Eleanor Brown

The quote by Eleanor Brown is available on Redbubble on almost 80 items, including transparent sticker in three sizes.

⇢ Redbubble

26

Shout for libraries. Shout for the young readers who use them.

– Patrick Ness

27

Librarians are almost always very helpful and often almost absurdly knowledgeable. Their skills are probably very underestimated and largely underemployed.

– Charles Medawar

28

If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in the library?

– Lily Tomlin

29

With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one – but no one at all – can tell you what to read and when and how.

– Doris Lessing

30

A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.

– Jo Godwin

Good folks from Bookish Birds offer this bold quote from Jo Godwin placed on a page from a dictionary that was destined for the trash bin. A perfect gift for a library lover in your life!

⇢ Etsy

31

A library book, I imagine, is a happy book.

– Cornelia Funke

32

Libraries raised me.

– Ray Bradbury

33

Everything you need for better future and success has already been written. And guess what? All you have to do is go to the library.

– Henri Frederic Amiel

34

If we can put a man on the moon and sequence the human genome, we should be able to devise something close to a universal digital public library.

– Peter Singer

35

Librarians are tour-guides for all of knowledge.

– Patrick Ness

Here is another visualization from our vintage-style quote series inspired by classic book covers. On Zazzle, you will have to place the artwork on dozens of merch products. What’s more, you will have a chance to customize it!

⇢ Zazzle

36

Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open.

– Laura Bush

37

A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.

– Lemony Snicket

38

Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.

– Neil Gaiman

39

You want weapons? We’re in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world. This room’s the greatest arsenal we could have. Arm yourself!

– Russell T. Davies (Doctor Who)

From Aenaon Art Work comes a typographic poster with a famous quote from Doctor Who TV series: season 2, episode 2 – “Tooth and Claw”.

⇢ Etsy

40

A great library is one nobody notices because it is always there, and always has what people need.

– Vicki Myron

41

Being a writer in a library is rather like being a eunuch in a harem.

– John Braine

42

Bookshops and libraries are a backstage of success.

– Piotr Kowalczyk

From a large collection of book quotes by Piotr Kowalczyk, we’ve picked up the one that describes what leads to success in life. Available on almost 80 products on Redbubble, including wall art, t-shirts, and mugs.

⇢ Redbubble

43

Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.

– Lady Bird Johnson

44

Librarians have always been among the most thoughtful and helpful people. They are teachers without a classroom.

– Willard Scott

45

My two favorite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything.

– Peter Golkin

46

A library is a place where you can lose your innocence without losing your virginity.

– Germaine Greer

47

Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark… In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed.

– Germaine Greer

48

Nothing is pleasanter than exploring a library.

– Walter Savage Landor

Check out the entire library quote series on Society6.

⇢ Society6

48

Libraries are our friends.

– Neil Gaiman

50

Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.

– Marc Brown

The popular library quote by Marc Brown is visualized to resemble classic book cover design. Available as art print in five sizes to fit any wall space.

⇢ Society6

51

Librarians are the secret masters of the world. They control information. Don’t ever piss one off.

– Spider Robinson

52

A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.

– Henry Ward Beecher

Another great library poster from Bookish Birds, with the hand-lettered quote by Henry Ward Beecher.

⇢ Etsy

53

What a school thinks about its library is a measure of what it feels about education.

– Harold Howe

54

A library is a place where you learn what teachers were afraid to teach you.

– Alan M. Dershowitz

55

Rule number one: Don’t f**k with librarians.

– Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman’s bold statement was cleverly modified to be used, well, in libraries:-)

⇢ Redbubble

56

A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library.

– Shelby Foote

57

When the going gets tough, the tough get a librarian.

– Joan Bauer

58

Librarian is a service occupation. Gas station attendant of the mind.

– Richard Powers

59

The love of libraries, like most loves, must be learned.

– Alberto Manguel

60

What is more important in a library than anything else – than everything else – is the fact that it exists.

– Archibald MacLeish

61

Libraries are the future of reading.

– Courtney Milan

62

When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.

– Isaac Asimov

63

We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.

– John Lubbock

The quote is available on posters, in sizes between 4 × 4 and 40 × 40 inches. You can also get it as an instant download. Plus, there is a way to transfer the design to dozens of other products.

⇢ Zazzle

Bonus

Go to the library even when not in doubt.

If you believe Jane Rowling’s “when in doubt, go to the library” is not quite right. This cozy hand-lettered design says: “Go to the library, even when not in doubt.” Available on dozens of products including posters.

⇢ Zazzle

Keep exploring. Here are other lists and tips for library lovers:

There have been as many plagues as wars in history – and they made people ask the same questions about sacrifice, love, death, and destiny.

Seventy years after its release, the classic novel from the master of the absurd is more relevant than ever before. The Plague is believed to refer to a cholera outbreak in Oran, a French-Algerian town on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, which took place in the mid-1800s.

Now, as Wuhan is the new Oran, people around the world are looking for answers to existential questions that appear out of nowhere and can’t fade away: What happens with my life when I get infected? Can I count on my relatives and family? Will my life become unbearable? Will my life ever be the same afterwards? What happens with our plans and dreams? What are the limits of love and sacrifice?

You probably read The Plague when you were young. It’s the highest time to reread the book to embrace the unknown.

The main source of the following quotes is Goodreads, the No. 1 destination for all the golden thoughts that originate from books. Goodreads users have already collected over 3,000 Albert Camus quotes. They are ranked by the number of likes. When it comes to The Plague, we have combined search keywords to find the quotes that deserve more than just a few likes.

One quote – a very relevant one – saying “Orders!… When what’s needed is imagination” is included in The Plague study guide offered online by Course Hero. We have double-checked it on Amazon, using “Look inside” feature for the version translated to English by Stuart Gilbert and sold by Vintage / Random House. The passage is here, in chapter 8.

What does it mean, the plague? Here are the answers.

[ef-reco id=”143261″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]

Best quotes from “The Plague” by Albert Camus

1

There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.

2

They considered themselves free and no one will ever be free as long as there is plague, pestilence and famine.

3

How hard it must be to live only with what one knows and what one remembers, cut off from what one hopes for!

4

Orders! … When what’s needed is imagination.

5

Well, personally, I’ve seen enough of people who die for an idea. I don’t believe in heroism; I know it’s easy and I’ve learned that it can be murderous. What interests me is living and dying for what one loves.

6

All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it’s up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences.

7

I have no idea what’s awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing.

[ef-reco id=”112670″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]

8

There is no denying that the plague had gradually killed off in all of us the faculty not of love only but even of friendship.

9

I only know that one must do what one can to cease being plague-stricken, and that’s the only way in which we can hope for some peace or, failing that, a decent death.

10

But what does it mean, the plague? It’s life, that’s all.

11

The silent city was no more than an assemblage of huge, inert cubes, between which only the mute effigies of great men, carapaced in bronze, with their blank stone or metal faces, conjured up a sorry semblance of what the man had been.

[ef-reco id=”137704″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]

12

The evil that is in the world comes out of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence, if they lack understanding.

13

Without having the unreasonable ambition to save men, we still want to serve them.

14

A loveless world is a dead world.

15

All a man could win in the conflict between plague and life was knowledge and memories.

16

Once the faintest stirring of hope became possible, the dominion of plague was ended.

17

The whole town rushed outside to celebrate this crowded minute when the time of suffering had ended and the time of forgetting had not yet begun.

18

Nothing in the world is worth turning one’s back on what one loves.

[ef-reco id=”99562″ title=”Read also” info=”Top article”]

More lists with quotes from books:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”quotes”]

How could artificial intelligence handle thoughts from the wisest of humans about objects that make humans smarter: books?

When talking about artificial intelligence, most of us still use words like “stupid,” “random,” “nonsense,” or “ridiculous.”

However, already now, some AI systems can be smarter than people who don’t read.

One such tool has been released to the public recently, and you can test it yourself. It’s called Talk to Transformer and you can access it in your web browser.

Created by Adam King, this text generator completes your custom snippet using a modern neural network. Opposite to predictive keyboards, which suggest single words and wait for your next input, the tool generates entire paragraphs of text.

Talk to Transformer is simple to use, but it’s based a cutting-edge technology – a modern GPT-2 language model released by OpenAI, and trained on a dataset of 8 million web pages.

Jump to the list

As a result, your text sample, be it a single word or a long passage, is processed against 345 million parameters to predict the next word, taking into consideration all previous words within the same text.

Can a robot which has “read” millions of web pages be smarter than you? Why not testing it? I’ve played with book quotes, but you can start typing anything you are interested in, for instance “Artificial intelligence is…”

Initially, I wanted to play with Talk to Transformer purely for fun. Everything had changed when I typed the first part of Stephen King’s “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” First results were unimpressive, but after a few times, I saw a text: “Books are a uniquely human medium.”

That’s why you are reading this list. Can a thought generated by a machine be as bright and inspiring as the one created by a human? Can a word “stupid” used to describe AI be replaced by “this is quite interesting”? Can a machine trick you into thinking it is a human?

We have to keep reading books, if we don’t want algorithms and artificial neural systems to overcome us with their intelligence.

You know, as two humans named “King” and a machine called “GPT-2” say: books are a uniquely human medium.

Famous book quotes completed by artificial intelligence

1

Original

A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.

– Neil Gaiman

Completed by AI

A book is a dream that you keep because it’s worth it, even when it doesn’t live up to your expectations.

A book is a dream that you can reach.

A book is a dream that you can’t put down, a dream that you can’t get rid of, and it’s that dream that makes you believe in something bigger.

A book is a dream that you will never be able to live without.

2

Original

In a good book the best is between the lines.

– Swedish Proverb

Completed by AI

In a good book the best is between an editor and publisher.

In a good book the best is between 5% and 7%.

In a good book the best is between 2.5 and 4.5, with a slight range between 4.5 and 5.0 depending on if the book is about literature, literature in general, or literature for the educated in general.

In a good book the best is between an individual’s intelligence and their intellectual ability.

3

Original

Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.

– Frederick Douglas

Completed by AI

Once you learn to read, you will be more confident.

Once you learn to read, you will always have fun.

Once you learn to read, you will be surprised at what you can accomplish.

Once you learn to read, you will be able to say no to alcohol!

4

Original

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

Completed by AI

You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and think, “Oh, god, my brain is on fire.”

You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel compelled to start over again.

You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and are sitting cross-legged and wondering if the book you were reading was one of the best ever.

5

Original

The book you don’t read won’t help.

– Jim Rohn

Completed by AI

The book you don’t read won’t make you smarter. Not really.

The book you don’t read won’t matter; the book that you’re reading is the most valuable thing you’ve ever had.

The book you don’t read won’t change the rest of your life – and it might not change your life at all.

6

Original

A room without books is like a body without a soul.

– Marcus Tullius Cicero

Completed by AI

A room without books is like a classroom without a teacher.

A room without books is like living in the middle of a cemetery without a grave.

A room without books is like a lonely forest.

A room without books is like a blank page in your mind.

A room without books is like a cell without air.

7

Original

So many books, so little time.

– Frank Zappa

Completed by AI

So many books, so many hours in bed.

So many books, so little word count!

So many books, so many experiences, yet somehow they are still so much the same.

So many books, so vernal-colored.

So many books, so many movies.

8

Original

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

– Joseph Brodsky

Completed by AI

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is burning our bookstores.

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is the taking of books from people.

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is trying to force people to pay $2M for non-fiction on an unknown author.

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is burning books for profit.

9

Original

Books are a uniquely portable magic.

– Stephen King

Completed by AI

Books are a uniquely rich vehicle of expression.

Books are a uniquely powerful tool to help us build new insights and understand complex systems.

Books are a uniquely portable vernacular for our time.

Books are a uniquely human medium.

10

Original

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.

– C.S. Lewis

Completed by AI

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once every few years.

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it in the middle of the night for an hour.

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only if it gave him a good buzz at one point.

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it while riding.

More lists to check out:

[ef-archive number=5 tag=”lists”]