Epictetus, on reading and writing:

If you would be a reader, read;

if a writer, write.

- Epictetus.

Jean Craighead George, on writing:

I love to write and I love the natural world.

Everything I've written about I've found exciting

and it has never left me at a loss for words.

I've always just done what I love.

- Jean Craighead George.

Joan Aiken, on stories:

Stories ought not to be just little bits of fantasy that are used to wile away an idle hour; from the beginning of the human race stories have been used - by priests, by bards, by medicine men - as magic instruments of healing, of teaching, as a means of helping people come to terms with the fact that they continually have to face insoluble problems and unbearable realities.

– Joan Aiken.

Victor Hugo, on books and reading:

It is from books that wise men derive consolation in the troubles of life.

- Victor Hugo.

Holly Black, on books:

It is my belief that books are living things.

- Holly Black.

Julia Alvarez, on books:

A novel is not, after all, a historical document, but a way to travel through the human heart.

– Julia Alvarez.

Dr. Seuss, on books and reading:

The more you read, the more things you will know.

- Dr. Seuss.

Anne Rice, on writing:

When I write something, every word of it is meant.

I can't say it enough.

- Anne Rice.

Louisa May Alcott, on books:

...and best of all, the wilderness of books,

in which she could wander, where she liked,

made the library a region of bliss to her.

- Louisa May Alcott.

Shannon Hale, on books and reading:

The book smelled dusty and old but also carried a sweet tang, a hint of something inviting.
She opened to the first page and started to read, pronouncing the words in a reverent whisper.

- Shannon Hale.

Louisa May Alcott, on books and reading:

I shall keep my book on the table here,

and read a little every morning as soon as I wake,

for I know it will do me good,

and help me through the day.

– Louisa May Alcott.

Jean Craighead George, on books:

Be you writer or reader, it is very pleasant to run away in a book.

- Jean Craighead George.

Brené Brown, on art and creativity:

If we want to make meaning, we need to make art.
Cook, write, draw, doodle, paint, scrapbook, take pictures, collage, knit, rebuild an engine, sculpt, dance, decorate, act, sing – it doesn't matter.
As long as we're creating, we're cultivating meaning.

- Brené Brown.

Betsy Byars, on writing:

Writing is like anything – baseball playing, piano playing, sewing, hammering nails.

The more you work on it, the better you get.

But it seems to take a longer time to get better at writing than hammering nails.

- Betsy Byars.

Katherine Paterson, on reading:

Reading has made such a profound difference to my life.
I'm sure I became a writer because of the power of literature in my own life.

- Katherine Paterson.

Julia Alvarez, on books:

A book does not discriminate against any reader.

All are welcome at the table of literature.

– Julia Alvarez.

Ann Patchett, on writing:

It was all in my head and now all I had to do was figure out a way to get it down on paper.

- Ann Patchett.

Anne Rice, on writing:

If you want to be a writer, write.

Write and write and write.

If you stop, start again.

Save everything that you write.

If you feel blocked, write through it until you feel your creative juices flowing again.

Write.

Writing is what makes a writer, nothing more and nothing less.

- Anne Rice.

Iris Murdoch, on reading and writing:

Reading and writing and the preservation of language and its forms

and the kind of eloquence and the kind of beauty which the language is capable of

is terribly important to the human beings because this is connected to thought.

 – Iris Murdoch.

Things book lovers do ...