50 Famous Book Quotes From The Classics

These famous book quotes will remind you why consuming a wide range of reading material is fantastic for your health! 

Does it matter what we read? 

Absolutely! Our content choices directly impact both our physical and mental health. 

What are some benefits of reading classic literature?

Researchers have found clear benefits of shared book reading for brain development.

Reading quality content impacts our brains! 

Reading about the development of others helps us better conceptualize our evolution.  

Our evolution relies heavily on exposure to quality literature that bridges the following:

• Race
• Culture
• Religion
• Geography

Quality books often contain thought-provoking socio-ethical situations that lead to character development. 

When we feel ignorant, it causes chemical responses in our brains. 

Our dopamine levels drop when we read something we do not understand or come across an unfamiliar reference.

Lowered dopamine levels make you think you dislike the book you are reading, creating an association that you dislike quality books, and limiting your excitement to continue reading. 

Pushing through a challenging read does wonders for our brain and self-esteem.

Benefits of reading classical literature

Classics open a vista to different worlds, cultures, and historical perspectives. 

Reading classical literature allows us to demonstrate gratitude for the gift of literacy. 

Books that reflect lives similar to ours are called “mirrors.” 

Books that give us a glimpse of a life different from ours are called “windows.”

Reading about a character’s struggles with injustice and the impacts of vengeance gives us a deeper understanding of the human mosaic.

Shared book reading with children increases:

• Vocabulary
• Cognitive and language development
• Conceptual development skills

Bibliotherapy is genuine, and quality books offer a cathartic experience.

We see how we can persevere through challenges, overcome injustice, and decide that vengeance is a dish best served not at all.

Did you know that thirteen countries have literacy rates lower than fifty percent? 

Check out our famous book quotes from the classic below. 

Short famous book quotes

Not all famous quotes are lengthy. This list honors the short, famous book quotes that defined a genre.

1. “Love is or it ain’t. Thin love ain’t love at all.” — Toni Morrison

2. “We accept the love we think we deserve.” ― Stephen Chbosky

3. “Beware; for I am fearless, and therefore powerful.” — Mary Shelley

4. “The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.” — John Green

5. “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” — J. R. R. Tolkien

6. “All human wisdom is summed up in these two words—wait and hope.” — Alexandre Dumas

7. “All we can know is that we know nothing. And that’s the height of human wisdom.” — Leo Tolstoy

8. “But man is not made for defeat, he said. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” — Ernest Hemingway

9. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

10. “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will, which I now exert to leave you.” — Charlotte Brontë

Famous book quotes about love

In literature, humanity has shared some of its most meaningful expressions about love. 

Below are famous book quotes about love that will capture your heart. 

11. “Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.” — Alice Walker

12. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” — Emily Brontë

13. “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” — Zora Neale Hurston

14. “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” — Louisa May Alcott

15. “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am.” — Sylvia Plath

16. “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” — Leo Tolstoy

17. “Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.” — William Goldman

18. “And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

19. “Ever’body’s askin’ that. ‘What we comin’ to?’ Seems to me we don’t never come to nothin’. Always on the way.” — John Steinbeck

20. “This above all: To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” — William Shakespeare

Famous book quotes about life

Our lives are like personal novels, and we write a new page daily. 

These famous book quotes about life are insightful and riveting.

21. “It is nothing to die; it is dreadful not to live.” — Victor Hugo

22. “Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for.” — Joseph Heller

23. “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” — Daphne du Maurier

24. “As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” — John Green

25. “So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible.” — Norton Juster

26. “Memories warm you up from the inside. But they also tear you apart.” — Haruki Murakami

27. “I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it.” — Ernest Hemingway

28. “Life is to be lived, not controlled; and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat.” — Ralph Ellison

29. “There is only one page left to write on. I will fill it with words of only one syllable. I love. I have loved. I will love.” — Dodie Smith

30. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” — George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four

Famous book quotes from Classic American Literature 

American culture has produced some of the world’s most-read and critically acclaimed pieces of literature.

31. “So it goes.” — Kurt Vonnegut

32. “For you, a thousand times over.” — Khaled Hosseini

33. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” — J. K. Rowling

34. “All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” — J. M. Barrie

35. “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.” — J. D. Salinger

36. “Why, sometimes, I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” — Lewis Carroll

37. “Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day.” — Margaret Mitchell

38. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” — Jane Austen

39. “You pierce my soul. I am half agony. Half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever.” — Jane Austen

40. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” — William Golding

Famous author book quotes 

These famous author book quotes are a compilation of some of the world’s most widely read authors.

41. “Each time you happen to me all over again.” — Edith Wharton

42. “What does the brain matter compared with the heart?” — Virginia Woolf

43. “If you have the guts to be yourself, other people’ll pay your price.” — John Updike

44. “Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.” — Anthony Doerr

45. “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” — Paulo Coelho

46. “Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you go on even though you’re scared.” — Angie Thomas

47. “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” — William Shakespeare, The Tempest

48. “I had the epiphany that laughter was light, and light was laughter and that this was the secret of the universe.” — Donna Tartt

49. “How easy it was to lie to strangers, to create with strangers the versions of our lives we imagined.” — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

50. “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into an enormous insect.” — Franz Kafka

The power of classic literature 

Classic books are pieces of art that speak to the human heart by continuously creating new dialogue and discussion.

Aside from developing the brains of cognition of babies, reading challenging material is good for our physical and mental health. 

It is beneficial to read books with solid ideas, especially if they are ideas we disagree with or need help understanding. 

Such an experience is a beautiful way to discover who we are and strengthen our thoughts. 

In life, our most significant growth moments are when challenges occur.

Quality books offer constructively challenging experiences that enrich our souls. 

Literacy is the gift that keeps giving, allowing us access to alien worlds, new ideas, and growth opportunities. 

Food for thought is as essential as physical food.

What we consume has a direct impact on us. 

Challenging ourselves with quality reading material is one of the best things we can do to stay healthy. 

What are some of your favorite famous books?

Let us know in the comments below.