50 Inspiring Quotes for Book Lovers

“Never judge a book by its cover”. It’s a popular quote and rightfully so since you don't know what the story's like until you read it, right? 

I try to live by this saying each day, but the ironic part is that I’m not a big reader. I wish I was. I wish that I could sit down, curl up with a good book and spend the day lost between the pages (I’ve always been jealous of those who can). Book lover or not, we are all authors. As we write the story of our own lives, we may erase ideas, tear out old pages, and like some chapters better than others. 

The best part: we are in control.

Whether you are a total bookworm or someone like me, who takes a bit longer to get through a story, books can be an escape from the real world.

What Book Quotes Mean To Book Lovers

Like all art forms, the words written on the pages of our favorite books can be interpreted in various ways. Book quotes simply or not hold different values to different people. For bookworms, lines from their favorite authors can captivate and help inspire the tales they live in their own lives. 

A book quote is a frame of mind. 

It is the monologue of a character, an explanation of a situation or a word of advice from the narrator. Above all, it has the power to move the story in a new direction. 

A good book is nothing without its characters, big and small. Each person mentioned has a greater purpose, connecting different worlds in one story. We resonate with characters and the meaningful book quotes they share because oftentimes, we can relate to them in some form.

Authors often create their characters based off of people they know or even themselves. Maybe we haven’t traveled down the rabbit hole or are on a quest to defeat a snarling beast and rescue the damsel in distress, but there may be parts of us that are not so different. Maybe the way the character is described looks like us, have the same thoughts and values, or we are fighting similar battles. For book lovers, using their favorite book quotes is a form of escape, empowerment, and even reminder at times. 

We’ve compiled our favorite, meaningful book quotes about all different genres of life…

Adventure

Maybe you are a total travel junkie and enjoy reading your favorite books on the way to your next destination. You are constantly planning trips and trying new things—living life to the fullest. OR this just doesn’t apply to you at all. You may enjoy living vicariously through the lens of your favorite heroes and explorers. 

Regardless of how spontaneous you are in reality, I like to think a wanderlust spirit lives within all of us. We all want to live the nomad life, even though some of us barely leave our beds. The pandemic has definitely forced many of us, even the vagabonds, into this slump. But luckily, books allow us to travel the world with each new chapter.

These adventurous book quotes will inspire you to book your next trip and hit the road…

• “Say the word 'quest' out loud. It is an extraordinary word, isn't it? So small and yet so full of wonder, so full of hope.” —Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux 
  
  
• “Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.” —J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  
  
• “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver, The Summer Day
  
  
• "There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars." —Jack Kerouac, On the Road
  
  
• “Not all those who wander are lost.” —J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
  
  
• “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.”―Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 7: 1966-1974
  
  
• “See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” —Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
  
  
• “Sometimes you lose a battle. But mischief always wins the war.” ―John Green, Looking for Alaska
  
  
• “So much universe, and so little time." ―Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero
  
  
• “If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.” ―Nora Roberts, Tears of the Moon
  

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Motivation

We’ve all been there—a day, a week or even a month where we don’t feel like doing a single thing. You’ve got a list of things you have to get done and no energy to do it. It’s harder to get up in the morning and accomplish something, especially in this new reality we have been living in this past year. 

Daily quotes and reminders that you come across on Pinterest or Instagram may not cut it and won’t magically help (most of the time). But book quotes are different. Empowering quotes from stories have action behind them. 

We get to know the person who lives that life, the mind the words came from and the result of their actions. For book lovers, reading about someone’s burst of motivation, whether their situation relates to them or not, may inspire the reader to do the same. Get up, get moving, and go find what you are looking for. Get something done, even the smallest task. 

These book quotes will not only help move you forward, they can also provide a bit more wisdom to spark action… 

• “Follow your heart, listen to your inner voice, stop caring about what others think.” —Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
  
  
• “Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go in till you come to the end: then stop.” —Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
  
  
• “Courage does not always roar. Valor does not always shine.” —Tomi Adeyemi, Children of Blood and Bone
  
  
• “The sun does not abandon the moon to darkness.” ―Brian A. McBride, Dominion
  
  
• “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” —John Steinbeck, East of Eden
  
  
• “Life is not a race to restore a past situation. Nor does one have to hurry to meet the future. Seeing how things change is what makes life interesting.” —Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
  
  
• “You have to believe. Otherwise, it will never happen.” —Neil Gailman, Stardust
  
  
• "Be good, be young, be true! Evil is nothing but vanity, let us have the pride of good, and above all let us never despair." —Alexandre Dumas, fils, The Lady of the Camellias
  
  
• “Get smart and nothing can touch you.” ―S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders
  
  
• "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will." —Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Fantasy 

Books have the ability to take us to faraway places. With the power of imagination, each chapter can transport us to fantasy lands in the comfort of our own homes. The possibilities, really, are endless. 

Whether you are on your way to the wizarding world of Hogwarts, or have just opened the door to Narnia, these quotes will remind you that your imagination is limitless… 

• “When you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever.” —Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
  
  
• “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." —J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of The Ring
  
  
• “If something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn’t there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That’s why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.” —Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
  
  
• “Why sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” —Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
  
  
• “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” —J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
  
  
• “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, Coraline
  
  
• “If you built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” —Henry David Thoreau, Walden
  
  
• “Because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worthwhile.” —Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables 
  
  
• “Heaven can be found in the most unlikely corners.” ―Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven 
  
  
• “But remember. Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t mean it isn’t real.” —Katherine Howe, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane

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Happiness

Not only do books act as an escape from our own lives, they also have the power to shift our frame of mind—even on the rainiest of days when we can’t seem to get that dark, looming cloud to lift off your head. Optimistic book quotes can really change your frame of mind and remind us that sometimes happy endings do exist, even the littlest ones.

Maybe it’s naive and maybe I’m just living in a fairytale, but things can go from totally awful to not that bad with just a few lines that help change my outlook. 

Some problems are big and some are small, book quotes can help remind ourselves to put things in perspective. 

These quotes for book lovers will surely put a smile on their faces today… 

• “Laughter is poison to fear.” —George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
  
  
• “You must be the best judge of your own happiness.” —Jane Austen, Emma 
  
  
• “My home is not a place, it is people.” —Lois McMaster Bujold, Barrayar 
  
  
• “I shall take the heart,” returned the Tin Woodman; “for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.” —L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
  
  
• “Because survival is insufficient.” ―Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven
  
  
• “Things are never as bad as they seem.” —Harper Lee Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird 
  
  
• “I'm choosing happiness over suffering, I know I am. I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.” ―Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
  
  
• “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” ―Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married
  
  
• “It isn't what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” ―Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People
  
  
• Take responsibility of your own happiness, never put it in other people’s hands.” 
  
  
• ―Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Love 

As the focus of countless classic stories, it felt wrong not to include book quotes on love in this roundup. Love is something that everyone can relate to, a universal language of appreciation for a special person.

First off: don’t get me wrong, everyone loves a good Nicholas Sparks romance novel and the saga that comes with it, but there are so many other forms of love that it’s a bit unfair to only concentrate on one genre. The love between best friends, family, and yes, significant others, has a special way of radiating off the pages of our favorite stories due to it’s consistent relevance. 

Love is never perfect in any relationship—some stories may seem like it, however, if you read between the lines you may come to the realization that perfect isn’t always the best. Another important relationship in stories iis how characters express self-love. I think that we can learn a lot from how characters feel about themselves, not only things that should be mimicked, but also things to avoid. 

We have the ability to grow in love with others and with ourselves however we please. These meaningful book quotes in love are perfect for sharing or keeping to yourself as daily reminders… 

• "We accept the love we think we deserve." —Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  
  
• "You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful." —John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

• "We love the things we love for what they are." —Robert Frost, Hyla Brook
  
  
• “To love or have loved that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life.” —Victor Hugo, Les Miserables 
  
  
• “Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made…” —Ursula K Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven
  
  
• “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” ―Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
  
  
• “If you live to be a hundred, I want to like to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you.” —A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh 
  
  
• “Who, being loved is poor?” —Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance 
  
  
• “The winds were warm about us, the whole earth seemed wealthier for our love.” —Harriet Prescott Spofford, The Amber Gods 
  
  
• “Love the world and yourself in it, move through it as though it offers no resistance, as though the world is your natural element.” ―Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife

Thoughtful Ways Of Using Book Quotes

Now that we have shared some of our all-time favorite book quotes with you, let’s put those words to good use—somewhere other than that 1st edition copy you have. 

Perhaps these quotes would be great to share with your favorite bookworm or you are the literary connoisseur yourself. 

The great part about these book quotes is that they each hold unique messages that guide us in some way. And you can add them anywhere, including…

• Write them in your journal.
  
  
• Personalize a canvas or print for your home.
  
  
• Gift a bookmark with the words written on.
  
  
• Add them to a card or letter.
  
  
• Write them inside a book gift.
  
  
• Put them on your phone wallpaper.

I could go on and on, but that’s the great thing about words like these book quotes: they never expire, you can interpret them in so many ways, and they can add a personal touch to any gift.

For more gifts and inspirational messages for book lovers, check out:

• Gifts for Book Lovers
• Famous Literary Quotes
• Heartfelt Messages to Write in a Book Gift

For book lover gifts, shop our selection of book bracelets and book necklaces.