RAE’S READS

recent posts

about

This year (2025) finds me with 53 years of teaching “under my belt.” I have taught all levels from pre-K “(library lady” or “book lady”–volunteer) to juniors, seniors, and graduate students enrolled in my Advanced Writing class at the university where I have just completed 34 years. My first paying teaching job was junior high, and I spent 13 years with ages 12-13, the “difficult years.” I had some of the “funnest” experiences with this age group. When I was no longer the “young, fun teacher,” I taught in an elementary school setting before sixth graders went on to junior high, teaching language arts blocs, an assignment that was a “dream-fit” for me. After completing graduate school in my 40s, I went on to community college, then university teaching. This past fall I accepted a part-time teaching job at Apogee Gulf Coast Schools in its first year at the Alvin campus. After my Better Half died n 2022, I achieved a lifelong dream: opening a bookstore of my own, Rae’s Reads. A year later, I sold the house we had lived in for 47 years and moved into the bookstore. My goal is to circulate and repurpose books. Just as teaching is “in my blood,” so is a passion for reading, writing, libraries, and everything bookish. This blog will be open to anyone who loves books, promotes literacy and wants to “come out and play.”

Quotes About Reading

Not too long ago, I included on this blog my favorite quotes about writing.  Today, I offer some of my favorites on reading:

“But do not read, as children read, for fun, or like the ambitious read, for training purposes.  No, read for your life.”      Gustave Flaubert, author of Madame Bovary, in a letter to a friend.

The habit of reading, I make bold to tell you , is your pass to the greatest, the purest, and the most perfect of pleasure that God has prepared for His creatures.  It lasts when all other pleasures fade.  It will support you when all other recreations are gone. It will last until your death.  It will make your hours pleasant to you as long as you live.” Anthony Trollope, Victorian novelist (1815-1882).

And, a couple of more modern ones:

“One must be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.” Cassandra Clare (author)

“Only a generation of readers will spawn a generation of writers.”     Steven Spielberg

Add your favorite(s) to the comment section that follows.

 

Posted in

5 responses to “Quotes About Reading”

  1. Rae Longest Avatar
    Rae Longest

    Reblogged this on blogging807.

    Like

    Reply
  2. sjhigbee Avatar
    sjhigbee

    I don’t have a quote to offer – but the one from Flaubert explains a lot about Madam Bovary, I feel… Thank you for these, Rae:). Hope you feel better soon!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Rae Longest Avatar
      Rae Longest

      Thank you so much.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. readerbuzz Avatar
    readerbuzz

    “We read to know we’re not alone.”
    ― William Nicholson, Shadowlands

    “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.”
    ― Jorge Luis Borges

    “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
    ― Madeleine L’Engle

    “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
    ― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

    “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
    ― C.S. Lewis

    “I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”
    ― Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

    “A wise reader reads the book of genius not with his heart, not so much with his brain, but with his spine. It is there that occurs the telltale tingle…”
    ― Vladimir Nabokov

    “Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another’s skin, another’s voice, another’s soul.”
    ― Joyce Carol Oates

    “Language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.”
    ― Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

    “It’s the secret we never, ever tell our children. No adult ever read a book because it’s good for us. We read because it is fun.”
    ― Jacqueline French

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. Rae Longest Avatar
      Rae Longest

      What a wonderful set of quotes. I promise to copy them in my quotes book I keep by my bed and read through, skipping, hitting, and missing when I need to be uplifted or encouraged. These are also some I’ve never seen before. TY a kazillion times!

      Like

      Reply

Leave a reply to Rae Longest Cancel reply