Reading That Inspires Quotes & Sayings

Much as we wish, not one of us can bring back yesterday or shape tomorrow. Only today is ours, and it will not be ours for long, and once it is gone it will never in all time be ours again. Thou only knowest what it holds in store for us, yet even we know something of what it will hold. The chance to speak the truth, to show mercy, to ease another's burden. The chance to resist evil, to remember all the good times and good people of our past, to be brave, to be strong, to be glad. — Frederick Buechner

CLOTHES SWITCH How would the story change if the characters were dressed differently - preppy, gangsta rapper-style? ETHNIC/RACE SWITCH What if the characters were given different ethnicities or races? How would that change the story? EMOTION SWITCH — Maureen McLaughlin

I've turned down a lot of stuff. I've read several scripts and said "That's not me, I'm not interested in doing that." It's got to be something that inspires me and captures my imagination. I want to be able to say "There's a challenge.". — Karl Urban

Not planning for your time expenditure simply means deliberately intending to fail. — Archibald Marwizi

The tribe's survival and sustenance depended on each clan sharing its gifts without expectations of getting something in return. This relationship kept the Choptanks strong and united. They lived in a bountiful land, and although variety was not always available, there was plenty for everyone. — Stan E Hughes

Reading inspires us to reach further, imagine more, and search for our passports. — Peggy Kopman-Owens

Fear was a weakness in the court. Much better to act unperturbed. Much safer to act crazy, when in doubt. — Marissa Meyer

The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but [Jane] Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers. — Harold Bloom

I confess that reading proofs is a pleasure. It stimulates and inspires me. — Zane Grey

There, in the silence that's never quite silent, I realized that, if there are at least seven thousand wants to speak, there are at least seven thousand ways to listen. — Mark Nepo

Companies that are terrifying to a writer are companies like Amazon. — Richard Flanagan

Each year India and China produce four million graduates compared with just over 250,000 in Britain. — Gordon Brown

I'm all for ambition and stretch goals. I set them for myself. But leadership isn't the same as cheerleading. Believing in something is a necessary but absolutely insufficient condition for making it come true. — Margaret Heffernan

Religion is just a long competition to see who can design the silliest hat. — Gregory David Roberts

Other people's creativity inspires me. Seeing great art, or reading a fab book or watching an interesting documentary or an exciting film - these things make me want to let my own imagination fly. — Kate Cary

I know many writers who say that the memory of reading fairy tales is their first, and sometimes only, memory of rapture. I hope that this unpredictable, intense collection inspires you to read fairy tales-and then to read them again. — Kate Bernheimer

Reading while I'm writing ideally inspires my competitive side. When I read great writers, I want to be a better writer. — Amity Gaige

Reading ...
inspires,
enlightens,
nurtures,
refines,
educates,
informs,
transforms,
persuades,
challenges,
engages,
entertains,
mesmerizes,
captivates,
gratifies,
rewards,
quiets,
and calms.
Granted, it won't get the dishes done,
but sacrifices must be made. — Richelle E. Goodrich

It is the human condition to ask questions like Anne's last night and to receive no plain answers," he said. "Perhaps this is because we can't understand the answers, because we are incapable of knowing God's ways and God's thoughts. We are, after all, only very clever tailless primates, doing the best we can, but limited. Perhaps we must all own up to being agnostic, unable to know the unknowable. — Mary Doria Russell

To my way of thinking, the concept drawings that Rembrandt did, the drawings he made that he used to model his artists, to work out the compositions of his paintings: those are cartoons. Look at his sketch for the return of the prodigal son. The expression on the angry younger brother's face. The head is down; the eyebrow is just one curved line over the eyes. It communicates in a very shorthand way. It's beautiful, expressive, and, in a peculiar way, it's more powerful than the kind of stilted, formalized expression in the final painting. — Jim Woodring

It's just like nurses in a hospital tend to know more than the doctors most of the time; if you really want to get the answers to a question about court, you should spend more time buttering up the clerks than the judges. — Jodi Picoult

Stories have inspired me all my life. I like reading about what other people have done and it inspires me to share my own stories, and encourage people to make their own life stories. — Phil Keoghan