Books have always a secret influence on the understanding.

Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas; he that reads books of science, thogh without any…

— Samuel Johnson

The heart has such an influence over the understanding, that it is worth while to engage it in our interest.

— Lord Chesterfield

“The secret of my influence is that it has always remained secret.”

— Jane Mayer

The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret.

— Salvador Dali

Books, books, books had found the secret of a garret-room piled high with cases in my father's name; Piled high, packed large, where, creeping…

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“I like that library books have secret lives. All those hands that have held them. All those eyes that have read them.”

— Neela Vaswani

“I m not about to tell him that I am just like Anna and Emma, an adulteress. My books are my secret lovers, the…

— Sara Nelson

Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients.

— Samuel Johnson

It is significant that one says book lover and music lover and art lover but not record lover or CD lover or, conversely, text…

— James Gleick

Our clients' faces, with the customary outward paleness and inner glow of the book lover.

— Diane Setterfield

We expect a great man to be a good reader.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

The more I like a book, the more reluctant I am to turn the page. Lovers, even book lovers, tend to cling. No one-night…

— Anatole Broyard

It is not possible to be regarded with tenderness, except by a few. That merit which gives greatness and renown diffuses its influence to…

— Samuel Johnson

“I keep collecting books I know I'll never, never read; My wife and daughter tell me so, And yet I never heed. "Please make…

— Robert W. Service

“He pinched the remaining chapters’ pages delicately between his fingers and sighed. He always hated reaching the end of a good book.”

— David S.E. Zapanta